SAS Australia on Channel 7 – “I really struggled” SAS recruit Stephanie Rice opens up about life after swimming.
Tonight on SAS Australia, Olympic Champion Stephanie Rice suffered a painful injury that threatened to end her time on the course, while Anthony “The Man” Mundine revealed his heartbreak about missing out on selection for The Kangaroo Tour.
In the first task of the day, the 10 remaining recruits confronted their fear of heights to rappel 50 metres from an abandoned tower before infiltrating a window to complete a rescue.
Unimpressed by Anthony Mundine’s performance during the task, the DS called him in for questioning, where he opened up about his disappointment of missing selection for the Kangaroos squad and the system that tried to silence his outspoken views.
“I was an NRL player and NRL is a brutal sport. I debuted in 1993 when I was 18 years old. I was only a skinny kid. And I was carvin’ up, but I felt like I wasn’t getting the accolades. If I was a white fella …”
DS Ant Middleton asked Anthony if he believed his non-selection came down to race.
“One hundred per cent!” said Anthony. “1999 was one of my best years. At the end of that year, they were taking a tour to England. Don’t know if it was the World Cup. But they were taking 42 men to go on this tour. I was the best player in the league. No doubt.”
“The Australian coach said I didn’t get picked because of my ‘off-field characteristics’. I don’t drink, I don’t smoke, never took drugs in my life. But I’m very outspoken. They just wanted to show me they were in power. You do what we say and then you’ll see some fruits.”
“They didn’t pick me and that crushed me. Devastated me. Ripped my heart out, basically. I was playing from a young age. I should have been picked. You ask any of my peers who played in 1999. Should I get picked? One hundred per cent of them would say yes.’’
In the second task of the day, the recruits went through live grenade training, infiltrating a building under heavy fire.
Diving awkwardly into the sand during the task, Stephanie dislocated her shoulder and was seen on course by a medic who popped it back into place before she was taken to hospital for X-rays.
Medically cleared and determined to return to the course, Stephanie opened up about the disappointment of the 2012 London Olympics and her current sense of loneliness and lack of purpose in life.
“When I think about failure. I think about the London Olympics. Everything went wrong, I got injured. I tore the tendon in my shoulder eight months before the London Olympics. I didn’t have time to repair it. I just trained on it torn for eight months. I was disappointed things didn’t align the way I knew they could have.”
“I really struggled. I felt really lost after I finished swimming. I didn’t feel like I had any purpose or any direction. And I didn’t feel like anybody understood.”
Monday night on SAS Australia: A night beasting claims another withdrawal. The recruits come under attack and capture before facing each other in hand-to-hand combat.
The star recruits remaining on SAS Australia in 2023 are:
Abbey Holmes, 32 – AFL Field Commentator
Anthony Mundine, 47 – World Champion Boxer
Dr Craig Challen, 57 – Thai Cave Rescue Hero
Craig McLachlan, 57 – Actor
Mahalia Murphy, 29 – International Rugby Star
Matthew Mitcham, 35 – Olympic Gold Diver
Peter Bol, 29 – Olympic Runner
Stephanie Rice, 34 – Olympic Champion
Tim Robards, 40 – OG Bachelor
Zima Anderson, 25 – Actor
SAS Australia on Channel 7 and 7plus – Continues 7.30pm Monday
SAS Australia on Channel 7
About SAS Australia
The most savage show on TV, SAS Australia, returns to Channel 7 and 7plus on Monday, 9 October with a new group of star recruits descending on one of the toughest environments faced by Special Forces operatives: the Middle East.
Former world boxing champion Anthony Mundine, ‘Cocaine Cassie’, Olympians Stephanie Rice, Peter Bol and Matthew Mitcham, Balinese princess Lindy Klim, Thai cave rescue hero Dr Craig Challen and Brownlow medallist Jason Akermanis are just some of the 14 Aussie celebrities who have volunteered for the toughest challenge of their lives: a series of physical and psychological tests from the real SAS selection process.
For the first time on SAS Australia, these men and women will travel offshore to a secret base in the Jordanian desert where they will eat, sleep and train together in punishingly hot conditions without allowances for their celebrity status or gender.
Chief Instructor Ant Middleton is once again joined by Ollie Ollerton and two new Directing Staff, Jamie “Jay” Morton and Anthony “Staz” Stazicker.
With a combined half-century of Special Forces experience between them, their mission is to break down each recruit and rebuild them to be the best versions of themselves, determining who, if any, have what it takes to be selected as a fellow SAS soldier.
SAS Australia is produced by Screentime, a Banijay Group company, based on a Minnow Films format.
The star recruits set to take on SAS Australia in 2023 are:
Abbey Holmes, 32 – AFL Field Commentator
Anthony Mundine, 47 – World Champion Boxer
Boyd Cordner, 30 – Retired NRL Star
Cassie Sainsbury, 28 – Convicted Drug Smuggler
Dr Craig Challen, 57 – Thai Cave Rescue Hero
Craig McLachlan, 57 – Actor
Jason Akermanis, 46 – AFL Hall of Famer
Lindy Klim, 45 – Balinese Princess
Mahalia Murphy, 29 – International Rugby Star
Matthew Mitcham, 35 – Olympic Gold Diver
Peter Bol, 29 – Olympic Runner
Stephanie Rice, 34 – Olympic Champion
Tim Robards, 40 – OG Bachelor
Zima Anderson, 25 – Actor
Media Release – Seven
SAS Australia on Channel 7
TV Central Seven content HERE
SAS Australia on Channel 7
