"The Scotsman" described the Stig in 2008 as a "real-life James Bond able to tame the most powerful cars, while possessing all the mystique of Zorro." "The Sunday Times" in 2009 described the Stig as "not a man but an idea, possibly an extraterrestrial," speculating that, along the lines of the Spartacus mythology, the more people that were linked with the character, the stronger the mystery would become. It paid tribute to how long the show had actually kept the secret.