Top Gear’s Stig will be Killed off

Top Gear's Stig will be Killed off

The Stig first got the job on Top Gear the BBC’s flagship motoring show in 2003. The Stig was dressed in a white racing suite and his identity was unknown. His job basically entailed racing at high speeds, and coaching TV celebrities to achieve the fastest time around a TV circuit in Top Gear’s chosen cars, the show has been watched by millions of viewers from around the world.

The Stig brought a certain area of mystic to the popular BBC2 motoring show because his identity was kept a secret. Only a handful of people on Top Gear knew his identity – including hosts Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May. The BBC said that revealing the identity of the Stig would spoil viewers enjoyment.

However all the mystic was blown away when Stig wanted to publish an autobiography, The Man In The White Suit. The BBC did not want his identity disclosed, but after a two-day private hearing at the High Courts,they refused to grant an injunction which would stop publishers HarperCollins releasing The Man In The White Suit.

HarperCollins called the courts outcome as “a victory for freedom of speech” The BBC retaliated by threatening to pursue a full trial on the issues.

Stig was then unmasked as driver Ben Collins,  it was also revelled that Collins had been a former member of the SAS. The Special Air Service who are a unique and specialist regiment of the British army. Collins provided specialist driving training to the regiment.

It now looks like Ben Collins will be given the push from the show when the eagerly awaited 16th series returns later this year. It was reported that James May,one of the presenters of the show, said that Stig will be killed off and a new driver will take his place.

As the saying goes “news has a way of repeating itself” and what a lot of younger fans of the show do not realise is that the white suited Stig had a predecessor – The black Stig who was also a racing driver, this time by the name of Perry McCarthy. McCarthy apparently upset some of the shows producers and was therefore dealt with, he was last seen by the fans and viewers of the show driving off a cliff in 2003.

So it looks like the white suited Stig will follow a similar fate.

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Posted by Sandy on Sep 3 2010. Filed under Entertainment, Featured News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.