Jeremy Clarkson Has Revealed The Stig’s Identity

Thanks to the digital age that we live in, few things remain a secret for long, and that includes the identity of Top Gear’s tame racing driver called The Stig. Jeremy Clarkson and the folks at Top Gear have successfully kept this person’s identity under wraps season after season (even firing those who speak out). However, at a candid Q&A session after the screening of the last Grand Tour special, former host Jeremy Clarkson revealed it was Phil Keen who was the last Stig to appear in Top Gear from 2010 to 2022.

Through Top Gear’s illustrious 33-season reign, there were only three Stigs. They include:

• Perry McCarthy from 2002 to 2003
• Ben Collins from 2003 to 2010
• Phil Keen from 2010 to 2022

Jeremy Clarkson devised the original concept as being a racing driver who sets lap times and “who doesn’t need to talk,” and Perry McCarthy was selected as the first Stig. He was originally meant to be called “The Gimp,” but he didn’t like the name, so Clarkson and his Repton schoolmate and Top Gear producer Andy Wilman decided upon ‘Stig’ from a name given to all new boys at their school.

McCarthy only lasted the first two seasons before being “killed off” and replaced by racing driver Ben Collins.

It was Collins who wore the iconic Stig racing suit till season 15 in 2010, but there was a momentary blip when Michael Schumacher wore the suit for one episode. Collins revealed in his autobiography ‘The Man in the White Suit’ that he was fired in 2010 because he told everyone he was the man in the suit before his buddy and GT3 racer, Phil Keen, took over from season 2010 to 2022.

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Being a racing driver was considered mandatory, and each Stig spent more time behind the wheel of real race cars than they did the reasonably priced car.

The latest driver to don the suit, Phil Keen, is the most successful driver in British GT history. He has raced in the European Le Mans series, but his career path included stints at Lamborghini, where he was a factory driver. Above all else, he’s a celebrated British GT Championship driver with no less than 24 wins, driving for brands such as Lamborghini, Porsche, Aston Martin, BMW, and Jaguar. Keen is still actively racing as he has joined the 2Seas Motorsport team in the British GT Championship with a Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo.

It remains to be seen whether Top Gear will ever return with new hosts or a completely new format after host Andrew Flintoff’s crash, which prompted BBC to put the show at an indefinite halt for now.

As for Jeremy Clarkson, the celebrated motoring journalist will now embark on a new chapter in his presenting career, with the latest season of Clarkson’s Farm Season 4 set to return to streaming platforms in May 2025. “We’re likely to wrap up filming for season 4 in a couple of weeks. After editing and translating, it should be out around May,” he said.

Few characters have survived this long being shrouded in mystery about their identity and we hope the Stig will once again make a comeback in a new avatar if Top Gear ever returns.

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