 The Stig is the name given to the anonymous racing driver on the BBC motoring show Top Gear. In the show he is cast as a mysterious "tamed racing driver" whose identity is unknown, and who never speaks or removes his helmet on camera. Nonetheless he is fully credited as a presenter alongside Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May. The Stig's primary function on the show is to post lap times in various cars around the Top Gear circuit in Dunsfold Park, and to train each week's guest in setting a lap time in the Star in a Reasonably-Priced Car feature on the show. In addition the Stig carries out other driving duties when the need arises. The Stig has also appeared on some of Jeremy Clarkson's motoring specials, such as Heaven and Hell and The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, as well as on BBC's Whizz Whizz Bang Bang. Origins The Stig's name derives from presenter Jeremy Clarkson's days at Repton School.[1] According to Clarkson, new students were always called "Stig." A proposed name for the Stig was originally "The Gimp" until protests from Perry McCarthy[2] Officially there have been two Stigs on the show, while an American "cousin" of the Stig, called "Big Stig", also made a cameo appearance in one episode filmed in the U.S. While in the 1st episode of the 10th season of Top Gear, during the Power Lap Times board with the VW Golf GTI W12 he was renamed for that single show "Cuddles" because their producer rigged a phone vote. nixed the idea. Black Stig   The Stig (Series 1 & 2) The first Stig wore black overalls and helmet. He was introduced in the first episode by Jeremy Clarkson as a substitute, as they could not get a professional racing driver to set consistent, fast times. Clarkson noted that "we don't know its name, we really don't know its name, nobody knows its name, and we don't wanna know, cause it's a racing driver." Clarkson then described The Stig as having a very small brain, who had worthless opinions, a disorder described by Clarkson as "Mansell Syndrome". Its job description was to "just go out there and drive fast".[3] Black Stig posted a lap time of 1:46 for the Star in a Reasonably-Priced Car segment. This Stig was used for the first two series of the show. He was then "killed off" at the start of the third series when he was shown driving a modified Jaguar XJ-S off the flight deck of HMS Invincible during a stunt and landing in the sea.[4] White Stig After the Black Stig was "killed off", a new "White Stig" was introduced, wearing white overalls and helmet.[5] White Stig has featured in the show beyond just the Power Lap segment. His work has included driving cars in other segments of the show, for example finding a winner between the Aston Martin V8 Vantage, BMW M6 and Porsche 911 Carrera S on the Isle of Man,[6] and racing against the hosts in a bid to see who would cross the starting line at a race track; White Stig driving a Caterham Seven kit car from Caterham, Surrey to Knockhill racetrack in Scotland against the hosts in assembling an identical car from the ground up.[7] White Stig has also appeared outside Top Gear in some of Clarkson's motoring specials, such as The Good, The Bad, The Ugly where Clarkson reviewed and compared American and non-American cars, and Heaven and Hell, where the Stig was used to compare the track times of the Chevrolet Corvette C6 and the TVR Sagaris, and raced Clarkson, in a BMW M5, with a Ferrari F430. White Stig posted the fastest lap time of 1:44.4 around the Top Gear circuit for the Star in a Reasonably-Priced Car segment. American Stig In the Top Gear US Special, the 'American' Stig drove each of the three vehicles purchased by the presenters for the challenges. Jeremy Clarkson introduces him in the following quote: "Some say that he's a CIA experiment that went wrong, and that he only eats cheese. All we know is he's not the Stig, but he is the Stig's American cousin". A larger-built Stig (a stereotype of Americans) then steps out of a trailer, and the presenters comment on how he is a 'Big Stig' and how he has to 'Squeeze' himself into the cars. This is the only appearance of American Stig. African Stig A preview for Series 10 features a scene with the presenters in Africa, during which Jeremy Clarkson introduces "the Stig's African cousin". The Africa episode of Series 10 has not been shown yet, so little more is known of the African Stig so far. Identity The Stig's true identity is never revealed on the show, and in order to maintain the secrecy, all shots show him wearing full racing overalls and matching helmet. All that can be seen from the gap between his helmet and jumpsuit is that he is a white male with dark hair. It is also known that he wears size 10 racing boots as discovered by the Sunday Times when the Driving section wrote an article about the show.[8] During an interview The Stig spoke to a Dutch reporter on camera, revealing a hint of a British accent.[9] The identity of the first Stig was revealed to be Perry McCarthy when his book Flat Out, Flat Broke was published in 2003. McCarthy is a former Formula 1 driver and test driver for the Benetton, Arrows and Williams teams, and also tested for BMW F1.[2] The identity of the new Stig has not been officially revealed. In a Winter Olympics special episode of Top Gear, the Stig was shown doing a ski jump using a snowmobile. According to the Swedish tabloid newspaper Aftonbladet, the driver performing the ski jump stunt was Dan Lang, a Swedish snowmobile cross driver.[10] In January 2006, a Daily Express article reported that Julian Bailey was secretly the Stig.[11] In January 2007, Russ Swift, a stunt driver that has appeared on the show a number of times, said in an interview that the Stig is not played by just one person.[12]  Mark Webber with an "I AM THE STIG" T-shirt presented to him by Jeremy. The show has alluded to The Stig with Formula 1 drivers that visit the show. In the episode of June 26, 2005, Damon Hill[13] Mark Webber was interviewed on July 31, 2005 and at the conclusion of his lap, Clarkson presented him with an "I AM THE STIG" T-shirt. Webber was then warned not to wear it around the F1 paddock, as "Michael doesn't always wear red".[14] appeared as the "Star in a Reasonably Priced Car". When asked directly by Clarkson if he was the Stig, Hill evaded the question and did not provide an outright denial or confirmation. When former F1 driver Nigel Mansell appeared on the show, Jeremy Clarkson noted that the Stig theorised that the Suzuki Liana (the show's "reasonably priced car" at the time) could achieve a 1:44 time on the track.[15] Mansell proved the Stig's theory by lapping in a time of 1:44.6; The Stig subsequently posted a lap-time of 1:44.4 in the Liana. During the review of Jenson Button's lap, Clarkson commented that he, as did most of the other F1 drivers, took very different racing lines from the Stig's. Button commented that "...obviously, the Stig isn't a Formula One Driver then".[16] Listening habits Another source of entertainment for the presenters is the music the Stig listens to while doing Power Laps around the Top Gear track. Often a specific genre will be chosen for one or more series. These have included one-hit wonders, easy listening, prog rock, baroque, advertising jingles, foreign language tapes, romantic novels, and self-help tapes. Clarkson claimed in the show's first episode that music keeps the Stig calm during test laps.[17] The Stig's new listening habits in Series 10 weren't revealed until Episode Two due to the lack of a CD-player in the Golf GTI-W12. Are you still selling those butterflies?
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