Ben Collins: ‘Er is niet één Stig, het zijn er meer’

Kent u hem nog? Dit heerschap zat jarenlang verscholen in het witte pak en dito helm en droeg de illustere titel ‘The Stig‘. Totdat zijn identiteit bekend werd gemaakt/hij zelf uit de school klapte en weg ging bij het autoprogramma. Op Reddit geeft hij nog eens openheid van zaken.

Zoals iedere celebrity die iets te promoten heeft, toog Ben Collins naar Reddit voor een AMA (Ask Me Anything). Aldaar mochten bezoekers hem alles vragen, en Collin (bewijs) gaf spraakzaam antwoord op ongeveer alles.

Een bloemlezing van de vragen en antwoorden:

1. If you could come up with your own “some say” intro for The Stig, what would it be?

‘Some say they should just give me the keys and let me drive without the damn intro!’

2. How did you get the job? What kind of training did you go through to become such a badass driver?

‘Still learning – I had the best teachers which is to say i’ve raced some big talents and you have to learn quickly or finish 2nd all the time. I got the job by writing to the boss, meeting him and then driving a car – quickly. Quite traditional. I beat the Old Stig’s lap times and got hired – SWEET!’

3. Do you really have 600 testicles?

‘Yes – i carry them like scalps in my leather satchel from every driver that ever hogged the middle lane on the M4.’

5. Top Gear or Fifth Gear?

‘Top Gear. You can’t beat a big fat hairy budget.’

6. For how long had you had access for each supercar? Was it only one or two fast laps or whole day?

‘The tyres can’t take more than 5/6 laps on the supercars and we rarely had spares so it was a 25 minute blind date.’

7. What sort of measures did you have to take to guard your identity for so many years? P.S. Big fan

‘I got myself a BBC ID card with a fake name “Richard Jameson” cleverly made of the 3 presenters names – so that i could book hotels and get up to mischief without getting caught. Used to wear a balaclava everywhere to hide my face anywhere near a Top Gear shoot and generally be as sneaky as possible.’

8. Were you always the Stig? Or were there stand-in Stigs? Did the presenters always know that you were the Stig?

‘I couldn’t make a photo shoot once because I was filming for Top Gear elsewhere and they booked a stand in – apparently Jeremy said “get rid of it” and refused to have his photo taken with him, which made me laugh. With some very rare exceptions, i did all of my stuff from walking through London to all the testing off camera and all the studio work.

The presenters didn’t know for a while at first then yes, they knew, but Jeremy often used to open the visor just to double check.’

9. How much of the time Stig was on camera did you actually spend in the suit? Was it you walking around London, appearing in studio.

‘I was entirely method. I slept in that suit. I spent family christmases never revealing my identity. To anyone. Not even myself.’

10. What does Jeremy’s hair feel like?

‘If you’ve ever had a scratch in the morning ‘down there’ then you’ll know. Kind of pubey but longer…’

En dan was er nog de opmerking over dat er nu meerder Stigs zijn. Het is dus niet langer één persoon, zoals in Bens tijd. Althans, dat beweert hij zelf. Er staan in de AMA op Reddit nog veel meer interessante vragen & antwoorden, check ze hier.