SAS Australia: Merrick Watts joined show after mental health battle
Comedian Merrick Watts has lifted the lid on the real reason why he put his name forward for reality show, SAS Australia. In a personal interview, Watts made a heartbreaking confession.
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Comedian Merrick Watts has detailed his very personal reason for taking part in reality show, SAS Australia.
The radio funny man signed up for the gruelling series to counter the anxiety and depression that set in after his last gig on air with Triple M finished in 2017.
“I lost my self-confidence and I lost my strength in myself, that started to slowly manifest into anxiety and depression,” Watts said.
“It starts as a seed. These things just don’t become a tree. One thing becomes another, becomes another, becomes another and if you let it go too big it becomes too hard to chop down, that’s why I’m on this course.”
Watts, 46, and Tim ‘Rosso’ Ross got their start as Merrick and Rosso in 1998 on Triple J and were a hugely successful radio and comedy duo in the early 2000s up until their last show on Nova in 2009.
From then, Watts worked across different timeslots at Southern Cross Austereo’s Triple M and 2Day FM, including a short stint as part of the much hyped failed breakfast team with Mel B, Sophie Monk and Jules Lund (pictured).
“I had the number one radio program, getting massive ratings, earning a lot of money, and it was a really, really good time. And it ended,” he explained.
“I’m doing this course to completely change myself from what I was. Everybody knows me as a happy-go-lucky kind of guy … just a clown … always bulletproof. And to a large degree that’s who I am but I haven’t felt that way for a while and I wanted to feel that way again.”
He added: “It is not just about the challenge, it’s an opportunity to rebuild my strength and my confidence.”
There wasn’t a particular moment Watts noticed his depression setting in.
“I started finding myself sleeping in more, staying in late, I was lethargic and tired and unmotivated and not committed to shit because I didn’t feel 100 per cent,” he said.
The father of two is one of the standout contestants on the controversial reality show, which puts celebrities through their paces in a highly physical SAS course.
Among those still in the game with Watts are Candice Warner, Erin McNaught, Sabrina Frederick and Nick ‘Honey Badger’ Cummins.
“The thing that worries me is breaking down, that is my greatest fear. Not being able to go to the very end because I’m broken, I’d just be absolutely gutted because I need this.”
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