After premiering just last year, SAS Australia has continued to be one of the most shocking reality shows on TV, pushing celebrity recruits to their absolute limits in a course designed to resemble literal SAS selection processes.
We’ve watched the likes of Brynne Edelsten, Koby Abberton, Bonnie Anderson and Isabelle Cornish dwindle over the last few weeks, and we were finally left with five final recruits.
Sam Burgess, John Steffensen, Jana Pittman, Mark Philippoussis and Dan Ewing all prepared to take on the final challenges tonight.
However, we saw the DS cull two recruits along the way, Dan, based on his performance after being captured and interrogated, and Jana, after an intense physical task got the better of her.
The final three – John, Sam, and Mark all went on to the very last part of selection, where they all successfully crawled across a rope suspended over a ravine, and hung off it for 90 seconds.
Despite successful completion for all three, it was Sam alone who chosen to pass selection based on his performance across the entire course, ultimately winning SAS Australia for 2021.
Sam displayed brute strength while hanging from the rope, and said he wanted to complete the course to inspire his family, making special mention of his children and his brothers.
He also read an emotional letter he’d written to his mother last night, when the remaining recruits were asked to write ‘death letters’ to their loved ones.
He teared up speaking of his love for his kids, William and Poppy, whom he famously shares with ex-wife, Phoebe Burgess.
“I’m feeling a lot of things really – a bit of emotion, joy, bit unbelievable. It was my goal, it was my goal to get to the end and be selected, and it was great to achieve the goal,” he said at the very end.
Sam took to Instagram after the finale to reflect on his experience.
“When I agreed to do this course I set myself two simple goals;
1. Be totally honest with myself
2. Complete the course,” he wrote.
“Throughout the experience, I grew enormously through pain and discomfort, through joy and teamwork, through fatigue and food deprivation but most of all by being vulnerable enough to share this, become better at understanding myself and in turn reveal true character.
He thanked the DS team, and congratulated his fellow recruits before finishing up writing: “I am doing the work. Day by day, step by step. Hopefully continuing to inspire and show we can all rise.”
The finale showed a bit of a shake-up to the format. While last year, the winning title was awarded to those who finished the course – Merrick Watts, Nick Cummins and Sabrina Frederick – this year, it was just Sam who was left standing in the final moments, owning all the glory alone.
The win must feel amazing after such an exhausting few weeks spent on the course.
This year, we saw recruits lowered into water while seat-belted into a vehicle, abseiling forwards and backwards down rock faces, tear-gassed in the first few moments of the show and submerging themselves in ice water.
The audience grew collectively closer to the likes of Jessica Peris, Jett Kenny, and Jana Pittman as we heard their stories of hardship, loss, and recovery.
The success of the show has ensured it will return for a third season next year, with filming currently underway.
The new cast list contains the likes of former Bachelor stars Locky Gilbert and Anna Heinrich, and fellow AFL players Barry Hall and Darius Boyd.
We can’t wait to see another season of this truly mesmerising series, and find out who will join Sam, Merrick, Nick, and Sabrina among the champions selected for the SAS.
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