Introduction
SAS: Who Dares Wins is a reality quasi-military training television programme produced by Channel 4 in the United Kingdom.
An Australian version of the show, known as SAS Australia, started airing in 2020.
The Swedish version, Elitstyrkans hemligheter (English: Secrets of the Elite Force) is broadcast on TV4 and premiered on 24 January 2021. It won the reality show category award at Kristallen 2021.
Outline
The TV show pits contestants against harsh environments all around the world in a two-week long training course that is designed to replicate Special Air Service (SAS) selection; a notoriously difficult programme that has been known to claim the lives of those who take it on.
The show’s directing staff (DS) take the recruits through hostile and unforgiving warfare environments, while testing their mental and physical ability through a series of tests.
The fourth series which aired in early 2019 allowed female recruits to take part for the first time, inline with the Ministry of Defence’s announcement that Special Forces selection would be open to women.
In April 2019, a special series in which all of the contestants were celebrities was aired as Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins.
Instructors
- Ant Middleton.
- Chief Instructor of the TV-show who is an ex-United Kingdom Special Forces operator serving in the Special Boat Service (SBS).
- He was dismissed from the show by Channel 4 in 2021 following ‘poor conduct’.
- Jason Fox.
- Season 01 to 07, main directing staff (DS).
- Celebrity season 01 to 02, main DS.
- Matthew Ollerton.
- Season 01 to 05, main DS.
- Celebrity season 01 to 02, main DS.
- Mark Billingham.
- Season 02 to 07, main DS.
- Celebrity season 01 to 02, main DS.
- Colin Machlaclan.
- Season 01, main DS.
- Jay Morton.
- Season 05, guest DS.
- Celebrity season 02, main DS.
- Melvyn Downes.
- Season 06, main DS.
- Anthony Stazicker.
- Season 06, guest DS.
- Rudy Reyes.
- Season 07, main DS.
- Former US Marine Reconnaissance.
- Journalist Evan Wright embedded within Reyes’ platoon and later wrote Generation Kill, a book depicting the events of the invasion from the perspective of the Recon Marines.
- Reyes is best known for portraying himself in the HBO TV miniseries Generation Kill.
- Remi Adeleke.
- Season 07, main DS.
- Former US Navy SEAL.
- After leaving the military in 2016 became an author, speaker, and actor (Transformers: The Last Knight (2017)).
SAS: Who Dares Wins Series
- Series 01 (2015):
- Series 02 (2016):
- Series 03 (2018):
- Series 04 (2019):
- Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins – SU2C (2019):
- Series 05 (2020):
- Episode 01: Exposure.
- Episode 02: Aggression.
- Episode 03: Unity.
- Episode 04: Grit.
- Episode 05: Pressure.
- Episode 06: Reckoning.
- Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins (2020):
- Series 06 (2021):
- Episode 01: Resilience.
- Episode 02: Fear.
- Episode 03: Control.
- Episode 04: Oppos.
- Episode 05: Leadership.
- Episode 06: Interrogation.
- Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins (2021):
- Series 07 (2022):
- Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins (2022):
Production & Filming Details
- Producer(s):
- Phil Turner.
- Freddie Foss-Smith.
- Production:
- Minnow Films.
- Distributor(s):
- Channel 4.
- Release Date:
- Series 01: 19 October 2015 to 16 November 2015.
- Series 02: 17 October 2016 to 14 November 2016.
- Series 03: 07 January 2018 to 04 February 2018.
- Series 04: 06 January 2019 to 10 February 2019.
- Series 05: 05 January 2020 to 09 February 2020.
- Series 06: 09 May 2021 to 13 June 2021.
- Series 07: 10 April 2022 to 15 May 2022.
- Celebrity Series 01: 07 April 2019 to 05 May 2019.
- Celebrity Series 02: 20 April 2020 to 25 May 2020.
- Celebrity Series 03: 29 August 2021 to 03 October 2021.
- Celebrity Series 04: 04 September to 16 October 2022.
- Running Time: 60 minutes.
- Rating: 15.
- Country: UK.
- Language: English.
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