The Stig: Who is buying the book then?

Who is buying the book then?


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    156

Netwizard

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Jun 8, 2004
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I for one, will be :)

I think it will be interesting to get an insight into what its like behind the scenes from the eyes of The Stig.

I know the TG team are upset at what Collins has done, but if todays papers are anything to go by (and yes i do take what they say with a big pinch of salt!), the TG team should of treated Collins a bit better and paid him a little better than what they did.

On the flipside, Im sure Collins could of handled things better and not burnt his bridges like this, but hey ho, thats life. Sounds like its six of one, half a dozen of the other. From what ive seen and read about Collins, he seems very pleasant and down to earth chap.

As i say, from my point of view, I love top gear, we all do, thats why we post on this forum :) and being the Stig would be my dream job, so to get to read about it from "The Stigs" point of view and what its like to play that role in the show, to me is quite interesting.

Must be hard to have one of the worlds best jobs, and not be able to tell anyone what you do!

Ill probably get flamed for yet ANOTHER stig topic i know, but i thought it would be interesting as we are all top gear fans, to get a view on who is buying the book and who isnt :)
 
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I wont buy his book.
 
not until the january sales, when smiths are looking to get rid of the their bulk stock.
 
I doubt I'll buy it, I haven't followed any of his racing and I have no interest in it.
 
either -

a - when its really cheap
b - when top gear ends
 
No, i already knew he was the Stig and i've got far better things to read at the moment. i'd much rather read Tony Blairs book than read Collins.
 
I probably won't, but I'd buy it.
 
I am. And if the book's current Amazon ratings are any indication (#6 in biographies, #1 in sports, #56 in the entirety of Amazon), then a lot of other people are as well.

The way I look at it, it will be a very interesting insight into a big aspect of the show -- not "The Stig" aura itself (that stuff's for children) but the fact that he's trained a lot of famous people on driving well, and he's been a part of some of their most ambitious films.
 
Seems like it has the potential to be a very interesting read.

As far as all the politics involved regarding his anonymity, it's pretty silly. To have a guy working front and center in broadcasting and expect his identity to remain secret in perpetuity is an unfair expectation to have of anyone, whether contracts were signed or not. People involved in a successful show are able to use their product to advance their careers in the future, everyone from the producers, presenters, set designers, logistics, camera operators, etc. Am happy for guys like Hammond and May who are able to use their Top Gear success to be able to launch into other work, whether it be simple commercials or quality documentaries. In the same light, I say good for Collins. It's kind of surprising the reaction from the BBC and Top Gear team though. For a show that's clearly in the twilight of its years, where comedy and characters have become self-referential, one would have expected them to have a bit less serious of a perspective on things. Words like "sacrosanct" and "mystique" have no business being tossed around in any related capacity at this stage.
 
I won't buy it. There are several reasons:

-I'm am really not interested in the life of a racing driver. Racing is fun to a.) the person whos racing and b.) to the people, who WATCH it. But definitly not for those, who read about.

-I hate it, that someone, whos got the job of his live, earns quite a nice amount of money, is famous in a very interesting way, throws all of it away just to publish a book, which would never be read, if all the things said before wouldn't exist. I'm sorry, but: why?

-But chief among wich: The Stig isn't writing books. The Stig is not a person to me, it is a character. I hope, the BBC fires Ben Collins. Lets be honest: Most of the TG-audience didn't hear anything about Ben Collins (at least myself). Of course, Ben Collins has the right to write his autobiography and therefore its his right to reveal the identity of The Stig. But hes wrong, if he thinks, that people will thank him for that. If he wouldn't be the person, whos representing The Stig, nobody would read his book anyway. I don't give a shit about Ben Collins. But I really like The Stig.
 
-I hate it, that someone, whos got the job of his live, earns quite a nice amount of money, is famous in a very interesting way, throws all of it away just to publish a book, which would never be read, if all the things said before wouldn't exist. I'm sorry, but: why?

Ben Collins was (and probably still is) ?1,000,000+ in debt. He wouldn't be if he was earning "quite a nice amount of money".... in fact, from the way it's sounding, he probably made no more than ?10,000 per series, so maybe ?20,000 a year. That's not nearly enough for a man in his 30s with children to live on in the United Kingdom. And even then he wasn't getting personal credit for his contributions. Of course he was going to walk away from it.
 
in fact, from the way it's sounding, he probably made no more than ?10,000 per series, so maybe ?20,000 a year.

The rumours I've heard suggested the same figure, but per episode - that'd be 140k a year from Top Gear alone for a short 2x7 run.
 
The rumours I've heard suggested the same figure, but per episode - that'd be 140k a year from Top Gear alone for a short 2x7 run.

Correct, that's the rumour.... but, Ben Collins has said that he was being paid about one tenth of what those rumours were saying. He also said that he had to pay out of pocket for insurance, and despite being an integral part of the show, wasn't actually on the BBC payroll so he wasn't collecting pension.
 
I'm going to buy the book; if the book succeeds, it'll be a great big F**K YOU to Andy Wilman, who should have spent more money on paying Collins instead of the worthless crap that adorned Season 14.

You're supposed to take care of your PEOPLE first before all else. If what Collins has said is true, then Andy failed at that paramount responsibility and deserves to get roasted over the coals. That's true in Hollywood, too - while you have a production going on, especially a popular and highly rated production, you keep the talent happy. All of the talent; not just the ones you like more.

If what Collins has said is correct, any reasonably successful and unretired professional driver should stay way the hell away from the Stig role.
 
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Correct, that's the rumour.... but, Ben Collins has said that he was being paid about one tenth of what those rumours were saying. He also said that he had to pay out of pocket for insurance, and despite being an integral part of the show, wasn't actually on the BBC payroll so he wasn't collecting pension.

I find the first bit hard to believe. If he was making 10-20k a year as the Stig then how would he be able to inject 100k a year into his company?

Not getting any pension benefits from the BBC is a bitch, but I'm sure that was detailed in the contract he signed.



I'd say his company making lots of losses is the bigger problem in his financials than the Stig salary. I don't see why the BBC should pay him more because his company fails. If he didn't need to inject 100k a year into the company then he would have quite a lot of disposable income, no?
 
Not getting any pension benefits from the BBC is a bitch, but I'm sure that was detailed in the contract he signed.

Sure, but that sort of thing really starts to grate after a while, don't you think? Especially when you hit your 30s and have little kids running around the house. I'm sure he would've loved to be a full-time employee along with the rest of the Top Gear team, but for whatever reason he wasn't given that opportunity.

I find the first bit hard to believe. If he was making 10-20k a year as the Stig then how would he be able to inject 100k a year into his company? [.....] I'd say his company making lots of losses is the bigger problem in his financials than the Stig salary. I don't see why the BBC should pay him more because his company fails. If he didn't need to inject 100k a year into the company then he would have quite a lot of disposable income, no?

No, actually.

I'll agree that he didn't do a good job managing his money. But you know what, he's not alone. A lot of small-business guys, especially the ones under 40, are pretty bad at this sort of thing. I've worked at businesses where the basic business model was sound, which was good for getting bank loans and private investors to open their wallets..... but then the cash flow of the business itself was so horribly managed that the company ended up losing money anyways. And then what ends up happening is that you start taking out loans against the value of your house, you get your spouse to get loans, you get family to loan you money, you load up credit cards, etc.etc., just to keep the business afloat. That's how you end up in a very deep financial hole.

That's what happened to Michael Jackson... his expenditures were out of control, so he took out an almost $300-million bank loan on the basis that his music publishing holdings (which included no less than The Beatles' catalogue in addition to his own) were netting him $75 million a year. Ended up defaulting on payments of that loan within a couple of years.

It doesn't matter how good you are at what you do... if you can't manage your finances, you're going to have a rough ride.

Trust me, I could write thousands of words on the topic, having seen it all happen first-hand -- and having lost a job because of the company's inability to continue paying me -- but I won't bore you with those details. :)
 
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