The eyes of The Stig which would turn out to be Ben Collins.
The Stig's true identity is never revealed on the show, and in order to maintain the secrecy, all shots show him wearing full racing overalls and matching Simpson Diamondback helmet. All that can be seen from the gap between The Stig's helmet and jumpsuit is that he is a white male with dark hair. It is also known that he wears Size 9 racing boots as discovered by the Sunday Times and a well-timed camera flash managed to show The Stig's eyes by Auto Trader.
The identity of the Black Stig was revealed to be Perry McCarthy when his book Flat Out, Flat Broke was published in 2002 and news of him violating the BBC's NDA was made light of a year later. McCarthy was a former Formula 1 driver and so possessed elite driving skills necessary to portray the character.
The First White Stig[]
The identity of the White Stig was not "officially" revealed by the BBC for over 7 years. In the Winter Olympics Special, The Stig was shown doing a ski jump using a snowmobile. According to the Swedish tabloid newspaper Aftonbladet, the driver performing the ski jump stunt was Dan Lang, a Swedish snowmobile cross driver. In January 2006, a Daily Express article reported that Julian Bailey was The Stig. The Stig had talked in an interview with a Dutch TV Channel, Veronica, where he had a distinctly English accent. Both Darren Turner and Ben Collins were linked to the role, with The Scotsman quoting Susie Stoddart as stating "OK, there are two Stigs. One is Ben Collins and the other is Darren Turner. How do I know? I'm a racing driver, nothing stays a secret for long in motorsport." Despite these claims, Turner was never confirmed to have ever portrayed The Stig.
Collins was also the subject of online speculation, although he initially denied them, stating "those rumours are absolute nonsense" in the Western Daily Press newspaper. Collins was also referred to in the Health and Safety Executive report into the accident of Richard Hammond, named as a person "who worked closely with Top Gear as a high performance driver and consultant". However the report did not go so far as to name him as the Stig. In January of 2007 Auto Trader also commented on the possibility that Collins was The Stig, noting online speculation after "his appearance on Top Gear as part of a parachuting stunt", but also commenting that "(a)t 1.87m in height (over six feet) he could be too tall for the Stig’s racing suit." They quoted William Hill as offering odds of 8/1 against Collins being The Stig, with Russ Swift the 2/1 favourite. While Top Gear was filming in Zolder on the 22nd of May, 2008, a camera crew shot footage claiming that they pictured The Stig as test driver Tim Schrick, though further evidence refuted that claim, including Tim Schrick racing the Stig as part of the Germany vs. England feature in Episode 6 of Series 11.
Both Russ Swift and Perry McCarthy claimed that there was more than one driver who played the role of The Stig, reinforcing Stoddart's earlier claims.
Some suggested that this version of The Stig was actually Michael Schumacher, due to his unmasking in Series 13. However, later on in the same episode, Clarkson and Hammond decided that he wasn't the Stig due to his poor performance in the Suzuki Liana, with various news outlets dismissing the improbable logistics of Schumacher having to live or stay relatively close to the UK for filming purposes.
Elsewhere, the presenters once joked that James May's mother was the Stig, due to the fact that she drove surprisingly fast.
On August 19, 2010 it was revealed that the BBC was attempting to prevent HarperCollins from publishing racing driver Ben Collins autobiography, because it stated inside that he was the White Stig. However, the action was dropped by the court, and therefore revealed that Ben Collins was the Stig. He was temporarily replaced by former Top Gear and Fifth Gear host Tiff Needell, who was nicknamed "The Tiff" during his short stint on the relaunched show.
The Second White Stig[]
It is strongly believed that the race driver portraying the third incarnation of The Stig since 2010 is Phil Keen. This was due to a faux pas made by presenters Matt LeBlanc and Rory Reid, who both followed the otherwise relative-unknown on their social media accounts. In addition, the identity of Keen was put forth by tabloids as early as the search for Collins' replacement, potentially indicating a leak from within Top Gear.
Keen has been credited on Top Gear DVDs as a stunt driver driver, and can been seen the back of shot in Series 16, Episode 1 driving a Porsche 911 Turbo S in a drag race against a Volkswagen Beetle driven by Richard Hammond.
Keen also worked on the 2015 mockumentary Ben Collins: Stunt Driver, which was centred around the person responsible for The Stig's prior incarnation finding the perfect stunt car.