Top Gear’s iconic ‘tame racing driver’ The Stig has been revealed. Again.
Since the modern inception of the popular British motoring show there have been three racing drivers to have regularly donned the Alpinestars suit and Simpson helmet. While the first two have been public knowledge for some time, the third and (currently) final Stig was yet to be officially confirmed by anyone connected to the show – until now.
During a question and answer session after the screening of his final episode of The Grand Tour, former Top Gear host Jeremy Clarkson confirmed the third Stig.
“The original Stig was Perry McCarthy, followed by Ben Collins, followed by Phil Keen,” Clarkson said.
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Keen is a 40-year-old British racing driver who has spent most of his career competing in the British GT Championship. In 2024 he is racing a Mercedes-AMG GT3 with the 2 Seas Motorsport team. He reportedly took over from Collins in 2010 as The Stig, after the latter publicly revealed his identity when he published a book about his time on the show. The two former Stigs worked together on the 2015 film, Ben Collins: Stunt Driver.
While McCarthy, Collins and Keen were the primary drivers to portray The Stig, there were reportedly several other drivers over the years to don the suit depending on the situation. Michael Schumacher famously ‘revealed’ himself as The Stig, appearing in the helmet and suit when he drove his personal Ferrari FXX around the show’s test track.
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Top Gear UK is currently on hiatus following a serious crash that left host Andrew Flintoff in hospital. The BBC issued a statement in November 2023 saying the show will be rested for the “foreseeable future” and has provided no official updates since.
However, many of the crew of the Top Gear UK program are understood to have worked on the relaunched Top Gear Australia, that debuted on Paramount+ in 2024.
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