The full Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins 2023 line up has been unveiled.
The Channel 4 show returns this autumn with a brand new series filmed in the most unforgiving jungle in the world, Thung Ui, North Vietnam
Sixteen celebs have signed up to the cast. As ever, the series will follow the famous faces who think they have what it takes to pass SAS Selection.
Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins starts on Channel 4 on Tuesday, 26 September at 9:30PM and continues every Sunday at 9PM from 1 October.
So who is taking on the challenge this year?
Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins 2023 cast
Matt Hancock
44-year-old former Health Secretary from London
Matt Hancock says: “Being on SAS was like nothing else I’ve ever experienced. It’s one of the toughest physical and mental things I’ve ever done. It really opens your eyes and makes you look into yourself. After coming through the most challenging period as Health Secretary during the pandemic, I wanted to push my limits. It’s safe to say the course tested my resilience!”
He adds: “I wanted to do it to push my limits, to test my limits. I’d just come through a pretty tough period being the Health Secretary during the pandemic, so I wanted to test my physical limits.”
Gareth Gates
38-year-old singer from Yorkshire
Gareth Gates says: “WOW, this was an experience like no other. I learnt very quickly that there is a difference between being gym fit and battle fit. I was so looking forward to doing this show, to test myself, to see what courage, grit and determination I really had.
“I would encourage anyone who wants one of the ultimate, physical and mental challenges to give this a go. It was an amazing, brutal, unique experience!”
Danielle Lloyd
39-year-old TV Personality from Liverpool.
Danielle Lloyd says: “This experience was just life changing. It’s made me positive and ready to take on the world.”
She adds: “I love the programme to start off with, I watch every series. I knew it was going to be tough because I’m not the fittest person. And I think that when I went into that room with the SAS staff straight away I was like, ‘I’m not tough by the way. I’m just letting you know,’ I said, ‘But I feel like I am. I’ve got five kids. I’m definitely mentally a strong person. I have to be’. And I’ve been through a lot in my life that’s made me a strong person.”
Jermaine Pennant
40-year-old Ex-Premier League Footballer from Nottingham
Jermaine Pennant says: “I wanted to push myself to my limits, but you underestimate how brutal it actually is until your body’s going through it!”
He adds: “You underestimate how brutal it actually is until your body’s going through it. Obviously being an ex-professional footballer, I’ve done a lot of preseasons, a lot of fitness training, put my body through a lot of strain, but this obviously was on a different scale, total different. So I thought, “Yeah, I’ll be all right. It might be hard, but I’ll be ok”. I shouldn’t have gone in with that mentality.”
Jon-Allan Butterworth
37-year-old Paralympic Gold Medalist from Manchester
Jon-Allan Butterworth says: “My military career was cut short, so I wanted to see whether I have what it takes to survive in a world the DS think is normal.”
He adds: “Since my injury, I’ve always sought out new challenges. I was at the time in my life where I could challenge myself with something new.”
Melinda Messenger
51-year-old TV presenter from Swindon
Melinda Messenger says: “It was incredible, the most intensely physically challenging thing I’ve done. I would say it was surreal, but I’d also say it was way harder than it looks on TV!”
She adds of joining the Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins 2023 line up: “I love a challenge. I love to do or put myself in a situation where I have zero experience, where something’s completely new, I knew I was going to be totally out of my comfort zone. I probably wouldn’t be able to do it, but just for me, it’s like meeting the challenge.”
Michelle Heaton
43-year-old singer from Newcastle
Michelle Heaton says: “I loved being on Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins because it put me in situations that I would never put myself in normally. It got me to think outside the box. It got me uncomfortable. It’s only then you learn where your real limits are.”
She adds: “I love the show. I love watching it. Loads of my friends have already done it before. I got some mixed feedback from them but I just thought that it’s a challenge beyond no other, and I’m never going to be able to have this opportunity again. So when it was actually presented to me that it could happen, or it might happen, then I was up for it.”
Siva Kaneswaran
34-year-old singer from Ireland
Siva Kaneswaran says: “If you dig being tortured for a few days and being dragged out your comfort zone, then this is the show for you! In a weird way, it was very fulfilling in the sense that you face your fears and you come out of it a new person, a new improved person.”
He adds: “I wanted to challenge myself. The main reason was I saw the bravery that Tom had and what he showed in the band, and he really showed everyone what type of man he was and what he was made of.”
Teddy Soares
28-year-old Love Island star from London
Teddy Soares says: “The whole experience was overwhelming, but for me, it was one of the experiences that I will never, ever be able to live down.”
He adds: “I suppose the decision to go on Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins came at a perfect time, I think, mentally I was in a space where confidence was an issue, I was feeling lost, and vulnerable. A lot of the things that I would be doing on a day to day, I would be almost seeking validation.”
Gareth Thomas
48-year-old Ex-Welsh Rugby International from Wales
Gareth Thomas says: “There’s not many experiences that allow you the opportunity to look inside yourself and see what you’re truly made of. I just knew I had to say yes to this so I could work out who I really am, and it totally lived up to my expectations.”
He adds: “I’ve found in life, most things worth doing are most things that at the end of it have a sense of completion, a sense of success and tasks that beforehand, you are very wary of doing. You have a huge fear of doing it, because you feel it doesn’t fit who you are, or you feel that it’s way outside of your comfort zone. So I really did it because I really didn’t want to do it. ”
Perri Shakes Drayton
34-year-old Great British Olympian from London
Perri Shakes Drayton says: “It was an incredible experience from start to finish. There are so many words I can use to describe it. I loved every minute of it.”
She adds of signing up to the show: “I signed up because I watch the show and I’ve been like, ‘I wonder if I could do this?’ Being honest, I’m a fan of the show. So I’ve seen other people doing it and wanted to give it a go. When I got the call, without even knowing where I was going or anything, I thought, ‘I’m going to do it!'”
James “Arg” Argent
35-year-old reality TV star from Essex
James “Arg” Argent says: “I’m a big fan of the show, but I don’t ever really watch reality television anymore, especially since I left TOWIE all those years ago. I have just never really watched or been interested in reality TV. Most of the time I’ll be on YouTube, just watching vocalists, singers, bands, boxing, that’s what my interests are.
“But I’ve had friends who have been on the show, Joey Essex, Ferne McCann and Jeff Brazier and tuned in to watch them. Then as I was watching the show, I actually became a fan of it. So when I got the opportunity, I just had to do it. ”
Zoe Lyons
51-year-old comedian from Wales
Zoe Lyons says: “It was the worst ‘all-inclusive break’ I’ve ever been on. There’s a bit of me that feels incredibly fortunate that I got to participate in the show because it does test you, and there’s quite a bit of fun to be had if you don’t mind losing a few toenails!”
She adds: “Well, I’d watched it, and I wanted to see whether I could do it or not. I think it was just as basic as that, I really wanted to see whether I could do it or not. I’m in my fifties now, but I’m probably fitter than I’ve ever been and I thought, ‘I wonder if I’ve got what it takes just to keep going?’ It was that just to test myself.”
Amber Turner
29-year-old reality star from Essex
Amber Turner says: “Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins It was the Hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life, the most physically & emotionally demanding experience I’ve ever but the best experience all in one. I loved every moment of it (except having that bag over my head) and wouldn’t think twice about doing it again!”
She adds about taking part: “I think I’ve always been into my sports and my fitness growing up. As a child, I did every sport you can imagine. I was a runner, a swimmer, I did karate, and I just always loved anything sport related, and I always had a bit of a buzz for adrenaline. I’ve seen it on TV and I thought, ‘I’d love to see if I’m strong enough and tough enough to do that.’ Because it wasn’t the fitness side of things that was going to concern me because I thought, ‘I am really fit.’ I wasn’t worried about that. It was more just the mental side of things I wanted to see if I could do. ”
Kirsty-Leigh Porter
34-year-old actor from Manchester
Kirsty-Leigh Porter says: “Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins was absolutely brutal but the most AMAZING experience and dare I say it, one I wish I could do again!! And the DS are actual real-life superheroes – the strength they hold is unnatural. They are absolutely amazing!”
She adds: “The reason for me signing on to the course was to test who I am as a person I feel like as you get older, you get a bit lost as to who you are, who I used to be, who I am as a mother, as a partner, as my character Leela, you kind of get lost amongst it all so I wanted to break contact with every day life strip back mentally and physically and face me and see what my limits and boundaries are.”
Montana Brown
27-year-old Love Island star from London
Montana Brown says: “You don’t get the opportunity to do something this hard in life so I couldn’t say no. This was the hardest challenge I’ve ever experienced but I proved to myself that I’m actually quite tough and I can do anything I put my mind to.”
She adds: “I think just in general life, most people are quite comfortable, everyone’s in their own routine, get up, have breakfast, whatever. Most people live quite a scheduled life and everything’s quite within their comfort zone. So, obviously when this opportunity came around I just thought I can’t say no. It’s such an opportunity to push yourself mentally and physically to the edge. I kind of just was really curious as to how I was going to react to being so far out my comfort zone, and also doing things that I really don’t want to do. ”
Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins starts on Channel 4 on Tuesday, 26 September at 9:30PM and continues every Sunday at 9PM from 1 October.
Leading the Directing Staff (DS) Cis hief Instructor, Billy Billingham MBE and his team of Foxy (Jason Fox), Rudy Reyes and Chris Oliver
For now you can catch up on past series of both the Celebrity spin-off and main series online via All 4 here.
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