TV Should the Stig be "allowed" to reveal himself?

dyewat808 · 27 Aug 2010, 16:11 (Ref:2751112)

As you all probably have heard, the person who plays the Stig (who is rumoured to be Ben Collins), wants to release a book. The BBC have protested, arguing that it breaches a confidentiality clause in his contract. So my question to all Tenthers here is; who do you think is "right"?

Discuss....

I have a view on this, but I'm interested to know what other people think of this first....

Hepatic · 27 Aug 2010, 16:39 (Ref:2751121)

No. The Stig is the intellectual property of the BBC. To reveal him diminishes the value of that significantly. Its like writing some computer code then publishing it in a book without consent of the employer for whom you worked when you designed the code. Its their work, not yours. Same as the Stig is the BBCs and not "the stigs".

It would be a mistake to reveal him for many many reasons, loss of revenue being a very large one of them.

Chris Y · 27 Aug 2010, 20:08 (Ref:2751203)

Quote:

Originally Posted by dyewat808

As you all probably have heard, the person who plays the Stig (who is rumoured to be Ben Collins)

Please, not this again... The reason for the anonymity was because many people could fill the role. It wasn't just one person.

As for 'revealing himself', I thought the restraining order prevented him?

Paulaweybridge · 27 Aug 2010, 22:32 (Ref:2751238)

No ...

mountainstar · 28 Aug 2010, 01:22 (Ref:2751269)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chris Y

Please, not this again... The reason for the anonymity was because many people could fill the role. It wasn't just one person.

Well that, but mostly it was to show impartiality on both sides to whatever was being tested. One of the "stigs" for instance had/has been contractually involved with several manufacturers so by having his face out there you run into all sorts of issues with that.

In previous years there have been several guys that have done it, but yes there was one particular guy that did quite a lot of it.

Should the "stig" be allowed to reveal himself? Well contracts can always be broken or worked around, but even so if I was a Stig, honestly I don't think I would ever want anyone to know. It seems to ruin the mystery of the whole thing.

Mr V · 28 Aug 2010, 02:55 (Ref:2751285)

If the Stig signed a contract saying that it was a secret and his identity must remain a secret, then - no.

If he didn't, then yer - reveal himself!

Simples!

fieldodreams79 · 28 Aug 2010, 03:22 (Ref:2751289)

If he "outs" himself, then he is no longer a tamed racing driver; he'll only be a racing driver....

and some say, the only book he could write is an instructional one on how to ignore the temptation to lift off the throttle when your mind says, "BRAKE!"

brown dog · 28 Aug 2010, 03:41 (Ref:2751294)

time to fire him off an aircraft carrier on the steam catapult and bring in Stig #3!!!

Knowlesy · 28 Aug 2010, 11:15 (Ref:2751365)

Quote:

Originally Posted by fieldodreams79

If he "outs" himself, then he is no longer a tamed racing driver; he'll only be a racing driver....

Instead of tamed, he could just be a tame race driver. Which is what Ben Collins is.

The furore baffles me, I was under the impression everyone knew anyways.

terence · 28 Aug 2010, 12:56 (Ref:2751389)

Oh Good,you'll have up to eight new book's to read then!

Vitesse · 28 Aug 2010, 14:38 (Ref:2751411)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Knowlesy

Instead of tamed, he could just be a tame race driver. Which is what Ben Collins is.

The furore baffles me, I was under the impression everyone knew anyways.

It's just a cunning plan to make money for some of those poor underpaid barristers so they can afford a winter holiday in Bermuda or Klosters.

But frankly, who really cares?

***MagnetON*** · 28 Aug 2010, 15:43 (Ref:2751442)

Yawn. If whoever the Stig(s) are, (and I've spoken to at least 3 of them), are under confidentiality clauses that they willingly signed then they should STFU. Simple as that.

edington Mains · 28 Aug 2010, 17:08 (Ref:2751473)

OK... The Stig.
The Stig is an annomous driver supplied to Top Gear (or in reality the production company Bedder 6, that makes/owns Top Gear) to drive the cars they require him to, the drivers are supplied by a driver hire company owned by amongst others, a cetain Mr Ben Collins.
Ben himself does the majority of film work which involves driving etc etc however these "professional drivers" are too expensive to sit on a tube train across London..
Some manufacturers insist that their own test drivers drive their cars on the test track, indeed the F1 cars driven have mainly been driven by the teams own test/reserve driver, Ben Collins has been on hand to do the filming where getting in and out of the car etc has been required, (he also does the "driver training" for the SIARPC section of the show too.)
T/G have a caveat in their contracts that demand that the manufacturer supplied test driver wears the supplied race suit and helmet to create the illusion that its one and the same person.
Think of the Stig as a character, not an individual, that has been portrayed by many different actors..
Michael Keaton , Val Kilmer , George Clooney and Christian Bale have all played a disguised super hero... but each one of them is or isnt Batman depending on your view on things..
As for Ben, he just wants a break from it and move onto other things and try to re launch his career as a racing driver rather than a fictional character.
heres Ben festering between stints in one of the race cars i work on!

***MagnetON*** · 28 Aug 2010, 17:13 (Ref:2751474)

Just as an aside, "The Stig" once mooned EvilPumpkin.

edington Mains · 28 Aug 2010, 17:24 (Ref:2751475)

Quote:

Originally Posted by MagnetON

Just as an aside, "The Stig" once mooned EvilPumpkin.

Dublin?... i was at Mondello last weekend with one of Ben's co-drivers!!

dyewat808 · 28 Aug 2010, 18:44 (Ref:2751493)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Knowlesy

Instead of tamed, he could just be a tame race driver. Which is what Ben Collins is.

The furore baffles me, I was under the impression everyone knew anyways.

...exactly what my thoughts were. Even if he's agreed to any confidentiality clauses, I thought that many newspapers had claimed it was an open secret?

And surely they should be suing the guys who plays the Stig, rather than Harper-Collins? It was the guy in the suit that broke any contract, not a book publisher!?

And anyway, like many have already said, who actually cares whether we know who he is or not? It certainly won't change my perception of the show, so I'd rather license fee money was spent elsewhere i.e. improving the programme.

Armco Bender · 28 Aug 2010, 19:55 (Ref:2751519)

Quote:

the person who plays the Stig (who is rumoured to be Ben Collins), wants to release a book.

Not really a rivetting subject to right a book about...

dyewat808 · 28 Aug 2010, 21:10 (Ref:2751557)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Armco Bender

Not really a rivetting subject to right a book about...

hehe, lots of "some say" and that's about it.

Seriously though, this is exactly my point too, what is there to complain about, its not as if anything particularly interesting will be in it, other than who the Stig is, who most people suspect to be Ben Collins anyway.

Piglet · 28 Aug 2010, 21:24 (Ref:2751562)

Quote:

Originally Posted by dyewat808

hehe, lots of "some say" and that's about it.

Seriously though, this is exactly my point too, what is there to complain about, its not as if anything particularly interesting will be in it, other than who the Stig is, who most people suspect to be Ben Collins anyway.

Most of us know that, as has been said above, there are lots of different Stigs - I know 5 that I know of, I'm guessing I probably know more but don't know that they have been the Stig

Tim Wilkinson · 28 Aug 2010, 21:46 (Ref:2751569)

Quote:

Originally Posted by dyewat808

hehe, lots of "some say" and that's about it.

Seriously though, this is exactly my point too, what is there to complain about, its not as if anything particularly interesting will be in it, other than who the Stig is, who most people suspect to be Ben Collins anyway.

You'd have thought that about "Flat out, flat broke", but "some say" that was quite a good read....

edington Mains · 29 Aug 2010, 16:19 (Ref:2751812)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Piglet

Most of us know that, as has been said above, there are lots of different Stigs - I know 5 that I know of, I'm guessing I probably know more but don't know that they have been the Stig

Is Andy Middlehurst amongst those?

strider · 29 Aug 2010, 23:25 (Ref:2752071)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Armco Bender

Not really a rivetting subject to right a book about...

I expect the book will cover a few other subjects if comprises his memoirs.

One point that should be mentioned is that whilst most of us know or think we know who the main Stig is, the large majority of the people who watch Top Gear wouldn't have a clue who he is, even if they knew his name, which they probably do now after various newspaper revelations. I'm told there was even a photo in the erudite Daily Mail.

Armco Bender · 30 Aug 2010, 08:47 (Ref:2752182)

The truth will eventually come out,I'm the Stig.....

GORDON STREETER · 30 Aug 2010, 13:17 (Ref:2752253)

Wrong again Armco !

andrewlb · 30 Aug 2010, 15:01 (Ref:2752288)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hepatic

It would be a mistake to reveal him for many many reasons, loss of revenue being a very large one of them.

Who would lose revenue?

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