Ant Middleton’s SAS: Who Dares Wins bears NO resemblance to real training says Special Air Service legend Rusty Firmin
SPECIAL Air Service legend Rusty Firmin has mocked SAS: Who Dares Wins – insisting the programme bears no resemblance to real-life.
The Ant Middleton-fronted Channel 4 show pits contestants against harsh environments around the world in a two-week long course designed to replicate the brutal SAS selection.
However, Firmin – who was part of the celebrated crack team which took part in the infamous Iranian Embassy Siege 40 years ago – insisted it was unlike any training he’d ever done.
Speaking to Ged Mills and Tom Latchem on The North And South Divine podcast, the 69-year-old said: “Reality TV is reality TV. Unfortunately, that programme is not reality.
“Anybody who thinks it is anything to do with SAS is in cuckoo land.
“If you took the water away from the show, there wouldn’t be a show. It is all water related.
“The SAS go over the mountains. I haven't seen a mountain in the programme! I haven’t seen any resemblance in that to anything I did in the SAS.”
Firmin also mocked a military campaign to get gamers into the special forces.
The Army recently took out a full-page advertisement in Soldier magazine aimed at potential soldiers reared on shoot-'em-up computer games such as Call of Duty and Halo.
However, Firmin laughed off the appeal and said: “They won't be frontline soldiers in my opinion, they will be what we call ‘REMF’ – rear-echelon mother-f*****s.
“I just wonder who the bosses were who were doing that and their reasons for doing it.
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“You can bet your life some of the lads are thinking, 'What next?'
“I didn't join the army to play games, I could have sat at home and done that. It's something I never considered would happen.
"Somewhere down the line reality has to kick back in and I am hoping it does," he added.
You can listen to the full interview with Rusty Firmin on The North And South Divine podcast.