James Weir recaps SAS Australia 2021 episode 2 | Harrowing aftermath of ‘sl*t’ scandal

Ousted politician Emma Husar has given emotional behind-the-scenes details of the “Basic Instinct” scandal that ended her career.

Ousted federal Labor MP Emma Husar details the harrowing aftermath of the alleged “Basic Instinct” scandal that ended her career during an emotional interrogation on Tuesday’s SAS Australia while, on a lighter note, disgraced footy star Sam Burgess gets stuck in a pipe.

Stop giggling. This is serious. He was stuck in there for 40 minutes.

Just one day into the extreme training course, the celebrities have already been tortured with tear gas. And they know the worst is yet to come. We find them at 5am and it becomes crystal clear that celebrity chef Manu is already at breaking point. What brings him down? Bland food.

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“I don’t eat porridge – full stop,” he sulks, dropping his spoon back down into the beige sludge.

It splatters up into his face.

Manu, you sat next to Pete Evans for 10 years on My Kitchen Rules. You can tolerate some porridge.

Très ew.

Stripped of all creature comforts, the celebrities are forced to pass the time by mingling with each other. It’s fascinating to witness. The conversations are electric, the exchanges are scintillating. The observations are simply inspired.

“You’ve tucked your T-shirt into your underwear,” Sam Burgess grunts. He points at former Miss World Australia Erin Holland. “Do you always do that? Why did you tuck your T-shirt into your undies?”

Yes, ma’am – provide an explanation immediately.

“Because otherwise it just untucks and comes out,” she shrugs.

Well, Sam is sold.

“I’m gonna try it,” he yanks down his combat pants and starts jamming his shirt into the elasticised waistband of his black briefs.

Sam really gets to the heart of the big issues.

The celebs are transported to the first task of the day where they’re told they’ll be walking across a metal beam that’s suspended in the air. Heart racing stuff. But it’s nowhere near as exciting as watching former Home And Away star Dan Ewing attempting to be mates with the soldiers.

“How do you find being a bigger build with tasks like this?” he turns to one of them.

“What?” the soldier spits.

“I’m curious – ... someone of your size, how do you go on things like this?”

The soldier scrunches his face. “Just do it. Stop over-thinking it.”

Now’s the time Dan should back off. He doesn’t. “I wasn’t asking about technique – I was asking, do you find it more difficult?”

The soldier’s facial expression says it all.

‘Don’t you have a journal entry to write?’

For Dan, the hardest part of this whole experience is not being able to indulge in his self-care routine.

“Obviously, on the SAS course, I won’t have my meditation music or candles … but I still have my breath,” he muses.

The soldiers are keenly aware of this.

“Don’t get too close to me, your f**king breath stinks,” one spits at him.

By now the soldiers are bored. To lift their spirits, they decide to torture and physically destroy former Miss World Australia. She promptly quits the show entirely.

Hope you’ve got a good chiro, doll xx

Now the soldiers have a spring in their step, they decide to summon ousted federal Labor MP Emma Husar to the interrogation cell to question her about the allegations made in a salacious 2018 BuzzFeed report that claimed she’d sexually harassed an employee and exposed herself to a colleague.

“Shocking new allegations against Labor MP Emma Hussar including a claim she behaved like Sharon Stone in that notorious scene from Basic Instinct,” one of the soldiers reads out a headline. “If she’s innocent, then (the allegations are) f**king horrendous.”

“I’ve been called a bully, a thief, a liar, a cheat on every major newspaper across the country,” Emma reflects.

“I was forced to quit in 2018. My kids were nine, 11 and 16 when their mother was being called a sl*t in the nation’s media on every front page across the country. There were about two and a half thousand articles (claiming) I’d flashed myself in front of my colleague without wearing underpants, that I was sleeping with everybody in Canberra. (I) Had media camped outside the front door for weeks, chasing me across the front lawn – asking me with a camera and a mic in my face, ‘Are you a slut? Are you really Sharon Stone?’”

The soldiers ask if there’s any truth to the reports. She denies all the allegations and goes on to detail the harrowing aftermath of the scandal.

“The Labor Party, when they made me resign, they tried to force me to apologise for things that I hadn’t done. They drove me to the place where I would give my resignation. They organised the media. They took me to a hair appointment.

“And after this, I was diagnosed with a mental health condition. And one of the side effects has been (that) I’m completely numb. I’ve been diagnosed with severe depression. And acute anxiety. I actually don’t have any adrenal response anymore. So, if there’s something scary that happens, my adrenaline doesn’t spike, my palms don’t get sweaty, my heart doesn’t race. I’m completely numb.

“I think the strongest memory that I have of that time was just of how much I hated being a woman.”

The interrogation silences the soldiers as they realise that, after the scandal Emma endured, it’s gonna take a lot more than tear gas to bring her down.

The interrogation leaves the soldiers speechless.

Now, changing gears to some lighter news: Sam Burgess gets stuck in a pipe. For 40 minutes. And it’s a total missed opportunity that producers don’t get his ex-wife Phoebe to Gogglebox this moment for some picture-in-picture playback.

I mean, c’mon.

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