LONDON -- A giant statue of Top Gear's mystery test driver the Stig is making its way to Poland this week.
The 30-foot figure of the helmet-clad driver, a fan favourite who sets lap times for cars tested on the show, left the Top Gear test track in Surrey on Sunday. It was bound for Warsaw, where it will be erected next to the Palace of Culture and Science to coincide with the launch of BBC Brit, a new channel starting in Poland, Feb. 1.
The Stig-laden truck will make pit stops in Amsterdam, Berlin and Poznan on the way.
"He’s nine metres tall, made of fibreglass and, according to the instruction manual, should only be hand-washed in warm soapy water. We don’t know where he came from, or what his mission upon this mortal coil may be. Frankly we’re worried to ask," the show wrote on its blog.
"Big Stig means no harm. If you spot him, simply stay calm, avoid eye contact, back quietly away and, whatever you do, don’t feed him any Wotsits. We don’t need another electrical substation trashed…"
BBC Brit will be the exclusive home of Top Gear in Poland and other European countries. As well as the motoring programme it will carry shows on science, adventure, business, food, music, sport and comedy.
Top Gear is a huge programme for the BBC overseas, broadcasting in 170 different countries with 350 million viewers per week. In 2013, it was named the world's ‘Most Widely Watched Factual TV Programme’ by Guinness World Records.
The show is not without its critics. In the past it has gotten into hot water over some of its overseas exploits, including a programme filmed in Myanmar, where it breached broadcasting rules when a presenter used offensive racial term. Most recently it was criticised while filming in Argentina where a row about a licence plate, which supposedly made derogatory remarks about the Falklands War, led to the team being chased out of the country.