Inside Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins horror injuries…from infected boobs & trench foot to tendons ‘torn off the bone’
IT’S the most dangerous show on TV but that doesn’t seem to stop stars flocking to sign up for Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins.
The gruelling challenges contestants face on the show include fighting their way out of a gas chamber, jumping backwards into freezing water and crawling across canyons on tightropes.
Big name stars who sign up to the Channel 4 show to see if they have what it takes are put through their paces by brutal SAS commanders who often reduce them to quivering wrecks.
But, as more stars fall foul of the grizzly tasks, with John Barrowman and Pete Wicks already quitting the latest series, viewers are starting to wonder if anyone is safe.
The opening episode of the new series saw the recruits choking and puking as they were gassed.
Fans watched in horror as stars including Ferne McCann and Maisie Smith wretched while struggling to fight their way out of the dingy chamber, dribbling and gagging.
And many other stars have been left with lasting injuries from the programme.
Infected boob
Geordie Shore legend Marnie Simpson revealed that her boob job became infected during filming, risking her health.
Marnie, 32, suffered the gory injury after pushing herself to breaking point on the show.
“One of the wounds on my boobs had opened up and it was infected.
“And the more I was going in and out of the water, and then I wasn’t drying my body, it was getting worse.
“And I was thinking, I did love the show, but I don’t think it’s worth my health.”
Marnie added that she was not fully prepared to take part in the Channel 4 show just ten months after giving birth.
“Just after having a baby, I wasn’t quite right, my baby had colic, so I just wasn’t in a good headspace.
“And then physically, my C-section was still quite sore, and after surgery my boobs were too.
“It wasn’t the right timing.”
Fellow contestant Rachel Johnson was appalled that Marnie was allowed to take part.
“I was absolutely horrified you were there,” she said.
“I felt so maternal towards you. I was surprised that production allowed you to do the show.”
Vomiting
The Doctor Who star became the first contestant to quit the new series of the Channel 4 show – after just 32 minutes at base camp.
He stormed out early in the first episode, complaining about being forced to eat ‘vile tofu’ sandwiches.
Singer and actor John, 57, moaned that contestants were only offered vegan food during the first gritty challenge in New Zealand.
He said: “I’m not a vegan or a vegetarian, but they made everybody eat vile tofu.
“I would never eat tofu in my life, but you’re so hungry you just eat it.”
John also suffered from a bout of motion sickness during a two hour car journey to the first location which left him green around the gills.
And then the tofu made him throw up again.
As the recruits were pulling on their army fatigues, John began heaving and declared: “I’m out.”
Chief instructor Mark Billingham asked if would like to see a doctor but Barrowman refused, adding: “No, I’m done.
“It’s not for me, I know who I am and what I’m about, it’s not for me.”
Afterwards he explained: “There was projectile vomit everywhere.
“And the tofu came up.
“I’m not going to make myself ill or hurt myself in order to prove something that I don’t need to prove.
There was projectile vomit everywhere,
John Barrowman
“I am completely comfortable with who I am.
“I’m a completely happy person.
“We’ve all got our issues and problems but I’ve made a mistake.”
Knocked unconscious
Strictly Come Dancing star Pete Wicks collapsed and had to be airlifted to hospital.
He said he was “truly gutted” to be medically withdrawn after knocking himself unconscious and breaking ribs.
Pete, who is also currently doing battle in the ballroom, admitted he “pushed himself way too far” in his second appearance on the show.
Two years ago Pete, 36, was forced to quit his first stint on Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins when he passed out after jumping from helicopter.
The former TOWIE star, who recorded his appearance in this series before Strictly kicked off, was seen doubled over in agony.
Despite battling her own injuries, Marnie Simpson added: “I felt bad for Pete because coming back the second time, there was so much pressure on him to do even better than the first time, so he pushed himself way too far.”
Rachel Johnson, who is also in the star studded line up, added: “Pete Wicks was medivacked off the mountain.
“He collapsed.”
Boris’ sister Rachel, 59, also broke a rib during one of the early tasks, but insisted she “power on through.”
Punctured spleen
Former Brookside star Jennifer Ellison suffered broken ribs, blood in her lung and a bleeding spleen after filming in Jordan in 2022.
“After I jumped from a helicopter, I hit my ribs and then I could feel a pain in my side,” she explained.
“When I got back to the UK it was getting worse, so I went to A&E.
“They told me, ‘You’ve got broken ribs, blood in your lung and a bleeding spleen’. The infection in my lung was really nasty.”
Jennifer was hospitalised for three days and given intravenous antibiotics before enduring months of agony.
She added: “It was really quite bad.
“It was really painful for a very long time. I was sitting in bed laid flat.
“I couldn’t take a deep breath, so I had to blow into a machine.”
Hypothermia
Sun columnist Ulrika Jonnson had to be rushed to an ambulance suffering from hypothermia during a cold water swimming challenge last year.
Ulrika, 55, said: “What phased me was the fact that I was so cold, that I felt that I had no control over my hands.
“Fear and cold meant I had no motor responses at all. I didn’t seem to be able to coordinate myself.
“You’re so concentrating on what you’re doing, I didn’t even look around, I didn’t even look to see where the cameras were.
“I was literally just trying to get wet clothes off and put something dry on.”
Trench foot
Former Health Secretary Matt Hancock was struck by trench foot caused by standing in cold and wet conditions for so long.
Matt said afterwards: “At the end I couldn’t walk, couldn’t stand up.
“I was in a bit of a mess physically.
“Trench foot is an incredibly painful condition.”
Metal plates in ankle
Loose Women star Saira Khan claimed she was left with ‘life changing injuries’ from mud wrestling with Ulrika Johnsson.
She said: “I was left with life-long scars, physical ones.
“That’s very hard to cope with.
“I am a very fit individual and to go onto a show and then have experienced what I did, I was in real show.”
Saira pulled out in the third episode of the 2021 series, and needed a metal plate and nine pins inserted into her ankle.
Torn tendons
Soap star Jake Quickenden, 34, was rushed into emergency surgery when tendons in his shoulder were ‘torn straight off the bone’ during a gruesome incident in which he ruptured his pectoral muscle and bicep in a speedboat challenge.
He screamed in agony as he tried to pull himself on to a boat in the 2021 series.
The horrific injuries left him with pins in his shoulder and five months of rehab.
The tendons were torn straight off the bone
Jake Quickenden
“I had to have the tendons stretched back to my shoulder. I have got four pins in my shoulder now where they are all pinned back into place.
“After the operation I had no feeling in my arm at all for 48 hours.
“It was like my arm was totally gone.”
Eye infection
Former Liberty X singer Michelle Heaton was left with blurred vision after developing a painful eye infection known as ‘swamp eye’.
She revealed: “Parasites found in extreme dirty water from the jungle decided to return in my eye with me.
The singer said she contracted bacteria from ‘extreme dirty water’ in the jungle:
“They lived in there and found their new home for over 3 months.
“Unable to see properly.
“To this day my vision is still slightly blurred in my right eye.”
Jungle rot
James Argent took part when the show was filmed in Vietnam in 2022 but the ordeal left him with trench foot, jungle rot and other long term injuries.
Revealing the extent of his cuts and bruises he said at the time: “I have battle scars that will last a lifetime inside and out but it’s made me a stronger person.
“I am one broken, broken human being,” added the former Towie star.
PTSD
BBC presenter and former Strictly winner Ore Oduba said he suffered PTSD after passing out during the 2021 series.
Ore, 36, lost consciousness in a river and was unresponsive for 30 seconds, which he later described as a ‘haunting experience’.
He said: “I was battered.
“My hands were in bandages, cuts to the face and various things.
“My son was the first person I saw after coming home and when he saw the bandages he asked, ‘Are you OK Daddy?
I was battered,
Ore Oduba
“I spontaneously broke down in tears.
“The reality of what I’d been through physically hit when my two year old son asked if I was OK.”
Broken shoulder
Motocross racer Shanaze Read, 33, was forced out of the competition in 2021 after she broke her shoulder.
She said: “I was just devastated about that because for me breaking bones and stuff, I don’t care.
“It’s been a part of my life with racing.
“I felt like I was short changed because I went out with injury.
“I was absolutely gutted.”
Intimate blisters
Mamma Mia hunk Jeremy, 32, was left red faced when he sustained a painful blister on his private parts.
During the first celeb special in 2019 the actor complained: “There’s a red ring where it’s been rubbing.”
Fellow contestant Sam Thompson urged him to go and see a doctor.
Passed out
TV presenter AJ Adudu, 34, fainted as she was forced to carry 45kg of military equipment up a steep hill.
She had previously been held in freezing water before going on a hike carrying a massive backpack.
Cameras caught her admitting she felt ‘dizzy and sick’ before her eyes rolled back in her head.
She later admitted she had ‘nightmares for weeks’ about the incident.
Celebrity SAS Who Dares Wins winners
Many celebrities have attempted the infamous Channel 4 quasi military training course - but only a select few have successfully passed.
Series 1 (2019) – Wayne Bridge
Series 2 (2020) – Locksmith and Lauren Steadman
Series 3 (2021) – Alexandra Burke, Aled Davies and Wes Nelson
Series 4 (2022) – AJ Pritchard, Calum Best, Ferne McCann and Maisie Smith
Series 5 (2023) – Gareth Gates
Three broken ribs
Olympian Fatima fought through ‘unbearable pain’ after breaking three ribs when she jumped out of a helicopter into the sea.
“As the days went by, the pain got worse.
“I couldn’t lay down properly or sit up properly. Absolutely awful.”