The BBC is breaking out the big guns, literally, to create more hype for the debut of the new Top Gear which is set to return to British television on May 29, 2016. They have brought back a Clarkson-era publicity gimmick, the nine-meter (30 feet) long Big Stig statue and erected it in London at the BBC’s New Broadcasting House.

The Big Stig was commissioned last year to promote BBC Brit, a network of the broadcasting company for the Polish people. Now this massive thing has been brought back to London where it was first created during a two month operation and has found a new home at a prominent place, leaving the onlooker in no doubt as to the purpose. If this can’t boost the new Top Gear’s ratings, nothing can.

Too bad Clarkson and Wilman didn’t trademark The Stig so they could take him with them to the new Amazon Prime show, the Grand Tour. This tame racing driver was a brainchild of Jeremy who named him after an old classmate of his. It was also Jezza’s idea for the Stig to be mute, with the reason being, according to Clarkson, that racing drivers have tiny brains and nobody cares what they say.

So will this relic of the old Top Gear will be enough to save the new one? If the reaction of the fans on the social media is anything to go by, the answer is a resounding no.

Via Top Gear