SAS hero Jay Morton says firefights with Taliban is nothing compared to new role as a mole in SAS: Who Dares Wins
AS he parachuted into Afghan warzones in the black of night, former SAS trooper Jay Morton faced death countless times.
But the 35-year-old elite fighter says it is nothing compared to his latest role — playing the mole in the new series of Channel 4 reality show SAS: Who Dares Wins.
Jay, who now runs a specialist outdoor clothing company, joins 24 civilian contestants trying to survive the brutal training for the world’s toughest military unit.
And he finds it hard not to blow his cover by being too good when the show returns for a fifth series on Sunday night.
In an exclusive interview, Jay says: “Coming from my background, you’re always trying to be the best.
“You’re competitive and that was personally difficult for me, being s**t at everything.”
Jay, who goes into the series posing as a factory worker, worked in a double glazing factory in Preston, Lancs, after leaving school aged 16.
He says: “I didn’t really enjoy school, and school probably didn’t enjoy me. I’ve always been an outdoor person ever since I was a kid, climbing trees, getting muddy, that kind of stuff.
“When I went to school that stopped me from doing that.”
Aged 19, he joined the Parachute Regiment, completing several tours of Iraq and Afghanistan. Four years later, in 2008, he joined the SAS.
He says: “I enjoyed being a soldier, then it was like, ‘Well how do you take that up a notch?’.
“It’s the natural progression in soldiering to get to the best point you can and that was the SAS.”
In the Channel 4 series, Jay works as the undercover eyes and ears for instructors Ant Middleton, Jason “Foxy” Fox, Ollie Ollerton and Mark “Billy” Billingham, known as the DS.
But the super-fit hardman reveals he did not get off to the best of starts after smashing through the first challenge.
He says: “We were getting beasted and Ollie goes to the top of the hill and I knew what was coming.
“You’re doing burpees then you’re going to have to sprint and go around the top of the hill.
“I shot to the top to Ollie and back around. I got to the front and didn’t feel too out of breath.
“I was nice and chilled and I turned around to look where everyone was and there was no one behind me. I was like, ‘S**t! Right, I need to calm this down a bit’.
'TOOK PLEASURE IN BEASTING ME'
“As I got up to Ollie, he shouted, ‘Oh you f****** think you’re a hero, do ya? Right, get in the squat position’.
“There was no special treatment. I think they took a bit of pleasure in beasting me as well, just because they knew me.”
This series, which sees contestants battling it out on a remote island in Scotland, is the second time a mole has been introduced.
Jay says: “People were quite suspicious of everyone. My mission was to go in as a recruit and relay information to the DS.
“It’s good to see, as a recruit, the people who want to be there at the end. It’s something the DS doesn’t see.
“I had different access to the recruits. That’s the whole point of the mole. We’re looking for the well-rounded individual who pulls their weight when the DS isn’t looking.”
Jay eventually reveals his true identity to the recruits before joining the other side to become the fifth instructor — and he promises it makes for explosive telly.
With Jay on the team, chief instructor Ant, 39 — whose rugged looks and piercing blue eyes have earned him countless marriage proposals — has competition in the eye candy stakes.
A flick through Jay’s Instagram sees him brooding on a mountain top and showing off his buff body as he poses topless.
But he is quick to laugh off any suggestions of being a pin-up.
He says: “It’s all the photographer’s work. I just don’t smile when someone takes a picture.
“That’s just the brand though, mean and moody.”
During his time in the forces, Jay was an expert in high-altitude, low-opening (Halo) parachuting, jumping from up to 30,000ft — beyond visible range of anyone on the ground — into hostile territory.
Halo jumpers freefall the majority of the way down, deploying their parachutes at the last minute to avoid being spotted by the enemy.
Jay was deployed into Afghanistan numerous times, often when it was pitch black.
He says: “No one likes to jump at night, let alone into hostile areas.
“During the day you can see the rest of your team in the sky, so there’s less chance of a collision.
“If someone flies into you, you’re f*****. There’s a lot of room for error and when it goes wrong, it goes seriously wrong.
“The best thing that could happen to you is that you die on impact.
“And this is all before getting to the target and carrying out the mission.”
'BARRAGE OF FIRE'
On one particular operation in Afghanistan, Jay took part in a successful helicopter raid on a Taliban IED explosives factory following an intense firefight.
He recalls: “There were four SAS operators and we were outnumbered.
“As we ran off the back of the helicopter we were met by a barrage of fire.
“The enemy retreated into the building. We were pretty much stacked up trying to spray bullets into the doorways to try to kill the enemy.
“But at the same time the bullets were going out the doorway and we were just stood next to it.”
Nine Taliban insurgents were killed, but none of the SAS troops were injured.
Jay says: “We ended up destroying however many IEDs, so IED strikes went down ten-fold because we cut down this IED factory. It was a good return on our investment.
“It’s satisfying knowing you’re making an impact in that country and to the British lives that are being lost over there at that time.”
Jay left the SAS after ten years in August 2018. He explains: “It is the dream job, and I’m grateful for the experience, but I was 35 and I wanted new challenges.”
That included climbing Mount Everest for the second time in May 2019. He says: “To do it once was great, to do it twice was amazing.
“I was so overwhelmed with the sense of achievement of getting to the summit for the second time I shed a little tear at the top.”
Now Jay’s day job is running a specialist outdoor clothing and equipment company with two pals from the Special Boat Service.
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He says: “We’re used to kicking doors down and now we’re looking at fabrics, where to put zips and how to create clothing.
“But the saying in the SAS is we’re a Jack of all trades and a master of none.
“It’s just using your experience and whatever you got in the SAS to dedicating your time and energy creating the next thing.”
- SAS: Who Dares Wins starts Sunday on Channel 4 at 9pm
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