Top Gear: No more Stig?

[Roger Wilco]

guardian

Top Gear co-host Jeremy Clarkson has said that the man who plays the Stig is "sacked" and admitted he was "hurt" that Ben Collins decided to unmask himself as the show's anonymous white-suited driver.

Clarkson said that "Top Gear is damaged but not out", adding that he has spent the last three weeks "doing nothing but work out what to do instead", after it emerged that Collins was planning to out himself as the Stig in his autobiography.

The BBC failed last week to have an injunction granted to stop Collins, the racing driver who has played the Stig since 2003, from publishing his book.

Clarkson said he felt "a bit hurt really". "It was such a shock. It was horrible actually because I liked him and he came round to my house and had drinks and all that time he was writing a book," he added, in a video interview published online today by Oxfordshire-based community news service WitneyTV.

I have to say I don't agree with Clarkson at all on this. You cannot expect somebody to play a role like that and not attempt to cash in on the name-recognition, or just make people know who you are. It is unreasonable to expect anonymity of a character like the Stig and I also think it doesn't even matter whether or not his name is known; I think the joke works either way.

 

[CorporalClegg]

And really, does it actually matter?

I mean it's not like it was that well kept a secret anyway. And, at the end of the day, it doesn't detract from the awesomeness of the character. Yes ... character.

 

[Lonemagpie]

It's the principle that matters- if you've signed an NDA, you've agreed not to disclose stuff. That's all there is to it.

 

[Roger Wilco]

But can you really blame him for wanting to be able to stand up in public and say "I was the Stig"? Maybe sometimes NDAs are just stupid.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

But can you really blame him for wanting to be able to stand up in public and say "I was the Stig"? Maybe sometimes NDAs are just stupid.

I'm afraid "the NDA is stupid" is not a legal defense for breaching it.

That said, The Stig is the only reason I watch this show, so they'd better get a new one or keep the current guy, either way.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

I just would've gotten another Stig and never acknowledged it was different in any way. Too late now though.

 

[Sheep]

My money's on black Stig making a return (obviously not portrayed by Perry McCarthy or Ben Collins).

They need some way of "standardizing" the lap times of the cars they test and short of adding a fourth unmasked host whose sole job is to do the laps, the mysterious Stig's the best way to do it.

 

[Lonemagpie]

But can you really blame him for wanting to be able to stand up in public and say "I was the Stig"? Maybe sometimes NDAs are just stupid.

All he had to do then is resign from the show prior to writing his book, or at least renegotiate his contract.

 

[Iasius]

Eh, just kill the current incarnation off and get a new one. Top Gear was never about the Stig.

Top Gear works because of the chemistry between May, Clarkson and Hammond.

 

[auntiehill]

Just get another Stig. I don't see the big problem. So, the last one was a prick and didn't fulfill his contract. Boo-Freaking-Hoo. The show isn't about The Stig; it's about the three hosts playing around with cars as a backdrop theme.

 

[TheGodBen]

What will happen with the power lap board? Did they start a new board when the first Stig was killed in that aircraft carrier accident?

 

[Owain Taggart]

They'll just hire someone else. Maybe it's time for a Stig with a different coloured uniform. The first one had a black one.

 

[cultcross]

Bring back the Stig's vegetarian cousin, perhaps.

 

[Aeon]

Eh, just kill the current incarnation off and get a new one. Top Gear was never about the Stig.

Top Gear works because of the chemistry between May, Clarkson and Hammond.

Yes, exactly. I'm one of those people who really couldn't care less who Stig is or was or will be.

 

[Captain Shaw]

There are a billion threads on this on Final gear, We just think they will just stick another guy in the white suit.
Here is a little interview you need to go 26 minutes into it unless you like belly dancing.
http://www.witneytv.co.uk/
Had to smile when he said greed is bad, he's one of the biggest Tories on the planet.

 

[Reverend]

Had to smile when he said greed is bad, he's one of the biggest Tories on the planet.

^ I don't know about biggest, but quite possibly the tallest.

Of course they'll just get another one and lets be honest, sacking the guy is more than a little redundant. Doing what he did was clearly just his way of getting as much as he could get out of his resignation. There's no way he'd ever expect to stay on after something like this, so it's clear he wanted out, one way or another. I think this way he ends up with a nice tidy little sum rather than a polite reference and a cheep watch. I'd never begrudge someone a pay-check. Clarkson doesn't have too much to complain about since Top Gear just got a ton of free advertising as now everyone and their dog will be tuning in to see hat they do next.

 

[FordSVT]

But can you really blame him for wanting to be able to stand up in public and say "I was the Stig"? Maybe sometimes NDAs are just stupid.

I'm afraid "the NDA is stupid" is not a legal defense for breaching it.

That said, The Stig is the only reason I watch this show, so they'd better get a new one or keep the current guy, either way.

You only watch Top Gear to see the Stig run one or two cars around a track for a minute and a half? Because that's pretty much all he does.

It's a cool gimmick, but the Stig is not the reason I watch Top Gear.