Ben Collins interview

And, for the purpose of this thread, would Top Gear still exist with a different tame racing driver under the white suit?

Absolutely.
 
Congratulations on completely missing the point of my post.

The stig writing a book is no different to richard Hammond hosting a crappy game show. He does so on Jeremy Clarksons coat tails.
 
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It's not the same, man. Because Jeremy Clarkson's "character" on Top Gear doesn't rely on being some masked 'someone else', he is himself, same with Hammond. Collins already had side occupations other than Top Gear, as a racing driver.
However I do think the whole masked nature of his role put him in the delicate position where he could be replaced and nobody would notice. That gives him no leverage at all in any possible negotiation about his contracts.
 
Except Ben Collins wrote the book as himself, not as the Stig. If it was written as the Stig, it would be nothing but computer code and diagrams of various traction control systems and how to deactivate them.
 
And maps of all the world's circuits, with the racing lines for every car produced.
 
zthomasz said:
Sorry, but this is just nonsense. James May may well have been a 'respected motoring journalist', thats a matter of opinion, but he was not a successful motoring journalist. SO I suppose you could say that he was a failure. Richard Hammnond was hosting a failing daytime tv show on a now defunkt sky channel.

Would top gear still exist without James May?

Undoubtedly

Would top gear still exist without Richard Hammnond?

Absolutely

Would top gear still exist without Jeremy Clarkson?

Unlikely

Both of them have ridden on Jeremy clarkson's coat-tails from the gutter, where their careers were, to the top and they have made millions in the process.
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Are you Jeremy Clarkson's mother?
 
^ i think its even in hammonds book... he didnt seem to be going anywhere fast and was counting on his interview for TG to be his break. he was scared of meeting JC as well. perhaps riding the coat tails is too strong a description, but certainly his interview with JC got him on to top gear and the rest is history.
 
otispunkmeyer said:
^ i think its even in hammonds book... he didnt seem to be going anywhere fast and was counting on his interview for TG to be his break. he was scared of meeting JC as well. perhaps riding the coat tails is too strong a description, but certainly his interview with JC got him on to top gear and the rest is history.
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That's how show business works someone somewhere must have given Clarkson his big break and as they say the rest is history.
 
iam-nobody said:
That's how show business works someone somewhere must have given Clarkson his big break and as they say the rest is history.
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Jon Bentley. Then BBC producer of Old Top Gear (has a bend on the test track named after him) and now a leading light on The Gadget Show on Channel 5. Clarkson evidently walked up to him at a party and said "What Top Gear needs is me..."
 
The more of these things I read, the more I side with Ben Collins on this whole issue. He's acting like a mature professional adult while the Beeb and Co. are acting like childish pricks. I mean really, he's banned from the BBC forever? :blink:
 
Don't expect to be employed by an employer you pissed off. No matter if that's the BBC or any other corporation. No matter if you were legally right or not.


Apart from that, how is an X-Factor: The Stig Edition a sign of a mature professional adult? To me it is a sign of someone who desperately wants media coverage.
 
narf said:
Don't expect to be employed by an employer you pissed off. No matter if that's the BBC or any other corporation. No matter if you were legally right or not.


Apart from that, how is an X-Factor: The Stig Edition a sign of a mature professional adult? To me it is a sign of someone who desperately wants media coverage.
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I'm not talking employment. That article said he will not be allowed to appear on any BBC programs. Not even as a guest, paid or otherwise. That seems petty to me. How many years of faithful devotion and this is what he gets? Fuck the BBC.

The X-factor idea sounds cheesy to me too, but that just means it would fit right in with the usual TopGear segments. The Stig's American cousin, African cousin, Japanese Ninja cousin, etc? I can just picture TopGear having a bunch of various colored Stigs battling it out in one episode.

But I was mainly refering to his other comments concerning the possibility of The Stig being killed off all together. That would be childish and petty, just because Ben Collins decided to leave the show and publish his autobiography.
 
The Stigs don't battle. They don't know how to do anything except drive fast. 2 Boy Scouts brought the Stig down on their own. :p
 
TomCat said:
I'm not talking employment. That article said he will not be allowed to appear on any BBC programs. Not even as a guest, paid or otherwise. That seems petty to me. How many years of faithful devotion and this is what he gets? Fuck the BBC.

The X-factor idea sounds cheesy to me too, but that just means it would fit right in with the usual TopGear segments. The Stig's American cousin, African cousin, Japanese Ninja cousin, etc? I can just picture TopGear having a bunch of various colored Stigs battling it out in one episode.

But I was mainly refering to his other comments concerning the possibility of The Stig being killed off all together. That would be childish and petty, just because Ben Collins decided to leave the show and publish his autobiography.
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The Telegraph says he's banned but there's no evidence cited and I'd seriously doubt it. Legally they'd be in very murky waters. That individual programme directors might choose not to have him as a guest is another matter.

And "years of faithful devotion" - come on, he had a job he was well paid for; very well paid for in comparison to most people in the UK. What did he expect, a gold watch?

As for the Stig being killed off, the problem with continuing with the character is that the media will now be out for blood, particularly the Murdoch press, as to identifying the new driver as quickly as possible. I think they'll continue with it but the innocence is gone.
 
jenna42 said:
And "years of faithful devotion" - come on, he had a job he was well paid for; very well paid for in comparison to most people in the UK. What did he expect, a gold watch?
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Did you read about some of the things he had to do to maintain the stupid gimmick of a secret identity? He went to great lengths to keep it secret and I imagine it was extremely annoying at times. Besides which, he's a very skilled man who got paid very little in comparison to the other 3 faces of TopGear. After nearly a decade of doing a damn fine job, a job very few people in the world could have done, I think he deserves better than being tarred and feathered and hung out to dry.
 
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