The new season of SAS Australia storms onto screens Monday, 13 September at 7.30pm on Channel Seven and 7plus.
Under the direction of elite ex-Special Forces soldiers Ant Middleton, Mark “Billy” Billingham, Jason “Foxy” Fox and Ollie Ollerton, SAS Australia recruits will face a series of physical and psychological tests from the real SAS selection process – on the most gruelling course ever seen in the UK or Australia.
See More: SAS Australia: Everything you need to know
See More: SAS Australia: Everything you need to know about the cast
Taking the recruits through the SAS Australia course in 2021 are the DS (Directing Staff):
Ant Middleton – Chief Instructor
How is this year different?
“The difference is very clear from the first task. These recruits think they know what’s coming, so we have to up our game and make sure that they’re always second guessing. We work just as hard as the recruits in order to give them an experience that is true to the selection process; that realness and authenticity of what it’s like to step into the shoes of a Special Forces operator.”
Did anything surprise you?
“The women were surprisingly tough and some of the big, burly men, surprisingly not. Once the mind goes, the rest of the body follows. It doesn’t matter how tough and strong you are, it’s all to do with headspace and mindset.”
Tell us more about the psychological vs physical aspect to this course?
“This isn’t army boot camp. If you’ve come on the course physically unprepared, you’ll be gone in the first two to three days. We won’t waste our time with you. After that, it’s all psychological. Our job is to make people realise their full potential, by pushing them to their limits and beyond. Most people have never reached their boundaries before, so they don’t know what they’re capable of. It’s about breaking recruits down and then building them back up with a different way of tackling problems and teamwork and leadership. Our time, our knowledge and our experience gives you a way of thinking that will make you a better person.”
What do recruits need to do to stay on course?
“Don’t take the piss, don’t disrespect the process. Go in with an open mind, knowing that we’re going to strip away all of your facades and expose you for who you really are. That takes courage, a lot of people don’t like that. But a lot of people will look in the mirror, grit their teeth and be honest with themselves and think, ‘this is what I needed, this is why I’m here’.”
What can viewers at home learn from SAS Australia?
“Have the courage to commit to yourself. Never think you’re too old or incapable. Understand every day is a learning day. It doesn’t matter whether you succeed or not, it’s about stepping into the unknown. You’ll start to understand yourself and grow from that.”
Ant Middleton
Mark “Billy” Billingham – DS
What can we expect this season?
“It’s another level. There are a lot of tasks which play on phobias and weaknesses such as a fear of confined spaces or water. We are there to push people through their barriers and things they are uncomfortable with, just to prove that it can be done with the right sort of encouragement and direction. The key thing that will get you from A to B and push you to where you need to be is your mind, having the courage and conviction to go for it. We have all got it but some of us just won’t step out of the comfort zone.”
What are the DS trying to achieve?
“We only have a short space of time to get the pressure and result we are after – which is helping these recruits find out who they really are. It’s a ballsy call to come on because they are putting everything on the line. But every single person, on every series we have done, both here and in the UK, has walked away a better person.”
Mark ‘Billy’ Billingham
Jason “Foxy” Fox – DS
Recruits are pushed to a whole new level this year. How?
“Last season was amazing, but this one has got that edge. We engage the emotion of fear a lot more. The opening task really sets the scene for the rest of the course. It is extremely brutal, what some people might call borderline torture.”
What do recruits need to do to stay on course?
“It is quite simple but for some reason, everyone finds it hard to just do as you are told. The reason an instruction is called a detail is you have to listen to the detail. If you get it right, no-one gets angry. And the sooner they get rid of the us-versus-them mindset, the better they get on. It’s them against themselves.”
Jason ‘Foxy’ Fox
Ollie Ollerton – DS
How is this year different?
“Last year it was all about dealing with the cold weather. This year it is arid which creates a different kind of uncomfortable. The tasks are really focused around how the recruits deal with pressure. It goes from 0-100mph in a heartbeat.”
Describe life in camp for these recruits?
“There are no luxuries whatsoever. It’s not about comfort, it’s about survival. Anyone can sit watching at home and say “I could do that” but they don’t understand the sleep deprivation, the anxiety, the lack of comforts, and the harsh realities of even say, the toilet. You are sat next to someone you don’t even know taking a number two. That is confronting in itself. It’s just not a nice place to be.”
Ollie Ollerton