CELEB SAS: Who Dares Wins may be a reality competition, but the show doesn’t hold back when it comes to tough challenges and real-life SAS drills.
And just like in the special forces, the participants have left the show with their fair share of gruesome injuries, with current show star Neighbours star Ryan Moloney the most recent to be left in pain.
Ryan – known as Toadfish on the Australian soap opera – is appearing on the current series of the show, which is airing on Channel 4, and underwent surgery following his SAS stint.
Appearing on GB news, the actor explained that on day one of filming he had trouble breathing.
“I said it to a couple of people on day one. I was like, ‘Is anyone else having trouble breathing?’ Like the altitude,” he said on GB News.
“Well, as it turns out, about three or four weeks afterwards, I thought I was having a heart attack, right, and I went off to (A&E).
“And they were like, ‘No, you’re not having a heart attack. However, you do have a giant hernia. Like, it is huge, it is actually shoved up underneath your left lung’.”
Ryan went on to reveal that he has undergone surgery for the hernia, and said it’s been a “long six months” of recovery.
Here, we take a look at some of the most gruesome injuries stars of the show have suffered.
A ripped vagina
Former X Factor star Lucy Spraggan was left bleeding, in agony and in need of reconstructive surgery after wearing a tight harness on the military show.
Speaking to The Sun, Lucy recalled after the experience: “I ripped my labia – it was bad. That’s not a common injury. Actually, genuinely, that’s never been the same, so much so I’m having some surgery soon to correct it.
“I don’t really know even what happened, I guess the harness was tight.”
She continued: “I was like: ‘This feels really bad. Surely there can’t be anything.’ And I looked and there was a tear, there was lots of blood and the doctor came over and I turned around because at that point you literally don’t care about anything.
“Dignity has gone. It was like: ‘Oh my God, I thought it was your leg.’ And I was like: ‘No, no, it’s not!’”
In the same challenge, Lucy said that Connor Ben and Troy Deeney “nearly lost a ball” due to the harnesses.
Infected boobs
Geordie Shore legend Marnie Simpson revealed that her boob job became infected during filming, risking her health.
The reality star only last 32 minutes into the first episode before dropping out of the 2024 series, but it was enough to sustain an injury.
After the stint, she said: “One of the wounds on my boobs had opened up and it was infected.
“And the more I was going in and out of the water, and then I wasn’t drying my body, it was getting worse.
“And I was thinking, I did love the show, but I don’t think it’s worth my health.”
Marnie added that she was not fully prepared to take part in the Channel 4 show just ten months after giving birth.
“Just after having a baby, I wasn’t quite right, my baby had colic, so I just wasn’t in a good headspace. And then physically, my C-section was still quite sore, and after surgery my boobs were too.”
Broken ribs
Pete Wicks first appeared on Celeb SAS in 2022 but quit after a helicopter injury before returning for a second time in 2024.
However, the former TOWIE star pushed himself too far when his second stint saw him collapse on a mountain and be airlifted to hospital.
Pete, who said he was “truly gutted” to be medically withdrawn, knocked himself unconscious and breaking ribs.
He wasn’t the only one, with co-star Rachel Johnson also breaking a rib during the season.
Punctured spleen
Former Brookside star Jennifer Ellison also suffered broken ribs alongside blood in her lung and a bleeding spleen after filming in Jordan in 2022.
“After I jumped from a helicopter, I hit my ribs and then I could feel a pain in my side,” she explained.
“When I got back to the UK it was getting worse, so I went to A&E.
“They told me, ‘You’ve got broken ribs, blood in your lung and a bleeding spleen’. The infection in my lung was really nasty.”
Jennifer was hospitalised for three days and given intravenous antibiotics before enduring months of agony.
She added: “It was really quite bad. It was really painful for a very long time. I was sitting in bed laid flat.
“I couldn’t take a deep breath, so I had to blow into a machine.”
Hypothermia
The Sun columnist Ulrika Jonnson had to be rushed to an ambulance suffering from hypothermia during a cold water swimming challenge in 2023.
Ulrika said: “What phased me was the fact that I was so cold, that I felt that I had no control over my hands.
“Fear and cold meant I had no motor responses at all. I didn’t seem to be able to coordinate myself.
“You’re so concentrating on what you’re doing, I didn’t even look around, I didn’t even look to see where the cameras were.
“I was literally just trying to get wet clothes off and put something dry on.”
Trench Foot
Former Health Secretary Matt Hancock was struck by trench foot caused by standing in cold and wet conditions for so long.
Matt said afterwards: “At the end I couldn’t walk, couldn’t stand up.
“I was in a bit of a mess physically. Trench foot is an incredibly painful condition.”
Swamp Eye
Michelle Heaton was left with blurred vision after contracting a painful infection known as “swamp eye” from the show.
The condition comes from contaminated or extremely dirty water, with Michelle revealing that “parasites” were living in her eye.
Jungle Rot
James Argent took part when the show was filmed in Vietnam in 2022 but the ordeal left him with trench foot, jungle rot and other long term injuries.
Revealing the extent of his cuts and bruises he said at the time: “I have battle scars that will last a lifetime inside and out but it’s made me a stronger person.
“I am one broken, broken human being,” added the former Towie star.
