By JASON BECK
SAS: Who Dares Wins
SBS, Mondays, 8.30pm
OH. My. God.
Who’s ready for some weapons-grade self-torture?
This SBS gem has assembled a gang of gym-tough civilians, phoney Special Forces wannabes with but one aim: breaking them all like dry twigs.
Get ready for some Olympics level schadenfreude – and it is a joy to watch.
A cadre of ex-Special Forces operators takes firm control of 30 young and old civilians who’d always wondered if they had what it took.
Unsurprisingly, most don’t.
The idea is to ape the SAS selection process: to put the men through similar tests for our viewing enjoyment.
The guilty pleasure comes in watching a muscle-bound mouthy meathead, fresh from proudly boasting that he will “pound everyone“ fail dismally in one of the first challenges.
The instructors make it clear that these loud men, the braggarts, the over-confident, the showponies who wither and die without constant praise – these are the men who struggle in the most macho environment and culture in the history of the world.
After last week’s first episode, the fun is just beginning, but already the participants have had a crack at the “fan dance“ – up and down good old Pen y fan, in the Brecon Beacons, in Wales. Much sexy fun times do not ensue.
Already, some challengers have fallen by the wayside – and there’s plenty more pain where that came from.
Ultimately, every battle boils down to who has the strongest will to fight and win.
Are we tough enough? No, we are not.
The only difference between mortal men and the Special Forces community is that when it gets too tough, we’ll quit.
And they won’t.
– Jason Beck
