Entertainment
Ant Middleton no longer working with Prince’s Trust as ‘name is scrubbed from site’ following SAS exit
Ant Middleton’s name has reportedly been scrubbed from the Prince’s Trust website, after his exit from SAS: Who Dares Wins was confirmed.
It was announced earlier this month that the TV host and former Special Forces soldier would not be appearing in the Channel 4 training programme.
Despite claims he was axed, Ant – who will still appear on the Australian version – denied he was fired.
Now, however, after working with the Trust – which was founded by Prince Charles – the Mirror reported Ant’s name has been taken off the list of celebrities, which included Holly Willoughby, Ant McPartlin and Dec Donnelly, who have worked closely with the charity in the past.
The Prince’s Trust confirmed Ant was no longer working with the organisation, telling the publication: ‘A decision was taken some time ago to no longer work with Ant Middleton.’
A spokesperson for Ant told Metro.co.uk the star hadn’t worked with the charity since 2019, when he appeared alongside Prince Charles at the opening of the new Prince’s Trust South London.
They said: ‘Ant has not been able to work with The Princes Trust since 2019 due to other work commitments.
‘He remains inspired by the charity and continues to have a lot of respect and admiration for the work it carries out.’
Speaking on Good Morning Britain following his exit from SAS, Ant dismissed accusations he made ‘inappropriate comments’ toward female staff and said that any comments were ‘indirect and just military banter’ – and that Channel 4 was trying to ‘protect its brand’ by saying they fired him, when he actually quit.
He said: ‘There’s a new protocol that came in their 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.
‘It’s something indirect that they’ve complained about that they’ve that they’ve seen and they felt offended by.’
Ant added of his exit: ‘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.
‘When we started this off, from day one, we had a great relationship with Channel 4, different people at Channel 4, great relationship at Minnow Films. We said, “let us be ourselves, and whatever happened in the DS dorm, protect us because our humour is different, our composure is different, the way that we deal with situations is different”.
‘It allowed us to be us, it allowed us to be true to the military ethos, therefore, to give an authentic programme.
‘Over the years, PC patrol have kicked in, the woke patrol kicked in, to the point where we can’t say anything, we can’t be ourselves, you can’t even act on the ground without health and safety jumping in.’
He later admitted that while he may have been ‘difficult to work with’ it was because ‘control around the series was being taken away from him’.
Saying he’s ‘butted heads with a lot of people over the last few series’, he added: ‘That’s why I have walked away from the series.’
When approached for comment, Channel 4 said: ‘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.’
Metro.co.uk contacted Prince’s Trust for further comment.
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