Now that both Top Gear and The Grand Tour are over (at least until they’re brought back with new hosts) it seems the former hosts are willing to dish out some secrets—one of which is the identity of the third and final Stig. During a Q&A at the screening of the series’ final episode, Jeremy Clarkson finally revealed who the most recent tamed racing driver was. Some say he only knows two facts about ducks and both of them are wrong, but all we now know is that he’s called Phil Keen.
Over the course of 33 seasons, there were three different Stigs. The first two were Perry McCarthy, the British Le Mans and Formula 1 driver, and Ben Collins, the British racing driver and stunt ace. McCarthy’s Stig was the only one to wear a black racing suit and only lasted two seasons. Collins lasted much longer but was eventually let go from Top Gear in 2010 after revealing his identity as The Stig in his autobiography The Man in the White Suit. However, the third and final Stig’s identity was kept secret up until just a few days ago.
After a screening of “One for the Road” at his farm, Clarkson said, “The original Stig was Perry McCarthy, followed by Ben Collins, followed by Phil Keen.”
Keen is still a British GT Championship driver and considered to be the most successful, with 24 wins, 16 poles, and a Supersport class win. Keen was The Stig from 2010-2022.
The Q&A is pretty long and filled with interesting facts and anecdotes about both Top Gear and The Grand Tour. Clarkson also recommended that both the BBC and Amazon stop looking to hire famous people to continue hosting their respective shows, like he’s heard they’re trying to do. Instead, he said they should look for young car enthusiasts who aren’t famous, just like the original Top Gear trio were at first.
As someone who grew up watching Top Gear, as I’m sure most of us have, it’s fun to get some behind-the-scenes info on the show that inspired so much of our collective car enthusiasm.
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