Who is The Stig from Top Gear

The Stig

The anonymous Stig’s mission is to produce perfect lap times in exotic super cars and execute death-defying stunts with immaculate precision.

Who is the Stig?

Top Gear appearances suggest the Stig is male and of average build, with eclectic musical tastes.

But theories abound there are actually multiple Stigs. Could there be more than one man behind the mask? Let’s find out.

Pros: If there are two Stigs, then Russ Swift must be one of them. No-one is better equipped to pull off the Stig’s dangerous tricks than this holder of multiple stunt driving records.

We put the question to him last week and his response was: “No comment. What we… (laughs) what Top Gear like about the Stig is the fact that nobody knows who it is. It is not one person.”

Cons: He spends a lot of time out of the country making international motor show appearances.

But that hasn’t stopped him working for Top Gear in the past – he taught three grannies how to do doughnuts…

Pros: Russ Swift said last week, “A lot of people think the Stig is Damon Hill.” Indeed only two weeks ago a fan asked Hill whether he was the Stig at the Auto sport International show.

Hill cryptically replied: “I am not the Stig. But then, only the true Messiah denies his divinity.”

Cons: Devious word-play aside, Hill is surely too busy to be the Stig.

As President of the British Racing Drivers Club, Hill is preoccupied with a struggle against F1 tycoon Bernie Ecclestone to keep the British Grand Prix on the F1 calendar. Plus he runs a supercar rental business.

But none of that has stopped him being one of the most popular picks as the real Stig.

Pros: The first Stig was a relatively little-known racing driver so the current Stig probably is as well.

Ben Collins is one of those talented and under-rated racers and a particularly gifted wet-weather driver. His appearance on Top Gear as part of a parachuting stunt led to feverish speculation on the Internet that Collins is the real Stig.

Cons: At 1.87m in height (over six feet) he could be too tall for the Stig’s racing suit.

Pros: Like ex-Stig Perry McCarthy, Tiff Needell is a former racing driver.

He’s also a long-term member of the Top Gear stable - he presented on the original show in the ‘80s and ‘90s. And he appears alongside Jeremy Clarkson and Richard Hammond at the live MPH shows.

Cons: However, the Stig has also appeared at MPH at the same time as Needell. So they can’t be the same person – unless there really is more than one Stig…