SAS Australia: Firass Dirani hits out at ‘villain’ portrayal

Firass Dirani hasn’t impressed viewers with his behaviour on SAS Australia, but the actor has claimed he’s being edited as the villain.

Firass Dirani has spoken out about his portrayal on Channel 7’s new show, SAS Australia.

After last night’s second episode, the actor posted a video on his Instagram story in which he said: “I knew it. I knew they were gonna make me into the villain. There has to be a villain, ladies and gentleman, and lo and behold, right here, this it is.”

Firass in his Insta story.

Firass on SAS. Picture: Nigel Wright

RELATED: James Weir recaps SAS Australia 2020 episode 2

Dirani, best known for his roles on House Husbands and Underbelly: The Golden Mile, has angered chief instructor Ant Middleton in both episodes of SAS Australia so far.

On two occasions the whole group of celebrities were punished after Dirani went against the instructors’ directions or made disrespectful comments.

Those punishments proved too much for Schapelle Corby and Roxy Jacenko who both quit the show as a result.

Viewers were not impressed by Dirani’s behaviour, slamming the star on social media.

In a group including drug smugglers and con artists somehow Firass Dirani has made himself the worst person there #SASAustralia

— Peter Johnson (@P_Johnson9) October 20, 2020

Firass is coming across as extremely insincere. He's a great actor, but he seems to be constantly playing a character. The SAS guys are calling him out and they're spot on.#SASAustralia

— reroy (@okreroy) October 20, 2020

The ego of Firass is gobsmacking #SASAustralia

— Frankie Floofington (@FrankieTigrmute) October 20, 2020

How long before we read an article where Firass blames ‘bad editing’ on how he’s being portrayed #SASAustralia

— Phantom Destroyer (@phantomdestroy_) October 20, 2020

#SASAustralia

Poor Firass
he's so out of his depth,
i don't think he's a bad guy just bad with authority,
those guys would intimidate the hell outa me too.

— calmlonewolf (@calmwhitewolf) October 20, 2020

I could watch ANT destroy Firass Dirani all day long. #SASAustralia

— Ashlee (@_itsashleeee_) October 20, 2020

Dirani recently spoke to TV Week about SAS Australia and said it was a “great experience” that he “absolutely do again”.

“It was a gruelling experience; people lost their minds in the cold. But I’m at an age in my life where I want to test my resilience and heart,” Dirani said. “In a year when the world has faced so much, I wanted this challenge.

“I wasn’t there to comply; I wanted to get punished!” he said. “If I couldn’t handle it, I knew I’d break and hand in my number, so I wanted to test myself and see how much I could take.”

The actor said it was brutal to watch the effect of the physical challenges on his castmates and revealed some of the injuries suffered on set.

Getting down and dirty on SAS. Picture: Nigel Wright

“Some people lasted only a few days – Shannan (Ponton) got hyperthermia and lost his memory for 45 minutes, and Erin (McNaught) couldn’t see properly after a bad accident caused her face to swell up,” Dirani said.

SAS Australia continues on Monday night on Channel 7 at 7.30pm