SAS Australia’s Ant Middleton reacts to Sam Burgess rumour

Ant Middleton has set the record straight about a rumour that former NRL star Sam Burgess choked out a cast member on SAS Australia.

SAS Australia chief instructor Ant Middleton has set the record straight about an alleged incident involving Sam Burgess.

The former NRL star is one of the 18 celebrities who will appear on the second season of the Channel 7 show which starts airing on Monday night.

Back in June, Fox Sportspublished an article that claimed Burgess choked out one of the instructors during an intense “kidnapping” exercise.

The site alleged that one of the challenges on the show saw Burgess and seven other celebrities being “kidnapped” by two SAS instructors.

SAS Australia season two kicks off on Monday night.

They were allegedly put in a car and driven at speeds of up to 100km/h. The point of the exercise was to see which of the contestants would step up and set the other hostages free.

“Sam took matters into his own hands, ordering [John] Steffensen to pull the handbrake,” Fox Sports’James Hooper claimed. “Burgess reached over and put the soldier in a head lock, choking him out, before climbing in to the driver’s seat and taking the wheel.”

An ambulance reportedly had to be called to treat the SAS instructor and producers were left “dumbfounded”, Hooper wrote.

Sam Burgess. Picture: Jeremy Grieve

Ant Middleton.

So, how much truth is there to the rumour? Quite a bit, according to Ant Middleton.

“He tried to get out of a situation and he used what he had at his disposal and that was his big arms,” the chief instructor told news.com.au.

Middleton clarified that it wasn’t one of the four main directing staff that Burgess attacked, joking, “he’s not that brave”. It was actually a member of the show’s “hunter force” who feature during some of the challenges.

“It was all controlled,” Middleton said about the incident. “When things like that happen we do step in, of course we do. We say, ‘Listen, good effort, enough is enough, let’s move on.’”

Middleton even admitted that he was encouraged by Burgess’ behaviour, saying: “It means they’re in the game, that their headspace is where it should be.”

The four directing staff from SAS Australia.

Another challenge from the upcoming season of SAS Australia has also made headlines this year.

In July, the Herald Sun reported that the celebrity recruits were exposed to tear gas with several having negative reactions.

“One female contestant urinated on herself involuntarily and at least two male contestants passed out,” journalist Tony Sheahan wrote. “The female was left with nightmares, screaming late at night in fear she would have to do task again.”

Singer Pete Murray, who is one of this year’s recruits, confirmed to The Daily Telegraph that they were gassed during one of the challenges.

“After the gassing you come out and run down to the parade ground and strip naked,” Murray said. “They’re just stripping you of everything you’ve got, and leaving the outside world behind. I’m into that – I think it’s just great how they do it all.”

Middleton told news.com.au that viewers can expect to see the recruits face much tougher challenges than they did in the show’s first season.

“We definitely upped the ante this year because we want to keep them guessing,” he said.

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