SAS Australia may be done and dusted for 2022, but the brave celebrities who attempted the course still had a few things to say about their experiences.
Coming together for a special reunion episode after the finale, successful recruits Millie Boyle, Riana Crehan and Darius Boyd joined the culled recruits for one last debrief.
They spoke about everything from the brutal challenges, to the lacklustre living conditions and the biggest moments on the show.
Keep scrolling to relive five of the biggest moments from the SAS Australia reunion.
Pauly Fenech and Locky Gilbert put an end to their beef – sort of
Pauly and Locky seemed to be on better terms at the reunion.
(Image: Channel Seven)After butting heads several times on the course over everything from failed challenges to name-calling, Locky and Pauly seemed to have put their differences aside… for now.
The pair addressed their beef at the reunion, but the laughter from the rest of the celebrities made it pretty clear the animosity between the pair had died down a bit.
“I don’t care how big someone is, I don’t like being disrespected when it’s not warranted,” Pauly said of his TV clashes with the former Bachelor.
“Unashamedly I’m that guy who will fire up, I’m the little guy who fights back.”
Locky tried to clear up some confusion about one of their arguments, which was sparked when he called Pauly a c—t, but the comedian insisted “that’s not what happened” – so maybe their feud isn’t entirely over.
Meanwhile the DS said that Locky was one of the most “frustrating” recruits because he refused to be a team player, though they confessed he’d developed some “humility” in his two weeks on the course.
No one escaped without injuries
The course may be over, but almost all of the celebs walked away with a few bumps, bruises and some more serious injuries as reminders of their SAS experiences.
Many were still nursing their battle wounds as they arrived at the reunion, Michael Zerafa arriving with his arm in a sling and Barry Hall walking in clutching his rib, which “popped out” during a combat challenge.
He had gone up against Locky Gilbert and joked: “The decision of wrestling a 110 kilo gorilla was not a good one.”
Meanwhile Riana Crehan showed off her legs, which were covered in bruises, cuts and scrapes after two weeks on the course.
“I’ve got some souvenirs to take home,” she laughed, to which Ant joked “you’re welcome!”
Ant Middleton called out Richard Buttrose’s temper tantrum
Ant was blunt when he brough up Richard’s explosive outburst halfway through the season, which saw him culled from the course.
“I’m sick of the bulls—t TV … F—k off, f—k off. I’m not falling for this bulls—t,” the convicted drug dealer shouted at Ant after a particularly tense challenge. The DS later cut him from the course.
“I know you were raging, and you were fuming,” Ant said of the outburst, but Richard seemed to side-step the comment.
Instead, he spoke about having a “great time” on the show, saying: “When I had the opportunity to do this, I thought this was a chance to do some exciting stuff with guns, boats and helicopters.
“And I did that. I did some fun stuff and the thought of my kids watching me jumping from a speedboat from a chopper, they’re going to beam with pride. So, I had a great time.”
It’s unclear if Richard actually avoided the topic of his blow-up or if this was another case of sneaky TV editing.
Orpheus Pledger revealed why he really quit
Fans of the show were baffled when Home And Away star Orpheus withdrew from the course without warning on day two.
Physically fit and full of determination, plenty of people assumed he’d make it a lot further on the show, but the actor revealed he made the decision with his mental wellbeing in mind.
“It was psychological, I was mentally buggered,” he told the DS and his fellow recruits.
“Over the past two years I’ve just had a full-on couple of experiences. Long slogs of mental health, happiness, and stuff like that.
“It wasn’t a case of me not being physically fit, I could physically do it, it’s just [that] I needed to go home.”
Everyone knew the women were performing better than the men
The women consistently outperformed the men on the show.
(Image: Channel Seven)This season marked two major firsts in SAS Australia history, as women outnumbered men at the halfway point and in the final selection.
Discussing how impressive this year’s female recruits were, Ant said: “We don’t bring gender into play [on the course] because you’re either good enough to get through … or you’re not.
“But on this course, actually, the women were outperforming the men and it shocked us.”
The DS weren’t the only ones who noticed the trend early on, with former AFL player Wayne Carey chiming in: “It was obvious to us [the male recruits] as well, we spoke about it a lot.”
“They’re probably some of the most amazingly strong women that I’ve ever met,” Pauly added.
The women also knew they were doing an incredible job, especially when five of them – Riana Crehan, Millie Boyle, Melissa Wu, Anna Heinrich and Ebanie Bridges – made it to the final days.
“Naturally we’re all pretty independently strong women, and I know we had conversations about how proud we all are that at the end there was five women to two guys,” Riana said.
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