Top Gear fans discover The Stig’s new role after popular BBC show is axed
FANS have been left shocked after the real-life Stig took a surprising job
Top Gear is set to be “rested” by the BBC after host Freddie Flintoff was seriously injured in a 124mph crash last December.
The show’s two-decade run has seen it produce some of the country’s most iconic celebs, including Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, and James May.
Top Gear also created the mysterious and iconic car test driver only known as ‘The Stig’.
There were multiple iterations of drivers behind The Stig, who would test cars on the Top Gear track and had a mythology built around the mute persona, such as the white racing suit actually being empty.
Flintoff was injured in an accident at the Top Gear test track at Dunsfold Aerodrome in Surrey and recently broke his silence and bravely revealed facial injuries.
The hit motoring show will be rested for the “foreseeable future”, the BBC has announced, with no details on when it would return or if there would be job cuts for its staff.
Top Gear’s production was halted following the crash and Flintoff reached a settlement with the BBC, said to be worth £9m.
Now, the very first Stig has revealed what he does for a living after donning the iconic white racing suit.
Perry McCarthy, 62, was the original incarnation of the iconic character between 2002-2003.
He was a professional race car driver and raced in Formula 1 in 1992 and Le Mans 24 hours races.
Now, the original Stig has turned his hand to the speaking circuit, sharing his experiences with corporate clients on what it takes to excel as a professional race car driver.
In an interview with the London Speaker Bureau, he stated: “I’m an ex-formula-one racing-driver and I was the original Stig on BBC Top Gear.
“What I do now is talk about all my experiences as a racing driver, coming through the attitudes that are necessary and I provide those via, hopefully, an amusing speech, business speech or a motivational speech.
“With my career, believe me, you needed to be motivated.”
McCarthy said he is normally a pretty chatty guy and it was a lesson for him in keeping his new role a secret.
“As always in my career in motor racing I tried everything I had, with every car I had, to go as fast as I can because that’s the position of excellence.”
Fans of The Stig were surprised to see McCarthy doing a speaking job, with some playing on the jokes Clarkson introduced The Stig as.
“I thought he would have been a bus driver,” joked one fan.
“He’s a builder in Torquay, and that’s the truth.” said another.
“Wow never thought I would be able to pay to get to see the Stig SPEAK,” said another.
One fan who had seen McCarthy speak said his speech was “focusing on resilience and seizing opportunities. Perry is engaging, thought-provoking and highly entertaining!”
Former host May said on Tuesday that he couldn’t believe the show was gone forever.
May, 60, hosted from 2003 to 2015 alongside Sun columnist Clarkson, 63, and Hammond, 53.
“I can see why it’s a tricky one for the makers, but I can’t believe it’s gone forever,” May said.
McCarthy previously shared his opinion on Flintoff’s accident with Radio 4: ‘[The] thing in my mind is I’ve got no idea why they’re now looking to cancel filming because they’ve had an accident’.
“What they should be doing is actually learning from that and implementing some better safety procedures.”
In a statement given to The Sun, a BBC spokesperson denied the show was being cancelled but said they didn’t know how long the rest would be for and that no roles were being made redundant.
“Given the exceptional circumstances, the BBC has decided to rest the UK show for the foreseeable future.
“The BBC remains committed to Freddie, Chris [Harris] and Paddy [McGuinness ] who have been at the heart of the show’s renaissance since 2019, and we’re excited about new projects being developed with each of them.
“We will have more to say in the near future on this.
“We know resting the show will be disappointing news for fans, but it is the right thing to do.
“All other Top Gear activity remains unaffected by this hiatus including international formats, digital, magazines and licensing.”
In 2009, McCarthy revealed to The Sunday Times that The Stig was initially called The Gimp in production meetings after the anonymous BDSM suit.
“I resisted. I said nothing stays a secret in motor racing and I don’t want to be forever remembered as the Gimp,” he said.