Entertainment
Ant Middleton denies ‘joking about having sex with female contestant’ after SAS: Who Dares Wins axe
Ant Middleton has strongly denied claims he ‘joked about having sex with a female contestant’ on SAS: Who Dares Wins after it was announced he was leaving the Channel 4 show.
The adventurer, 40, hit back at claims that the reason he was ‘axed’ from the show was because someone had overheard him make an allegedly lewd comment to a female contestant which was picked up on his microphone.
A spokesperson for Ant told MailOnline: ‘Ant has worked on TV sets around the world for many years and has never at any point been accused of speaking inappropriately by anyone.
‘He has only ever been informed of these allegations, which he wholeheartedly and emphatically rejects, via the media.
‘If anyone felt that he did say anything verbally offensive we would have expected a formal process of review but no such discussion has ever taken place either via any of the networks he works for or via bodies such as Bectu.’
It comes after a source alleged to The Sun that he joked to a female contestant about having sex with her, which prompted a member of the production team to complain.
The source added: ‘Comments by Ant — whether made in jest or not — were picked up by production and someone complained. In total up to four women submitted concerns to production bosses.
‘On the celebrity version of the show he made comments to two female celebrities, both of whom were not single.
‘Everyone on the show was talking about it among themselves. Staff at Minnow Films, who make the show, say they’ve still got the audio of one alleged incident.’
Earlier in the week, Ant had also addressed claims that several people had complained about his ‘inappropriate comments’ towards female staff on set.
Ant replied on Good Morning Britain, where he told Piers Morgan and Susanna Reid: ‘There’s a new protocol that came in [Channel 4’s] health and safety that if they feel offended, or they want to complain, they can complain, anonymously.
‘So it’s obviously something that they’ve seen. They’ve seen a bit of military banter. They’ve seen a bit of military humour. They’ve seen us talk about our crew or maybe a production member whilst we’re in the DS story or something like that, it’s not direct.
To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web
browser that
supports HTML5
video
‘It’s something indirect that they’ve complained about that they’ve that they’ve seen and they felt offended by.’
He also denied he had been sacked, claiming it was his decision to leave but that Channel 4 claimed it was theirs to ‘protect their brand’.
Ant explained: ‘It’s just smoke and mirrors. It’s just them getting in there first, because they knew I was going, they wanted to protect their brand.’
He later admitted: ‘Yeah, I have butted heads with a lot of people over the last few series. And that’s why I have walked away from the series.
‘But you know, you can take that inappropriately as you want. And you can interpret that as you want.
‘Yeah, I probably haven’t been easy to work with. But it’s only because the course wasn’t what it was, wasn’t what I created. It isn’t the direction I wanted to go in.’
When approached for comment, Channel 4 told Metro.co.uk: ‘Our decision not to renew Ant Middleton’s contract and not to work with him again was solely based on his personal conduct off camera and is not related to his on-screen persona as a DS.
‘SAS: Who Dares Wins will continue to be as tough as it’s ever been.’
Got a story?
If you’ve got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the Metro.co.uk entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@metro.co.uk, calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we’d love to hear from you.
MORE : Katie Price backs Ant Middleton after Channel 4 axe as she’d work with him again ‘at drop of a hat’
