Ant Middleton fires back over SAS UK sacking
Ant Middleton calls SAS UK "unauthentic" and says Channel 4 sacking was all "smoke & mirrors."
- Published by David Knox
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SAS Australia instructor Ant Middleton has fired back at Britain’s Channel 4 over his sacking from SAS: Who Dares Wins, insisting he had already told them he would no longer be taking part in the show.
He has also branded the show as “unauthentic” and “half-scripted.”
This week a Channel 4 statement said after discussions in relation to his personal conduct their views and values were not aligned.
“Channel 4’s statement is very reckless and desperate, that’s the word, it’s desperate,” he told Good Morning Britain hosts Piers Morgan and Susanna Reid.
“It’s just them getting in there first, because they knew I was going… they wanted to protect their brand,” he continued. “It’s all smoke and mirrors.
“From the last episode of SAS: Who Dares Wins it became a half-scripted kind of reality show. Full control was taken from me, from health and safety to production and after that show I said ‘look I’m not going to film anymore. I’m done with SAS: Who Dares Wins.”
He continued, “When we started this off from day one, we had a great relationship with Channel 4. We said ‘let us be ourselves’ because our humour’s different, our composure is different, the way that we deal with situations is different and it allowed us to be us. It allowed us to be true to the military ethos therefore to give an authentic programme.
“And over the years PC patrol have kicked in, the woke patrol have kicked in to the point where we can’t say anything, we can’t be ourselves.
“It’s been so controlled and so managed and so unauthentic now that I’ve decided to completely walk away from it.”
He added, “I wanted to part in a healthy way, in a positive way. They [Channel 4] knew I was going. My future at SAS UK was no more. They knew I was going. And all of a sudden they drop this bomb about Black Lives Matter, that I’ve been axed. Ultimately what they’re doing is protecting their brand.”
A Channel 4 spokesperson said: “Our decision not to renew Ant Middleton’s contract and not to work with him again was solely based on his personal conduct off-camera and is not related to his on-screen persona as a DS.”
Middleton arrives in Australia soon with other DS staff to quarantine ahead of SAS Australia filming in April.
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- Tagged with Good Morning Britain, SAS Australia, SAS: UK, SAS: Who Dares Wins
10 Responses
Ant Middleton has pretty much confirmed my own opinion that British army culture and Ant’s use of recycled SAS culture in particular muddied the PR waters for the producers of this reality TV show.
This poses the question of what was expected of SAS: Who Dares Wins, if they wanted just a fun innocuous reality TV game show with a few inoffensive challenges they should have just thought up a softer version of I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here!.
So on the one hand he is insisting he quit and on the other he’s insisting that he has been cancelled by the “PC patrol”.
I’m sure broadcasters wouldn’t cancel anyone without due process – indeed just imagine if NBC hadn’t axed Trump!
I could never work out why in the Aussie series he would refer to female contestants as “blondie” and “chicks.” There’s a difference between being a tough taskmaster and condescending, surely? Producers should edit this stuff out.
Not seen the Aussie version but never saw anything like that in the UK version – the women were quite respected. It is one of my favourite shows and generally that’s because the contenders are unashamedly flawed, as are the crew themselves, and the show is much more about mental health and redemption than physical prowess.
It does sound like at the moment the plan is to go ahead with further series but wouldn’t be surprised to be honest if it’s put on the backburner after these two air – considering they’ve travelled the world with it then added women to the process and then have introduced the celeb version I’m not sure there is much more they can do, and unlike other shows introducing format points for the sake of it doesn’t really work here.
> “unauthentic”
Inauthentic. With spare time he could …
A racist in the military? Whatever next? *Cough*
This whole dispute is so pathetic. If he decided to quit SAS UK, then he can’t of expected to have been sacked?
So they decided to not renew his contract because off screen he quit.
Hold the front page! Reality shows aren’t really real…gasp..
Oh, and…he means inauthentic.
But only his last ever episode supposedly. It sounds like he is hinting that an incident occured towards the end of filming and that is the real reason he was pulled from future series, and from what he says the remainder of that series too with producers having to bring it to a conclusion without him.