WHO DARES to go on TV WINS getting cancelled by the SAS
Stars barred from HQ
ANT Middleton and fellow ex-special Forces men risk being blacklisted by their old units for making TV shows.
Top brass say anyone exploiting their heroics in the SAS and SBS to build showbiz careers will no longer be welcome at memorials, medal ceremonies and dinners.
The ban will hit veterans such as Middleton, 41, who was chief instructor on Channel 4’s survival show SAS: Who Dares Wins for six years.
Top officers fear the chance of fame and fortune encourages “the wrong type of people” to join and compromises the regiment’s reputation for secrecy.
A former senior officer said: “The mystique has been gradually eroded by books, films, TV documentaries and shows like SAS: Who Dares Wins.
“There are even Facebook and Instagram groups posting pictures of special forces troops on operations, weapons and tactics.”
Currently anyone in the Special Air Service has to sign a legally enforceable confidentiality agreement to stop the publication of covert missions without senior officers’ permission.
The new moves will affect reunions at the regiment’s HQ in Hereford.
The ex-chief said: “We often have the wrong type of person wanting to join. There have been some soldiers turning up for their first day of SAS selection saying that if they pass, they’ll serve for three years and then go on TV.
“They are joining the SAS because they want to become celebrities and millionaires.”
Sources say there is now a gulf between the SAS, whose motto is Who Dares Wins, and the US equivalent, Delta Force, which remains one of the world’s most secret military organisations.
Despite being in numerous wars and hundreds of combat missions, the US force remains mysterious.
Ex-commando Middleton, who served in the Special Boat Service, was also instructor for three celeb versions of Who Dares Wins, including one in the Andes mountains in 2019. He left the show in March after reports of a rift and has filmed a version in Australia. He has been replaced for the C4 series next year by Rudy Reyes, who will appear alongside Jason Fox, Remi Adeleke and Mark Billingham.
Middleton and wife Emilie banked £1.1million between them in 2019-20 according to the last accounts from a firm which controls his media earnings.
The Ministry of Defence does not comment on Special Forces’ activities.
feedback@people.co.uk
Some want to join the SAS to become celebs and
millionaires
me nightmares. The whole time I was insisting Anthony was killed, no one was listening. I was thinking, ‘Was there more I could have done?’
“I’ve been to my MP, my local police. And Cressida said to me, ‘No, there wasn’t. There was nothing else you could have done’.”
Asda worker Sarah, 55, added after Tuesday’s emotional hour-long meeting: “It’s been all-consuming.
“I finally feel lighter knowing changes are being made, even though nothing will bring my son back.”
The inquests into the four deaths revealed that officers failed to carry out basic evidence gathering.
They had not examined Port’s laptop, or tested DNA on bed sheets on which two of the bodies were found.
And a fake suicide note found on Daniel was taken at face value.
MPS including Margaret Hodge have called for a full public inquiry into whether institutional homophobia was behind the failures.
Sarah said: “Cressida asked why I thought the police were homophobic.
“I said the officers had this preconception of what these men liked, and what they were into.
“She said she thought it was more a ‘total lack of professional curiosity’ – which it was as well. I don’t know how you can prove if they were homophobic. But I believe the culture needs to change. Right from the start there should be training into things around homophobia and racism.
“My gay friends say they wouldn’t even report a gay crime or rape because they feel the police wouldn’t take them seriously.
“I believe Port probably raped far more men who haven’t spoken out for that reason.”
Review
Policing minister Kit Malthouse has said he will not order a public inquiry, saying a review sparked by the murder of Sarah Everard would also look at homophobia in the force.
Sarah says Commissioner Dick told her she is now informed about any unexplained deaths and there is a new team that analyses deaths and crime data to look for patterns.
But Sarah said: “Even a five-yearold could have solved that case. It feels good to know she’s making changes, but we’ll see. Only time will tell.”
Sarah says the inquest ruling is now allowing her to move forward.
She added: “It’s getting closer to closure, but I’m not quite there yet. But I’ve been proved that we were right all along.”
Sarah, who split with Anthony’s father Thomas years ago, says her first hurdle now is Christmas.
She said: “I hate it. I don’t have a tree. I put any cards in the bin. It was always the weekend before Christmas that Anthony came home to Hull.”
In January, Sheridan Smith will play her in a BBC drama called Four Lives, also starring Stephen Merchant as Port, who is serving a whole-life sentence for the killings.
Sarah says Sheridan has remained in contact, and spoke to her shortly before the inquest.
She said: “We were talking about some TV I was being asked to do for the series and she promised she’d be with me by my side if I needed her.
“She’s been so supportive and plays me so well.”
Sarah’s book, A Life
Stolen: The Tragic True Story of My Son’s Murder, is also due out next year. She said: “It makes it easier to heal knowing it’s finally all out there – what the police missed – even though we knew it all along.
“I got off my chest what I wanted to say to Cressida. Ant would have been proud.
“After seven-and-a-half years fighting, I can now grieve for him.”
The Met declined to comment on the meeting. In a statement after the inquest, the force said: “Our thoughts are with everybody who loved these young men. We are so sorry for their loss.
“We’re deeply sorry there were failings in the police response.”
feedback@people.co.uk