Race driver Ben Collins, who has published a book about his secret life as the top-gun driver in the white suit on the hit TV show Top Gear UK, has told a Sydney radio station he is 'sorry' for falling out with the show's main host Jeremy Clarkson.
Clarkson has said that he was "stunned" by Collins' decision to write a book in "secret" and said he was "hurt".
But Collins told Radio 2GB host Chris Smith yesterday: "I think it takes a lot more than that to hurt Jeremy. I guess Jeremy is upset with me, okay fine, I guess I can live with that. I hope one day it'll be made up. At the end of the day I was very loyal to the program and I've nothing against them. I hope we'll make up over time, I'm sorry that Jeremy feels that way."
In the lengthy interview, Collins said he was surprised by the reaction to his book given that, he believed, his identity was no longer a secret.
The BBC had tried to stop the book from being published, but the book's publisher took the matter to the High Court in London.
"[My identity] had been in all the tabloids in the UK, the anonymity had been blown for some time so I thought it was very strange to be taken to court to suppress my identity," he told the radio station.
His identity was so widely known, Collins said, he feared he was about to be sacked. The original Stig, who wore a black suit, left the program after series one in 2003 once his identity became known.
"If you Googled 'the Stig', my name came up, it had been covered so much … I thought my cover had been blown. I picked up some rumblings from the BBC … and I thought I was going to get pushed out the door. So it really was a case of leave or get pushed out the door and I decided to go on my own steam and that ruffled a few feathers. At the end of the day I was being true to myself and I believe I did the right thing.
"I'm just one little guy and they probably thought they could tread on me like an ant. I believe very strongly in my freedom of speech and my right to write this book.
"It's a very big decision to go to the High Court. It's extremely expensive and pretty unpleasant if you lose, but if I lost I'd have been gagged for the rest of my life and that wasn't a prospect that I could face, so I went all the way with it."
Collins, a former LeMans racer and sportscar racer, who raced at Bathurst in 2009 driving a Holden V8 Supercar, said he wants to pursue a motor racing career. He has also taken a role with a rival motoring TV show in the UK, Fifth Gear.
"It's great having this freedom and the pressure being off and not having to lie to people about what I do," he told the radio station. "As fun as it was, eight years of keeping a secret like that is a long time."
When asked by Chris Smith if he will still watch Top Gear, Collins said: "I'll continue to watch it as long as it's good fun, and I'm sure it will be. I just hope they give someone else a shot at being the Stig."
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