SAS Australia: Nick ‘Honey Badger’ Cummins’ bullying ordeal

Nick ‘Honey Badger’ Cummins has opened up about his tough childhood and the extreme lengths he has gone through to patch things up with his dying father.

Footballer Nick ‘Honey Badger’ Cummins has opened up about the intense bullying he suffered as a kid.

The 33-year-old grew up in Brisbane and went to a school in the suburb of Logan, where he struggled with being picked on by other students.

“When I was 13 I was going through a pretty tough time at school,” he explained in an emotional scene on reality show SAS Australia. “Like gangs and stuff, death threats that sort of thing, I was trying to handle it.”

SAS Australia contestant Nick ‘Honey Badger’ Cummins.

Explaining the bullying to Confidential, Cummins explained that he was bullied for more than 18 months after defending one of his mates from a group of other guys who were a grade above them.

Cummins subsequently got in a fight with one of them, defending his friend, and then endured months of retaliation from the group.

The comments came in a challenge where contestants were charged with sharing their biggest regrets in life.

For the former professional rugby player, his biggest regret was pushing his father away at that time.

“My old man tried to help me, I was in a dark space and I told him to f-off,” he said, continuing: “His brother was murdered, stabbed and I didn’t want him to go through anything like that, but I added more pain onto him when I told him that.”

Cummins’ uncle was murdered at the age of 17 before the footballer was born.

“He (dad) didn’t flog me which made it even worse because I was always reliant, like, that was the evening thing,” he continued.

Nick Cummins before retirement from rugby.

Wallaby star Nick Cummins pictured with his father Mark Cummins. Facebook

“Now he’s got terminal cancer and I think that situation has driven me through my career to work harder to try and prove to him that I’m deserving of his love and I want to make that happen before its too late.”

Cummins quit playing for the Wallabies in 2014 to move to Japan to earn more money to support his father, who was then diagnosed with terminal prostate cancer. One of eight children, Cummins also supported two of his siblings, who have cystic fibrosis.

Nick 'Honey Badger' Cummins crash tackling swimmer Shayna Jack on SAS Australia.

“I think I was brought up with a strong moral code and a good sense of right and wrong,” Cummins said. “If I was given an order to do something and I didn’t, then it was a crack across the chops, not a punch or anything just a back hand but very well deserved back hand.”

Hearing of his dad’s illness was one of the toughest moments of his life.

“I was in the shower and it hit me,” he said. “I slid down the wall and I just bloody cried for half an hour. I had some unresolved emotion with dad but whatever time is left I want to have the most loving awesome experience.”

Originally published as SAS Australia: Nick ‘Honey Badger’ Cummins’ bullying ordeal