SAS: Who Dares Wins hits toughest setting yet with Billy in charge
SAS: Who Dares Wins is set to return in January with its toughest course yet - and Mark "Billy" Billingham will step up as chief instructor.
The Channel 4 survival reality series sees a group of recruits put through a simulation of SAS training as they try to pass the selection process.
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But 2023's series is set to be the most gruelling yet as it will take place in North Vietnam's Thung Ui, billed as "the deepest, darkest, most unforgiving jungle in the world".
Series veteran Billy has been chosen to step up as leader of directing staff this time as he is uniquely qualified for training in the jungle.
He spent 27 years in the military, reaching the highest NCO rank in the SAS as Sergeant Major and started his career in the jungle in Belize in 1984, finishing in the jungle in 2008 in Brunei.
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An advanced jungle warfare instructor, his time spent in the jungle from training to operations, including Malaysia, Indonesia, Belize, British Guiana and Africa, is unparalleled.
When he left the military, he was the senior military instructor in the world’s leading jungle warfare training school.
Billy said: "Having been a DS on actual military SAS selection and Chief Instructor at the British Army Jungle Warfare Training School in Brunei, there is nobody better placed than myself to lead the recruits through this treacherous environment.
"I’m looking forward to challenging and encouraging the new recruits. However, I will not be accepting any excuses - this will be the toughest course to date!"
He will be joined by last series' chief instructor Rudy Reyes, as well as long-time colleague Jason "Foxy" Fox.
However, Remi Adeleke, who joined with Rudy last series, is not back - instead he will be replaced by newly recruited Chris Oliver, a 40-year-old former Special Forces operator and Royal Marines mountain leader who served in the special boat service.
Oliver, from the North East, was deployed on operations to Sierra Leone, Northern Ireland, Oman, Iraq, and Afghanistan, before leaving the military in 2015.
Reyes said: "Going to Vietnam for the first time was an emotional homecoming for me. My father was a US Marine who did multiple tours of duty in the Vietnam War and because of those scars inside and out I never knew him while he was alive.
"But I was born with his passion and energy to be a warrior and to go to the edge to find out if I have what it takes. It was an honour to work with the gracious Vietnamese people to bring the best SAS: Who Dares Wins series yet. And a humble honour to tread the harsh but beautiful jungles and rivers that my father, did, and in a sense meeting him in a warrior way, spiritually."
SAS: Who Dares Wins will return to Channel 4 in January 2023.
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