Ben Collins. Sorry, never heard of him. Who is he? What does he do? What does he look like?

The very questions millions of people were asking…until recently. That’s  when, after seven years as one of the icons of the most successful motoring television show on the planet, ‘The Stig’ — or more accurately the man inside him — cracked!

You don’t even need to have watched ‘Top Gear’ to know what ‘The Stig’ looks like. He has become a merchandising dream – his images adorn T-shirts, posters, mugs, key-ring torches, kids’ backpacks, stationery sets, mouse pads…even ‘The Stig’ bubble bath and – maybe I should get this one – ‘The Stig’ stress doll!

Plus, with recent events, countless words have been written about ‘The Stig’ in all of our daily newspapers.

Yes, ‘The Stig’ is the mysterious figure in racing overalls and tinted racing helmet who pilots supercars around Top Gear’s racing track. And he’s almost become more of the face of Top Gear than Messrs Clarkson, May or Hammond.

In our training courses, we often quote the words of tennis legend Billie Jean King who said in order for sports men & women to truly succeed commercially, the public must know…” who we are, what we think, and what we look like. And the most important is what we look like.”

That didn’t stack up well for Ben Collins, did it?  We know ‘The Stig’, his iconic racing suit and tinted helmet, but Ben Collins could walk past you in the street and you wouldn’t have an inkling who or what he was.

Which, if you seek recognition for what you do — or perhaps want to sell your book – is hugely limiting.

So, Ben Collins had a choice to make: continued anonymity as ‘Person X’ inside ‘The Stig’, or break a contract with the BBC so as to get recognition for his life and work so far.

Ben chose the latter……..the book is on the way.

And the moral of this story? Well, if you are offered a lucrative contract as one end of a pantomime horse, or to be the next person to put their hand in Basil Brush, be careful what you sign. Because when the urge kicks in to get yourself known by who you are, what you think, and what you look like …you might be in a fix!