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WILL TO WIN
Bosses yell at us for pushing celebs too hard, says Rudy Reyes as he reveals why NO stars would pass real SAS training
Watch Rudy reveal what really happens behind the scenes on Celebrity SAS in the video above
THERE'S been questionable early exits, brutal injuries and bucket loads of tears in the latest series of Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins.
But it's all just par for the course according to Directing Staff Rudy Reyes, who has revealed how panicked TV bosses beg the military veterans to ease up on their beleaguered celeb recruits during each series.
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Tonight's series final will see Georgia Harrison, Bianca Gascoigne, Lani Daniels and Anthony Ogogo attempt to prove their mettle one last time and pass the course.
To do so they'll need to push themselves further physically and mentally than ever before.
In some ways it's a minor miracle the show had enough recruits to make a full series after a cascade of early departures.
John Barrowman lasted a matter of minutes, Marnie Simpson sobbed before handing in her armband, while former England rugby captain Chris Robshaw was forced to withdraw after dislocating his shoulder in a brutal fight with basketball player Ovie Soko.
READ MORE ON CELEBRITY SAS
But in an exclusive interview with The Sun, Rudy, 52, insisted the show's chaotic start was nothing unusual.
"Bro, the truth is, it's always like that," he said. "You don't know behind the scenes, but every course I've been on now, SAS and with Special Forces, my American version with the same production, I think I've done 10 or 11 series in three and a half years, in every one of those series, after the first day or second day, the producers are blasting through into our freaking dorms, into our barracks, 'you've got to throttle it down. Rudy, you've got to take it easy.
He continued: "Every season, every season. 'Oh, we're not going to have a show. 'We've got to hold on to somebody'.
"And we say, 'trust the process'. And it always works out. Trust the process. But yeah, it's per usual and part of the course, standard operating procedure. We always chop away the dead wood early on. It's just natural."
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To give the contestants credit, Rudy believes the current series, which was filmed in New Zealand, was the most brutal ever in terms of environment.
He said: "The terrain, the conditions, absolutely. Specifically all the cold water work under the ice work and the pace."
Celebrity SAS in chaos as star leaves on medical ground and TWO quit in dramatic scenes ahead of final
Rugged American Rudy, who served as a sergeant in the Marines and led missions in Iraq in the early noughties, takes his role as DS extremely seriously and is all about administering tough love to help the celebs defy any self-imposed limitations.
"I wish the very best for each and every one of them because of that growth," he said. "Because of that self-improvement, because of the opportunity to be their true self without the image. So that's why I care."
And while some may go all the way and finish the programme in its entirety, Rudy doesn't believe any of the recruits would last a day in real life SAS and Marine training.
"To be honest, none of these people would make it through day one of real selection," he explained.
A major stumbling block for the military hopefuls would likely be the need to be incredibly strong in the water.
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"This is the f**king truth," insisted Rudy. "If a recruit can't swim at close to the junior Olympic level or the master programme level swimming, no, they wouldn't make it the first day."
While the four DS - Rudy, Billy Billingham, Jason Fox and Chris Oliver - do their best to recreate the real life challenges genuine SAS hopefuls face, it's impossible to be perfectly true to the process.
"My training in basic infantry training, then follow-on training, and then selection, and then follow-on schooling took three or four years to do," said Rudy.
"So even the people who end up passing the final episode, they wouldn't make it through, even the pinnacle of these."
ALL OR NOTHING
There is never a shortage of willing recruits; alongside Strictly and I'm A Celebrity, SAS is probably the most in-demand reality show.
Whether the stars' intentions are to boost careers or to truly test themselves is often open to interpretation, but Rudy said if they're not willing to give everything to the process they will quickly come undone.
"The only reason that really matters is that they want this selection more than anything in life," he said. "When I went through selection, it was my entire life put into it and I never gave myself an out or I never gave myself an alternative.
"If you give yourself an alternative under pain, under duress, mentally, physically, emotionally, you'll find a way off the course.
"Everyone's injured. When me and the boys went through it, nobody's a hundred percent after all those months and years, broken feet, legs, twisted and strained muscles.
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"But if you keep that one vision in your mind, that everything in my life has brought me to this point and I must make it. The only thing in my life that matters is that I make it in and you can do it. That's what I believe."
Tune in to Channel 4 at 9pm tonight to find out who leaves it all on the line.
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