{"id":1963,"date":"2025-03-12T08:37:59","date_gmt":"2025-03-12T09:37:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pilotshopworld.com\/?p=1963"},"modified":"2025-03-13T15:03:24","modified_gmt":"2025-03-13T15:03:24","slug":"channel-4-has-last-minute-change-of-heart-to-save-tv-series-from-axe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/pilotshopworld.com\/index.php\/2025\/03\/12\/channel-4-has-last-minute-change-of-heart-to-save-tv-series-from-axe\/","title":{"rendered":"Channel 4 has \u2018last-minute change of heart\u2019 to save TV series from axe"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\t\t\"Pictured:\t<\/div>
Channel 4 has reportedly had a change of heart to save Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins (Picture: Pete Dadds\/Channel 4)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Channel 4<\/a> has reportedly had a ‘last-minute change of heart’ to save Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins<\/a> from being axed.<\/p>\n

The star-studded reality programme has run for six seasons after the civilian programme launched in 2015.<\/p>\n

SAS: Who Dares Wins was later axed to ‘shift Channel 4’s focus to prioritising’ the celebrity spin-off<\/a>, which has since seen the likes of AJ Odudu<\/a>, Alexandra Burke, Joey Essex, Ferne McCann, Curtis Pritchard and even Matt Hancock put through brutal trials.<\/p>\n

The most recent series, which began airing in September last year after filming took place in New Zealand the year before, saw John Barrowman and Pete Wicks up against Marnie Simpson and Bobby Norris as they went through military training in harsh environments.<\/p>\n

It’s now been claimed there were plans to axe the series, but Channel 4 bosses made a last-minute decision to save it, according to reports.<\/p>\n

It’s said that footage from the upcoming series caused bosses to change their minds.<\/p>\n

\n
\n\t\t\"Joey\t<\/div>
The likes of Joey Essex have taken part in the gruelling trials in the past (Picture: Channel 4)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A source claimed to The Sun<\/a>: ‘Channel 4 never officially announced that Celebrity SAS had been dropped, but behind closed doors, they had decided not to bring it back \u2014 at least for the time being. <\/p>\n

‘It\u2019s an expensive show to make, as far as reality shows go, and budgets have been tightened.’<\/p>\n

The insider added that a seventh series has already been filmed and is due to air this year.<\/p>\n

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There were never plans to axe this much-loved series.’<\/p>\n<p>Rumours of who could be taking part in the upcoming series have been swirling, and are said to include N-Dubz star Fazer.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"img-container shareable-item wp-caption\">\n<div class=\"img-wrap\">\n\t\t<img width=\"646\" height=\"431\" src=\"http:\/\/pilotshopworld.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/SEI_173258563-61cb.jpg\" class=\"article-image wp-image-22712044\" alt=\"EMBARGOED TO 2000 MONDAY SEPTEMBER 25 Undated handout photo issued by Channel 4 of Matt Hancock (left) boxing whilst taking part in Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins. Mr Hancock said the show was 'one of the toughest physical things I've ever done'. Issue date: Monday September 25, 2023. PA Photo. See PA story SHOWBIZ SAS. Photo credit should read: Pete Dadds\/Channel 4\/PA Wire NOTE TO EDITORS: This handout photo may only be used in for editorial reporting purposes for the contemporaneous illustration of events, things or the people in the image or facts mentioned in the caption. Reuse of the picture may require further permission from the copyright holder.\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>\t<\/div><figcaption>The brutal show has left several celebrities injured in the past (Picture: PA)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>SAS: Who Dares Wins sees a team of celebrity recruits endure two weeks of training that mirrors actual UK military training, pushing their minds and bodies to extreme lengths.<\/p>\n<p>Previous tasks have seen them fight each other, escape from gas-filled rooms and jump out of helicopters, having to <a href=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/2024\/09\/29\/celebrity-sas-star-warned-shoulder-pop-moment-painful-injury-21701377\/\">deal with several injuries along the way<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>DS Billy Billingham previously revealed <a href=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/2024\/09\/29\/celebrity-sas-star-feared-killed-strictly-contestant-collapsed-21698842\/\">he thought Strictly Come Dancing star Pete was at risk of dying<\/a> during one of the challenges, where the reality star collapsed to the floor and struggled to breathe.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"img-container shareable-item wp-caption\">\n<div class=\"img-wrap\">\n\t\t<img width=\"646\" height=\"431\" src=\"http:\/\/pilotshopworld.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/SEI_127614151-7028.jpg\" class=\"article-image wp-image-22712052\" alt=\"Ashley Cain, Maisie Smith & Jennifer Ellison reveal their insecurities and motivations that push them through Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>\t<\/div><figcaption>It has challenged celebrities physically and mentally (Picture: Pete Dadds)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Pete – who was <a href=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/2024\/09\/20\/pete-wicks-airlifted-mountain-collapsing-celebrity-sas-dares-wins-21623687\/\">forced to back out of a previous Celebrity SAS series<\/a> after suffering another injury – addressed the ordeal, saying: \u2018Look, that was a tough challenge. I collapsed. I just pushed myself to a limit and I was very dehydrated.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>He continued: \u2018Weirdly enough, I think I\u2019m the only person that gets heat exhaustion in the snow. I hadn\u2019t looked after myself and it\u2019s a fine line between getting stuff right and wrong.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Two years earlier, Pete was forced to quit when he <a href=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/2024\/08\/20\/strictly-stars-ribs-still-broken-weeks-2024-series-21453430\/\">jumped out of a helicopter into a lake<\/a>, knocking himself unconscious with his backpack as he hit the water face-down at full speed.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"img-container shareable-item wp-caption\">\n<div class=\"img-wrap\">\n\t\t<img width=\"646\" height=\"431\" src=\"http:\/\/pilotshopworld.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/SEI_124816676-9903.jpg\" class=\"article-image wp-image-22712059\" alt=\"EMBARGOED TO 2200 SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 11 Undated Channel 4 handout photo of Ashley (right) and Pete, coming out of the sea during helo-cast task. Pete Wicks said he was ???truly gutted??? to be medically withdrawn from Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins after he knocked himself unconscious and broke his ribs during a challenge. Issue date: Wednesday November 3, 2021. PA Photo. See PA story SHOWBIZ CelebritySAS. Photo credit should read: Pete Dadds\/Channel 4\/PA Wire NOTE TO EDITORS: This handout photo may only be used in for editorial reporting purposes for the contemporaneous illustration of events, things or the people in the image or facts mentioned in the caption. Reuse of the picture may require further permission from the copyright holder.\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>\t<\/div><figcaption>Pete Wicks, pictured with Ashley Cain, was medically withdrawn after breaking his ribs during his first time on the show (Picture: PA)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Speaking about the incident, Pete previously said: \u2018I genuinely thought this would be the challenge for me to show what I f****** got and I got it wrong, I got it very wrong. I think my leg got a little bit caught in the bag and I went straight down onto the bag, knocked myself out, <a href=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/2024\/08\/20\/strictly-stars-ribs-still-broken-weeks-2024-series-21453430\/\">and broke my ribs<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018I felt dazed and confused. I was struggling to move my upper body. Basically, I think where I\u2019d hit the bag, and I think just the impact of being unconscious and everything else, I was very confused.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018I didn\u2019t really know exactly what was going on and even moving my arms was quite painful, just because the pressure that was on my ribs and everything, so it just wasn\u2019t nice. It was just a strange, strange experience.\u2019<\/p>\n<figure class=\"img-container shareable-item wp-caption\">\n<div class=\"img-wrap\">\n\t\t<img width=\"646\" height=\"363\" src=\"http:\/\/pilotshopworld.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/SEI_222080494-60fc.jpg\" class=\"article-image wp-image-22712062\" alt=\"Pete Wicks had to be withdrawn from the 2021 series after breaking his ribs (Picture: Channel 4)\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>\t<\/div><figcaption>Pete returned to Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins but faced more injuries (Picture: Channel 4)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Celebrity SAS is currently led by Directing Staff Mark ‘Billy’ Billingham, Jason ‘Foxy’ Fox, Chris Oliver and Rudy Reyes, who took over after Ant Middleton’s departure.<\/p>\n<p>Ant who had hosted SAS: Who Dares Wins since 2015, was <a href=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/2023\/01\/23\/sas-who-dares-wins-why-did-ant-middleton-leave-and-who-has-replaced-him-18152289\/\">axed from the Channel 4 show <\/a>in 2021 due to \u2018personal conduct\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>It has since been claimed he’s been ‘dealt another blow’ after the Australian version of SAS: Who Dares Wins is <a href=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/2024\/11\/18\/sas-dares-wins-star-ant-middleton-suffers-major-blow-tv-spin-off-22016960\/\">facing a rumoured cancellation<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><em>Metro has approached reps for Channel 4 and Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins for comment.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins is available to watch on Channel 4.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong>Got a story?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">If you\u2019ve got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the <a href=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\">Metro.co.uk<\/a> entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@metro.co.uk, calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our <a href=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/submit-stuff\/\">Submit Stuff<\/a> page – we\u2019d love to hear from you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Channel 4 has reportedly had a change of heart to save Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins (Picture: Pete Dadds\/Channel 4) Channel 4 has reportedly had a ‘last-minute change of heart’<\/p>\n<p class=\"more-link\"><a href=\"http:\/\/pilotshopworld.com\/index.php\/2025\/03\/12\/channel-4-has-last-minute-change-of-heart-to-save-tv-series-from-axe\/\" class=\"readmore\">Continue reading<svg class=\"icon icon-arrow-right\" aria-hidden=\"true\" role=\"img\"> <use href=\"#icon-arrow-right\" xlink:href=\"#icon-arrow-right\"><\/use> <\/svg><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Channel 4 has \u2018last-minute change of heart\u2019 to save TV series from axe<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1965,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/pilotshopworld.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1963"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/pilotshopworld.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/pilotshopworld.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/pilotshopworld.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/pilotshopworld.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1963"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/pilotshopworld.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1963\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1972,"href":"http:\/\/pilotshopworld.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1963\/revisions\/1972"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/pilotshopworld.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1965"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/pilotshopworld.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1963"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/pilotshopworld.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1963"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/pilotshopworld.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1963"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}