Ollie Ollerton has revealed that being dropped from Channel 4’s SAS: Who Dares Wins was like “a gift from the gods”.
When the news of his departure broke back in August, Ollie said he was “disappointed and shocked”.
However, now he has told Entertainment Daily that he actually sees it as a good thing.
Now Ollie has time to focus on his own business as he admits he doesn’t just want to be known as “the lad from the SAS show”.
What did Ollie Ollerton say about SAS: Who Dares Wins?
Ollie revealed he “will miss working with the lads” on the UK show.
However, he’s all signed up for the next Australian series, the first of which has just gone down a storm Down Under.
Read more: AJ Pritchard’s girlfriend cried when I’m A Celebrity moved to Wales
Ollie added of the UK version: “The only disappointment for me was the fans. Any TV show is only as good as its audience and that was my only negative about not being on the show any more.
“I am not carving my presence on this earth as a celebrity.”
Throughout both lockdowns Ollie has run free online workouts and, after Christmas, he’ll launch his dedicated fitness platform, Battle Ready 360.
So did he really have time to film the UK show?
“I didn’t,” Ollie admitted.
“It was scheduled that I was going to go away. I’d have two weeks off after I got back from Australia then it would be straight off to Scotland to film it.
“It was almost like a gift from the gods for me because I would have never actually gone in and said: ‘Here’s my notice, I’m not doing it again.'”
SAS: Who Dares Wins was ‘a cash cow’
“It was a cash cow, not loads of cash but it was a pay cheque, and all the time I was on it, I was like, well get on with it because it creates exposure.
“But it wasn’t making me happy,” he admitted.
Read more: Kate Thornton reveals ‘grief’ over her son growing up too fast
Ant Middleton and the rest of the boys were a great support after he was dropped, Ollie said.
“We always said if anything happens then we stay together as a team and that goes back to our special forces days.
“But I said to the lads I just didn’t have any passion to be forced back on to it. I felt it was the right time for me to step aside.
“I want to carve my own way, I don’t just want to be known as the lad from the SAS show. Sometimes you have to embrace that short-term discomfort because it’s leading to long-term gain.”
Leaving the forces felt similar to lockdown
One things that’s currently causing the whole nation discomfort is the second lockdown. And it’s a feeling that Ollie has compared to him leaving the special forces.
He told ED!: “I relate the situation with COVID to feeling very similar to when I left the military.
“I left and very quickly I’d lost the support network of my colleagues. I’d lost the structure to my every day working week and really I was like a headless chicken.
“And I consider that very much similar to the position people have found themselves in during lockdown,” he said, revealing that he started to run the free workouts to “give people something that really broke up the monotony of every day”.
View this post on Instagram
Wedding plans on hold
Lockdown did have one downside for Ollie, though, it meant the cancellation of his wedding to fiancée Laura.
However, he revealed: “When things don’t happen I understand that it’s not the right time for it. Or that it’s not meant to be.
“This is meant to be and at some point we will get married. But there’s no pressure from either side. Getting married is a bonus and we’re looking forward to when that moment might be.”
I’m A Celebrity – get Ollie in there?
So, with his special SAS training, could we ever see Ollie smashing the trials on I’m A Celebrity.
He has been asked, but we can’t see it happening.
“Now and again it’s come across the agent’s table, let’s get one of the SAS lads on the show.
“But as soon as they realise what they’re asking us to do, I think they realise it would make pretty boring TV. Oh there’s spiders on my head, ooh,” he said laughing. “Oh no don’t, not the spiders!”
For more on Ollie’s new fitness platform, Battle Ready 360, visit the website here.
Head to our Facebook page @EntertainmentDailyFix and tell us what you think of our story.