Ant Middleton reveals surprising news about SAS Australia after 'cancellation'

It may have featured in Sam Pang’s ‘In Memoriam’ segment at the 2024 Logie Awards on Sunday evening, but Ant Middleton has revealed some surprising news about the future of SAS Australia.

The star-studded military reality show was reportedly axed by Channel Seven earlier this year, despite the network announcing a fifth season at last year’s Upfront event. Chief Instructor Ant Middleton has now addressed the rumours and exclusively confirmed to Yahoo Lifestyle that the series will return in the near future.

“Of course we’re coming back, SAS Australia’s gone nowhere. You’ve heard it from the horse’s mouth,” Ant told us on the Logies red carpet.

“We just need to make sure we’ve got the right cast, that we’ve got the right location, and with SAS Australia you can’t rush it. You can’t just go, ‘Right, we need to do it every year’, because it’s about getting things right, it’s about keeping it authentic and keeping it real and keeping it raw. We need the right cast, we need the right location, and we need the right production company on board.”

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Ant adds that he already has a handful of celebrity contestants in mind for season five, including some of his Dancing With The Stars co-stars.

“James Stewart, Samantha Jade - she’s like a little pocket rocket. I can just envision her going zoom,” he details. “I’m always recruiting, everywhere I go. Especially at the Logies!

“It’s great because I’ll go to the CEO or the head commissioner of SAS and I’ll go, ‘What about this person? What about this person?’. And before you know it they’re stood in front of me in a quivering wreck and I’m like, ‘Right, I’ve got you now’.”

Ant spills on Dancing With The Stars finale: 'I was robbed'

While Ant may not be appearing on TV this year as SAS Australia’s Chief Instructor, he recently competed on the twenty-first season of Dancing With The Stars. The UK-born TV personality wowed the judges with his growth in the competition and finished in a very respectful third place to Samantha Jade and winner Lisa McCune - although he jokes that he was “robbed” of the iconic mirrorball trophy.

“I believe I was definitely robbed. I should’ve come first, I’m not bitter about it at all,” he says with a laugh. “No, do you know what? When I stood there next to Samantha Jade and Lisa, I felt like a proper fraud. I was like, what am I doing here? How did I manage to get this far?

“I’m super proud of what I achieved, but also super proud of being able to show that different side to me apart from that screaming, shouting chief instructor and the military disciplinarian. I could show the real me. And through dance, believe it or not, and I might sound a bit cliché here, but when you’re present with it, you can’t help but expose the real you. I love that process.”

Ant addresses resurfaced comments

Before his appearance on the reality show, the father-of-five publicly turned down the UK version of the series, Strictly Come Dancing. He asserted in 2018 that he would never do the show because “I’m not that kind of high-end, glossy character”.

“I’m in my area, a bit rugged round the edges and willing to strip myself down to my bare bones to succeed and fail. All that glitz, glamour, the sequins, I’ll leave for celebrities to do,” he said at the time.

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When asked about his previous comments and why he decided to join Dancing With The Stars this year, Ant told Yahoo Lifestyle: “Well, I quote, I said ‘I’ll never do Strictly Come Dancing’, so I’m getting you on that one. I’m bringing in the technical on that one!

“Ultimately, I will probably stay true to my word, I just love the Aussies. I feel at home in Australia, I feel like I can be me in Australia, and with Channel Seven as well, it’s a great family to be a part of. And to do this for them and myself, it wasn’t a hard decision.”

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