The Stig is fired
The masked man at the eye of the Top Gear storm has been given the boot.
Jeremy Clarkson, who presents the show along with Richard Hammond and James May, made the news official during an interview with community service Witney TV in his local Oxfordshire.
Clarkson claimed that he felt that the Stig had been hurtful, citing hours spent together as perhaps little more than a pretense to the upcoming autobiography of Ben Collins, 33, who has been officially named as the Stig.
In what had become a case of national interest, the bosses of Top Gear at the BBC has sought to have an injunction on Collins releasing the book, and making his identity pubic, as they argued that his contracted clearly said that his anonymity was part of the show’s conditions. The Stig, who grew to celebrity status among fans of the series, had already developed a considerable fan base but his access to advertising and corporate revenue was limited by keeping his true identity secret. So much so that he was paid a fraction of what Clarkson earn each week from appearances and endorsements, the book one of his view ways to expand.
The unveiling of the Bristol-based Collins, puts an end to seven years of gossip and speculation over who the Stig actually was, with Michael Schumacher and Lewis Hamilton jokingly unmasked on the show. Clarkson has said there is a long list of applicants for the job, adding that he was too old for the position.