Celebrity SAS star admits show DOES bully recruits after fans complain to Ofcom about Ant Middleton
CELEBRITY SAS star Ollie Ollerton has admitted the Channel 4 show does bully recruits - just days after co-star Ant Middleton was hit by Ofcom complaints.
The former member of Britain's Special Forces revealed that while the show may push contestants to their limits, there's also an element bullying.
Speaking exclusively to The Sun Online, Ollie, 48, said: "To be honest the show from every angle is pushing it from a physical point of view and a mental point of view.
"We are experts at knowing when it's going too far, it's being able to know we are at the highest level, and that is why is the show is so successful.
"I know some of it is close to the bone, almost bullying in some respects but it's not that we've got to see how people handle any kind of, resilience, really you know if you want to be a special forces soldier you can't let that stuff affect you."
It comes days after it was revealed co-star Ant could face being investigated by Ofcom after he mocked Anthea Turner by calling the 59-year-old star "Grandma."
But Olly says Ant's hard-hitting approach isn't something he would enforce himself.
He added: "I do believe there should be a level of harshness because you've got to indoctrinate regardless of whether Ant goes hard.
"I wouldn't deal with them the way Ant does and he wouldn't go the way I do, but they've got to be able to push that to one side with all that noise going on.
"They've got to be able to get past the confusion humiliation and self doubt.
"No one is in a war zone saying, 'Oh that was a really good terrorist attack' or sat stopped when something bad happens."
Ant's recent comment left many viewers fuming with the former soldier - who is only 20 years younger than Anthea - accusing him of "ageism and sexism".
The slur sparked 16 complaints to the TV watchdog.
Television presenter Anna Richardson was among those outraged by the cruel comments on the show, tweeting: "Good to see a bit of good ‘ol fashioned ageism & sexism there lads with the ‘grandma’ references."
However, Anthea herself said she wasn't bothered about the insults, calling it "water off a duck's back".
began his military career at the age of 18 when he joined the Royal Marine Commandos and toured operationally in Northern Ireland and Operation Desert Storm in Iraq.
He has just released his second book, Battle Ready, and said it can be used as a guide to surviving lockdown during the coronavirus pandemic.
He told us: "The book really for me it's a war cry to procrastination to achieve the things you want to achieve in life, I was pretty broken.
"In 2015 I locked myself away in a house for two months and put into practice mind, body and nutrition practices that I do to this day, it's a real call to action."