I’m not misogynistic and I have a better combat record than Ant Middleton, says his SAS replacement Rudy Reyes

THEY are two hardened military veterans from opposite sides of the Atlantic who are also proud alpha males.

So sacked SAS: Who Dares Wins star Ant Middleton was never likely to be besties with his TV replacement, Rudy Reyes.

realrudyreyes/instagram

PA:Press Association

But we can reveal that a war of words has broken out between the pair, with ex-US Marine Corps hero Rudy, 49, boasting that he has more “decorum and combat experience” than his predecessor

The fuse was lit last week when Ant, 41, spoke out about being fired by the “w***ers” and “woke patrol” at Channel 4.

He had previously said he’d been unhappy with the direction the programme was taking and had been on the verge of quitting anyway.

He blasted: “We weren’t pretending to be anything other than what we were — uncompromising alpha males from the military.

“That’s obviously the opposite of the show they want now. The woke patrol have their victory, and I’ll be very interested to see where the series goes next.”

Today, in an exclusive interview, Rudy hits back, insisting he is anything but woke — and treats women with respect.

He also reveals he was approached by producers a year ago — months before British Special ­Forces hero Ant was given the boot.

Asked how he compares to Ant, who was let go by Channel 4 due to his “personal conduct off camera”, Rudy told The Sun: “I just think I have decorum and don’t curse and say misogynistic things while everyone is listening.

“That’s the difference, and I have more combat experience — and if that makes me woke, then fantastic.”

Ant was accused of making “lewd and suggestive comments” during filming of SAS: Who Dares Wins, with four women complaining to TV staff union Bectu.

He has denied the allegations and hit back, saying he had only ever engaged in “military banter”.

Ex-actor Rudy was unveiled as the show’s new chief instructor last month and has already filmed two series of the show in Jordan that will be aired next year.

The intense training under the desert sun caused a number of ­celebrities to drop out, including Love Island’s Amber Gill, who walked after 48 hours, according to reports.

However, it was water off a duck’s back for Rudy, who joined the ­Marine Corp in 1998 and carried out more than 50 patrols behind enemy lines in Iraq and Afghanistan before ­leaving the military in 2005.

Speaking from his home in ­Charlotte, North Carolina, after returning from the Middle East, he said: “I’ve been through this so many times I can laugh at the pain, misery and suffering.

“Because we’ve been through it so many times, it’s almost a comfort. “I’m used to the desert but the people from the UK were not used to that immense, dry heat.

“Many of them broke. My attitude is, ‘Don’t waste my time moving slow or ­complaining about pain, everyone is in pain’.

“But those that made it absolutely made it on their merits and it’s not always the biggest, strongest guy that pulls through.

I just think I have decorum and don’t curse and say misogynistic things while everyone is listening. That’s the difference, and I have more combat experience — and if that makes me woke, then fantastic.

Rudy Reyes

“You need emotional fortitude to be away from home and ­constantly fail, because that is part of the ­selection process.

“What we are looking at is how you get back up.”

Born in Kansas City, Rudy had a brutal childhood.

He was abandoned by his mother and raised in poverty by various family members.

When he was finally taken into care aged 12, he was riddled with ­infections.

His teenage years were spent in the Omaha Home For Boys, where he was taught about hard work and had to learn to defend himself.

At 14 he fought off an older boy who was trying to rape him.

When he turned 18, Rudy rescued his younger brothers Caesar, now 48, and Michael, 47, from the same boys’ home.

His first job was as a ­personal trainer and martial arts instructor, while outside work he followed an interest in Zen Buddhism, a peaceful philosophy which meant that for years he refused to touch a gun.

But he was moved to enlist when he saw a TV report about orphans suffering in the former Yugoslavia during the 1990s civil war.

Remembering his own ordeal, he decided: “If another young man is going to carry a rifle, it is not right to let others fight the good fight.”

After 9/11 Rudy was sent to fight the Taliban in ­Afghanistan, then in the Iraq War in 2003.

You need emotional fortitude to be away from home and constantly fail, because that is part of the selection process. What we are looking at is how you get back up.

Rudy Reyes

He returned from the conflict ­suffering from PTSD, and in the 2020 BBC documentary series Once Upon A Time In Iraq he talked about the horrors he had witnessed.

Describing one terrible day, he said: “We put up signs in Arabic, ‘This is a road block, turn around or else we will engage you’.

“We didn’t know that many of them can’t read, so they came pouring through in their vehicles and we killed every one of them. I feel sad for them.”

Rudy has also worked as an actor but believes it was that hard-hitting BBC ­documentary that brought him to the attention of C4 producers.

He said that before landing the TV SAS job, he was so hard up that he could not afford to buy his 23-year-old fiancée Jade Struck an engagement ring.

Now he is thrilled to be working with SAS ­veterans — and Ant’s former ­colleagues — Jason “Foxy” Fox and Mark “Billy” Billingham.

He said: “There were two television shows pitching to me at the time and they were low bar, but I needed to make a living. It was over a year ago — right when Covid hit — and they had cancelled everything.

“I had to provide for my young fiancée and pay off my bills and it was Jade who said, ‘Baby, these other things are just not your calibre — don’t do it’.

“The next day SAS: Who Dares Wins called and it was a blessing.

“I thought I was going to be the new fourth guy.

“I did not know until the last recce that they were interested in me being chief instructor.

“My first impulse was to say, ‘I am not sure I feel comfortable about this’.

Billy is like the father I never had and when Foxy and Billy gave me the thumbs up, I said, ‘OK, I’ll take the job’.

Rudy Reyes

“I called Billy and he said, ‘Mate, you have got the energy. This is right for you, this is right for us’.

“Billy is like the father I never had and when Foxy and Billy gave me the thumbs up, I said, ‘OK, I’ll take the job’.”

Super-fit Rudy’s intense Instagram workouts have won him 114,000 followers, and, revealing one of his catchphrases — “Here’s a little cutey, from me to you-tey,” — he added: “The pursuit of physical culture is a 24-hour-a-day, lifetime experience.

“I don’t diet, I just don’t eat that much. Sometimes I will have just one meal a day. It’s a myth that you need to eat so much.”

US Navy Seal Remi Adeleke is another recruit for the new C4 series, while father-of-five Ant, who served as a sniper and point man in the SAS from 2008 to 2012, has thrown himself into the Australian version of SAS: Who Dares Wins.

In June last year Ant was slammed after tweeting that EDL and Black Lives Matter ­protesters were “scum”, for which he later apologised.

Rudy said of Twitter: “This whole thing blows my mind. Who the f wants to hear what anyone has to say?

“I didn’t know about all the drama with Ant, but I am not intimidated by putting on boots, brother.

“I hope people that watch the show will see how appreciative I have always been of the UK military.

“I have many friends and fans that have supported me from the ­beginning and while we have our differences, I hope to bring our worlds closer together.”

Paul Schiraldi Photography

Pete Dadds / Channel 4

Getty

Channel 4