Wes Nelson – whom Love Island stans will recognise from season 4 of the UK series – has opened up about being scared for his life while filming the UK’s version of SAS Australia.
On an ep of the podcast Tea Time, Nelson said “he could have died” on the show. The same show that was formally titled Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins (a catchy TV name if I’ve ever heard one).
While the Aussie version is filmed in the Carpertee Valley in NSW, in the UK the celebs make their way up to the Scottish Hebrides, a series of islands off Scotland’s coast.
Just to give you some insight there: the average temperature for July, the hottest month of the year in the Hebrides, is 17 degrees celcius. Not a joke!!!
And clearly they make the celebs go there without a kilt to keep them warm, because on the poddy, Nelson said “we had hypothermia everyday”.
He then said “it was the most messed up show I’ve ever done in my life”.
Honestly, the physical, emotional and mental jump from being in a Spanish villa where all you can do is talk about mugging someone off and/or going for a chat, to being on a Scottish island performing intense physical labour and being shouted at is mindboggling.
In a particularly gnarly bit of the interview, Nelson said that his tooth got “knocked back” while on Celebrity SAS.
“There were trainers, one of them – not going to name who – smacked my head, smashed my head on the floor.
“There is about three or four chances, like clear cut times on the show where we could have died. Like I could have died. Dead.”
Is this really what TV has come to? Watching celebrities get physically abused for fun? Is this the 21st century version of the guillotine?
Back when the show first began airing, Nelson posted on his Instagram: “I was gonna say how difficult the course is but tbh it’s just plain fucked up!! I’ve never been so humbled in my life!
“It broke me down, built me up and completely changed me as a person, I couldn’t be more grateful!”
According to News.com.au, Channel 4, the network behind Celebrity SAS, released a statement saying it has “strict protocols in place to ensure the health and welfare of each recruit before, during and after filming”.
“We take seriously all injuries and provide full medical support where necessary.”
Hmmmmm.
But really, can anything compete with the massive bag of poo that split open on this year’s season of SAS Australia? Now that’s unbeatable prime time TV.
