So the identity of The Stig has been confirmed by Ben Collins, the man who played the role for the past seven years, you happy now?! The Stig was invented by Jeremy Clarkson and was supposed to be a mysterious character. BBC did a great job keeping this secret throughout the years and even sacked the first Stig, Perry McCarthy after he was identified. Now Ben Collins faces the same treatment, but probably he doesn’t care, because he will soon publish his book with a cool book cover design which is the Stig’s Autobiography and will make millions more than he made when he was the Stig.

Of course BBC realized he is going to publish this book so they sued publisher HarperCollins and tried to stop them from claiming a character that intellectually belongs to them. But they lost this legal battle, and now they have to sit back and watch HarperCollins making bucket load of money with their Stig!

The funny bit is, BBC themselves could reveal the Stig like this and enjoy the benefits, but they decided to keep it a secret because it was one of the most interesting features of  Top Gear and they didn’t want to ruin it for the viewers. That said, we do also feel for Ben. Some say he was not getting as much dough as the rest of the Top Gear heroes, so after seven years he got kinda bored and decided to stand up for himself.

Watch Ben Collins as he confirms he is the Stig outside the court:

Ben Collins had appeared on Top Gear before he put on the white suite, and he also has a rather successful racing career and has even ben a stunt driver for James Bond in the Quantum of Solace. Moreover, according to The Sun newspaper he’s been a member of British special forces SAS and helped to teach troopers ‘escape and evade’ driving skills. So as you see he was the perfect man for the Stig job!

So he’s definitely not coming back to Top Gear, and it’s not clear whether or not the character will live on now that it’s ruined. Although some rumors suggest BBC has already hired a new Stig and he’s even been spotted doing some publicity stuff.

According to HarperCollins, the Stig’s book will be out on September 16.