Breaking the Stig-ma

Ben Collins sets the record straight and chats about being the enigma behind the visor

When Ben Collins first put on the white suit and stepped out into the world as “The Stig” in Top Gear, only two people knew his true identity. Those two people become closer to 150 in the eight years that he worked at the BBC,  making it more and more difficult to  fend off the rumours and leaks that he was in fact The Stig.

Despite the severe criticism he received soon after resigning and “outing” himself, Collins says that he feels good about the decisions he took.

“I knew the end was near, and rather than wait to be let go, I decided it was time to go on my own,” he explains.

He handed in his notice, wrote his book and went out on his own terms. He says that he finds that fact that his employers took him to the High Court “ridiculous”, but the judge ruled in his favour and less than a year later Collins is happy to be burying the hatchet.

“I was back in touch with the producers a few weeks ago. You realise  a lot of the stuff in the press is very theatrical, much like Top Gear the show, and that deep down we were mates and nothing really has changed.”

While the last Stig (the original “black” Stig Perry McCarthy) lasted a total of eight or so months,  Collins lasted an impressive eight years. Besides the obvious having to wear a balaclava  and being careful not to speak in front of people, he also says that part of being The Stig’s duty includes a fair amount of self-imposed isolation. 

“It’s great fun, it’s not like you’re going to get shot if you are revealed, but you might lose your job. It’s good fun and a great game while it lasted, but you know it’s going to end. People start to guess  and try to catch you out, shouting  “Ben” to see if you’ll turn around. The Stig is a media character and the essence is the anonymity, so once that’s gone the character needs to be reborn. I’m very surprised it lasted as long as it did.”

Although motor racing remains his first passion – he says it’s the next best thing after his childhood dream of becoming a fighter pilot  – Collins is incredibly humble about living every man’s fantasy on the Top Gear set and also driving James Bond’s Aston Martin DBS. It’s enough to make one wonder just how alike his life is to that of Ian Flemming’s suave fictional creation?

“Are we talking about the cars or the girls?” he quips, before bursting out laughing. “Sadly for me it isn’t quite as exciting as that in real life. I don’t get to keep the Aston DBS,” he laughs, “but I have an Audi S5 and I love my VW  Transporter van.”

He may navigate downplaying the perks and the glamour like a pro, but there’s no denying that Collins has been fortunate enough to sit behind the wheel of some mighty fine vehicles, some of which he has even crashed.

  

“The most cringeworthy was probably the Ferrari incident,” he admits sheepishly. “I was pushing this Ferrari very hard to set up the lap time and there was an expectation of the time it could do. The expectation was by the producers, not by Ferrari, who later told me that it was on a different set of tyres and couldn’t go as fast as everyone was expecting it to.

“I didn’t know that at the time, and I was pushing and pushing and eventually I swiped the tyre wall going around this corner at 115 miles per hour and I could see it coming, and felt this thing scratch the side of this perfect, polished car.”

Collins will miss these close shaves about as much as he’ll miss the Top Gear banter on set to the likes of the fact that The Stig “drinks a lot of petrol”, “was born in space” and “never blinks”.

“Those comments were all very one sided, because I never said anything back,” he quips good naturedly. “Although that’s actually just the public’s perception – I used to swear at them a lot from behind the helmet!” he laughs.

This article was first published in CitiVibe in The Citizen on Tuesday 19 July 2011. Photos courtesy of AFP.