SAS: Who Dares Wins’ Ollie Ollerton has broken his silence after being dropped from the Channel 4 survival reality show.
The 48-year-old military veteran was axed from the popular programme after five years, and he’s spoken out about his “shock and disappointment”.
He admitted that he was gutted as he had “threatened his security” as a former member of the Special Forces, so expected “loyalty” from the television show as a result.
Ollie was part of the Directing staff, who put either members of the public or celebrities through their paces in a series of military-style physical and mental tasks.
Ollie was reportedly dropped due to an apparent ‘diversity drive’ on the show (Image: Pete Dadds / Channel 4)
He has been a stalwart alongside DS Ant Middleton, Jason “Foxy” Fox and Mark “Billy” Billingham since the intense reality show first began in 2015.
Ollie was reportedly dropped due to an alleged “diversity drive” on the show, and he will be replaced in future series.
He told The Sun: “Five years ago we put our heads above the parapet for the first time ever – threatening our security as former members of the Special Forces – to bring that show to fruition. I expected that loyalty to be reciprocated. It clearly wasn’t.”
He has been a stalwart on the show since it began in 2015 (Image: Instagram/ollie.ollerton)
He confessed that it would have been easier to get the sack for doing something wrong.
A spokesperson for Channel 4 told MailOnline: “Ollie continues to be associated with the SAS: Who Dares Wins Brand as a DS for SAS: Who Dares Wins Australia.
“Ollie has made an exceptional contribution to SAS: Who Dares Wins and the expertise and experience he brought to the Directing Staff team has been much valued. We wish him great success with his future projects.”
(Image: Channel 4)
It has been suggested that SAS: Who Dares Wins axed Ollie from the lineup in a bid to make the show more diverse.
Ollie insisted this would be difficult to achieve, saying to the publication: “There are a low amount of ethnic minorities who apply to get in the military, then the number of people who get through Special Forces selection is low.
“Then you’ve another issue, getting people who want to be on TV, because a lot of Special Forces out there will not do that show. Never. Not a chance.”
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
