SAS TO NHS
had already taken one look down and seen the clean white surface of what looked like my kneecap through a bloody tear in my trousers.
But before I had time to fear “capture”, Ant reassured me: “Don’t worry, it’s probably not as bad as it looks – it’s not really bleeding, I can just see some gristle.”
Billy, an SAS veteran who has worked as Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie’s bodyguard, grabbed his first-aid kit.
Ex-Commando and SBS man Ollie got on the radio and called for back-up from Jason “Foxy” Fox, another SBS vet.
Some of the contestants who will be going through their paces in the new C4 series were along for the ride, and they took it in turns to prop me up and fend off shock. “Stop smiling!” Billy commanded as I grinned for the camera.
Soon I was whisked from Break-Point, the centre run by the veterans, to a Surrey hospital still in my camouflage.
Four hours later I emerged on crutches and powerful painkillers, with the threeinch wound on my knee stitched up.
It was a price worth paying to see these experts in action. The new series of their reality show will see them take 25 recruits to Morocco’s Atlas Mountains.
The hopefuls are “beasted” during a nine-day version of the genuine sixmonth special forces selection process.
If my day out was anything to go by, it really will sort the men from the boys.