Tim Robards is feeling the pressure. Not only is the former The Bachelor Australia star swapping the comfort of his Sydney home for the scorching heat of the Jordanian desert as he puts himself to the test on SAS Australia, he’s following in the footsteps of his wife Anna Heinrich, who almost made it to the end of the 2022 season.
Tim joins SAS Australia 2023.
(Image: Supplied)“I don’t necessarily have to beat her, but I also don’t want to come second,” Tim, 40, says with a laugh. “But it’s not so much a competition against someone else as a competition against yourself.”
Alongside 13 other celebrities and media personalities, chiropractor Tim faces a series of challenges that mimic the real-life selection process for the SAS special forces unit.
While he jokes it was a “mid-life crisis” that drove him to sign up for the series, Tim, who has suffered several injuries in the past few years, including torn muscles and chronic back pain, is hoping to regain confidence in his own body.
Anna starred on SAS Australia in 2022.
(Image: Instagram)“People have been telling me to slow down, but if I’m not moving forward, I feel I’m going backwards,” he admits. “And it’s scary to think I’ve hit my peak and I’m on the way down. I thought, ‘If I can get through this without injury, I can get my confidence back – in my body and myself.'”
Ahead of his departure for the show, Anna gave Tim some valuable advice, such as “Respect the DS” (directing staff) and “Know when to make a joke and when not to”. But he admits he was still woefully under-prepared, adding that Anna’s advice “wasn’t enough”.
For Tim, the lack of sleep that came from his ongoing back pain, as well as having not one, but three snorers (who he refused to name) next to him at night in camp during SAS, was the toughest part of the experience far from home.
But when it came to the moments he wanted to give in and withdraw from the show, it was his two-year-old daughter Elle who got him through.
During one challenge involving heights, Tim says he relied on his skills as an actor from his time in Neighbours – he played wealthy investor Pierce Greyson from 2018 to 2022 – to imagine that Elle was there and needed to be rescued.
“It felt like I got a superhuman power, kind of like how if a car was coming, you could push your child out of the way and take the hit,” he says. “Afterwards, I realised, ‘Wow, that’s so powerful’ and I had a few tears.”
Tim’s two-year-old daughter Elle who got him through.
(Image: Supplied)For Tim, who’s expecting his second child with Anna, the best thing he took away from the series was the knowledge of how precious the parent/child relationship is.
“One thing I really got out of the experience is how much love you can have for your children,” he says. “And how much power you can get out of that love is a driving force.”
As for little Elle, she can’t wait to watch her dad’s SAS adventures on television.
“While I was away, she watched Anna’s season and got addicted to it – she loved it,” he says. “I’ve showed her the trailers of my season and she’s keen as. She’ll be watching it.”
