Original subtitles

This programme contains strong language from the outset.

Selection for the SAS is cloaked in secrecy.

No-one knows what it is we do.

We're the thinking soldier.

And the truth about what it takes...

might surprise you.

GUNSHOTS

An elite team of ex-special forces soldiers

is putting 30 civilians through the key stages of selection...

At the end of the day, would I have this guy next to me in a war zone?

Fight, fight, fight!

..each task taken from the real process.

Let's get the dogs out.

DOGS BARK

Physical fitness is no more than a starting point.

The true test is of the mind...

I fear...inadequacy.

The only thing that I'm really afraid of is rejection.

I don't really believe that there's such a thing

as a completely weak person or a completely strong person.

..as each recruit is stripped back to their core.

They might be strong characters... Fully submerged! Under!

Once we start unchipping their armour,

we'll find out exactly who they are.

Feel like a boy in a man's world.

No other test asks as much...

Well done.

..or means as much... Still alive!

..to the few who make it through.

I know this works.

Show me that this works.

HE GROWLS

'When I was in Iraq...'

we were trying to operate covertly on a mission

and we were compromised...

'..captured, taken in, stripped, naked...'

Beaten, blindfolded,

mock executions...

and they attempted to take us away to execute us.

Fortunately, we were rescued at the 11th hour.

And I guess had I not been subjected to...

at least some of those pressures on selection,

probably wouldn't have reacted as well...

as I think I did in that situation.

The selection process has reached its final stage.

Out of 30 recruits, only five have made it this far.

And they are about to undergo

the most psychologically demanding 24 hours.

For the past seven days,

Ryan...

Is that the best you have?

ECHO OF DOG BARKING ..Freddie...

John...

Lose the cockiness.

..Ollie...

Patch it up!

..and Anthony...

Get some balls about you.

..have been pushed to their physical and mental limits.

It culminated yesterday

with an exercise replicating a mission behind enemy lines.

Downhill, downhill.

Let's get the dogs out.

Being hunted day and night with no sleep and limited rations.

I feel like I'm going to collapse.

GUNSHOT

Fucking get out!

Before being captured together

and brought straight in for interrogation.

But now each recruit is on their own.

To pass this stage,

they'll have to withstand 24 hours of interrogation

without losing composure, or revealing details of their mission.

Even though you know that you're on a selection process

and you think, what's the worst they can do?

It's so cleverly done.

And you're so mentally fatigued,

your mind doesn't even know what it's doing.

There are strict rules governing the interrogation phase of selection.

The recruits are monitored round the clock

by a team of psychologists and doctors.

Before it begins, they're given a medical check.

Recruit 11, do you recognise me? Yes, Doc.

I'm a medical doctor. I cannot be impersonated at any time.

Are you fit and well enough to continue? Yes, Doctor.

I like to push myself outside my comfort zone

and I think that when you get to that...

point where you're just outside your comfort zone, that's when you'll grow.

Recruit number three, do you recognise me?

Yes.

I push...

out of both the desire for glory and the fear of failure.

Are you fit and well enough to continue? Yes.

Glory's great, but...

the idea of being a failure is quite harrowing for me, I think.

I'm fit and well enough to continue.

I have had quite a nice, I'd say comfortable life,

compared to most guys on that course.

'How I react to the various...

'situations which I'm uncomfortable with.

and how I deal with those is probably the most important...

part of the getting through the selection week.

Recruit 27, do you recognise me?

Do you recognise who I am?

I think so.

'As a dancer, you're constantly looking in a mirror,

'looking for imperfections'

and the best way to actually improve is to see...

focus on your imperfections and work on them.

So, the nature of that can sometimes bleed into...

all other areas of your life.

Do you feel that you are fit and well enough to continue?

I do.

Recruit eight, do you recognise me?

I have a lot of confidence, but...

it doesn't mask my insecurities.

Recruit eight, do you recognise me?

No, I like to be better than the average man.

If I'm not, then that confidence would go, I guess.

Are you fit and well enough to continue?

Is that a yes?

The recruits now face a series of interrogations.

It's overseen by one man, known as the umpire.

He cannot be identified for security reasons.

I am the umpire for this phase. OK? Very important you understand this.

I cannot be impersonated.

You see this pretty face again, that's the lot, that's it.

If you want to withdraw, if you want to see the doctor,

any issues you've got, you raise your hand ask for what?

Raise your hand and ask for what? The umpire.

The umpire.

Is that clear? Understood.

The umpire controls a team of specialist interrogators.

What I would not like to see is two individuals in the room. Mm.

Play off each other.

They've a combined experience of 30 years working in combat zones

and on SAS selection.

We're looking for the person who doesn't stand out,

who doesn't have an extreme reaction.

Being able to adapt mentally

and have the, the flexibility

to respond to the environments as they change.

Their interrogation is based on techniques used by enemy forces

and begins with what's known as 'harshing.'

Tell me what your fucking name is! Tell me what your fucking name is!

It's a short, sharp shock from the interrogation team,

designed to keep the recruits on edge.

Tell me what your fucking name is! Tell me what your fucking name is!

Ryan. Ryan what?! Ryan what?! What are you doing here?

What are you... Tell me who you're fucking with!

DAVID: When people are captured, violence has been used.

Lots of noise, lots of aggression, lots of adrenaline.

He doesn't know what's going to happen to him

and if you can keep that mental state going for as long as possible,

then they are more susceptible to tell you what's going on.

Ryan Roddy, he acted all confused, disorientated.

"I don't know why I'm here." Yeah. And he gave his name,

but he gave it out over about a two or three minute period.

He looked in good nick.

Recruits should give away as little information as possible,

without antagonising the interrogators by saying nothing.

Who the fuck are you?! What's your name?!

Look at me! Look at me! What's your name? Anthony.

Anthony what?! Anthony fucking what?! Selwyn.

Anthony fucking Selwyn?! Who are you with? Who are you with?

Oli, Oli, Oli. Oli. We met on Facebook.

Can't think when you're... Shut up!

DAVID: Anthony Selwyn

opened up pretty quickly and opened loads of doors, like I said,

and the doors got bigger and bigger and bigger. Who are you with? I'm with Oli and Ryan.

They haven't thought through any of the answers. Open your fucking eyes!

What's your name? I'm fucking talking to you. Open your fucking eyes and look at me!

Are you going to fucking sit there, fucking crying?

INDISTINCT SHOUTING

Guard!

This is the one who tried to tough it out, screwed his eyes up tight.

His feet were going ten to the dozen.

I think he was fragile to the point

that he wanted the big scary man to go away.

If you had a...a quick draw,

whose hands are going to go up, my money's on him. Mm.

'I was quite a poorly child, so...

'I was treated slightly different to my other siblings.'

I was more like the mollycoddled little baby boy.

So, my mum and I would come home from school

and where I had asthma, it drained all my energy.

I would come home and I'd just be dead, I'd be so tired and devastated

and I would just cuddle my mum, suck my thumb, roll...cuddle up

and just go to sleep...

all night until the morning.

So, I was really, really poorly

and then I kind of grew up a little bit, started training,

a bit more, exercising at school

and it kind of died off a little bit, you know?

Between each stage of the interrogation,

the recruits are detained in a cell

and put in stress positions by the directing staff.

They can be hooded in the cell for hours on end.

At first, when you get into that position it doesn't hurt

and when you're trying to hold it for longer and longer and longer,

you can feel the aches and pains.

Just want to finish by moving position, but you can't

and obviously you start feeling fatigued and it plays on your mind.

It's a very clever way of breaking you down.

LOUD TECHNO MUSIC

At random intervals, the recruits are subjected to repetitive music

to maintain a state of intense fatigue.

LOUD MUSIC CONTINUES

DOOR SLAMS

MUSIC IN THE BACKGROUND

LOUD MUSIC CONTINUES

Loud. Very, you know, a surreal feeling.

You know, you've got that constant noise, total sleep deprivation.

You're hallucinating, you don't really know what's going on.

You really start to think, why am I doing this to myself?

It's a real fucking mind fuck. It fucks your head big-time.

After three hours of stress positions,

recruit number 27, professional dancer, Anthony, quits.

Fucking hell. ANTHONY SIGHS

That was so fucking hard.

Anthony...

I take my hat off to you. I've give you a fucking hard time!

Do you know what?

On selection, this was the hardest part for me.

It drove me absolutely insane.

I think I was in there for about 42 hours in the end.

I was praying, every time someone came in the room,

you'd take me away and start shouting at me.

Mm. Couldn't...

Couldn't lie there. Nah... Still.

Listen, everyone's got a breaking point, trust me

and I knew that you could push yourself, cos I pushed you.

Yeah, the fact you got me angry.

It's good, I'm quite powerful when I'm angry.

It's something I've discovered on this course, aggression is...

Controlled aggression. Controlled aggression is useful.

And you've got a lot of that. Yeah. Yeah.

I really enjoy challenging myself.

'I think...once you've stretched your mind, expanded it,

'you can't really go back to how it was before.'

LADDER CLATTERS

Listening to the interrogation,

it does feel like there is the ability there to lose your mind

a little bit.

It's the fear of not being able to pay attention

and worry that you might say something and then realise

suddenly that you said something you shouldn't have said.

I fucking lost it, yeah.

One by one, the remaining four recruits are taken to be interrogated

on who they are and what they were doing together on the hills.

Before they went on their mission

they were given a briefing by the directing staff.

If you get captured, do not

give away information that's critical to the mission.

So, who you have with you, where you're going, etc, etc.

Do not say, "yes or no".

If you're asked for personal information be careful of what

you give.

The recruits had to come up with a convincing cover story as to

why they were on the hills.

In the real world, saying nothing could get you killed.

Just say we're hobbyists. We're just hiking hobbyists.

Do you reckon we should talk about that, how we know each other?

How we know each other? Say we met online. Online, yeah. Say Facebook.

Neutral search, nice and laidback. Yeah.

Let's not get too direct about anything.

If they're going to chat to you freely, let them chat on.

The interrogators start what they call "processing".

The DS and umpire observe everything, judging the recruits' performance.

What's your name, love? John Calloway. John.

That looks a bit sore on here, it's weeping a bit. Yeah, I know, yeah.

Can you just turn around for me, so I can just have a look?

He's the one that will fall for the old charm, you know what I mean?

That's why we've got him in now.

You were with your buddy, what was your buddy's name?

Today? Yeah. Freddie.

Is that Mr Iron? Yes, Ma'am. Yeah.

So, what were you up to with Freddie today, then?

A very failed attempt at a run around the woods. Right.

You've got some abrasions on your back. Did they come from this

rucksack thing you've been carrying?

I don't know what that rucksack is.

It's not yours, then?

I've never seen that rucksack in my life.

Is this the same as the stuff Freddie had as well? Same kit?

N... What was he carrying?

Rucksack. Rucksack? Oh, right, OK.

I think it's human nature - is to try

and pull yourself out of the spotlight and if you can put

the spotlight on somebody else it's not a very team thing to do,

especially when it's totally unwarranted

and that's something you've got to live with.

Is he as clueless as he bloody looks?

He is, like, gone insane at the minute.

John, my old friend, she is twisting

you round her little finger.

So, what were you doing with Freddie, then, today?

You were in the woods? He got lost.

He couldn't read the map. I'm not very good at reading maps.

Did you have a map? I don't know.

He had a map in his pocket. Oh, you did, right. You did have a map. OK.

Right, OK.

Where did you grow up? I grew up in Bracknell. Bracknell?

So, do you and Freddie know each other from school as well?

Yeah. Which school did you go to, then?

I went to Garth. Yeah, so he went to Garth? Yeah.

John's lie contradicts the group's Facebook cover story

and could create problems for him and Freddie.

He sounds quite well educated, is that a public school

or is it a comprehensive or what?

No, it's just normal. Just a normal school? Yeah.

He's starting to realise a bit now, he's starting to think.

He knows he's dropped the ball, knows he's dropped the ball.

So, he's just a bit plumier than you, then? A little bit.

SHE LAUGHS

Next to be processed, 24-year-old Ollie.

You've not used them, have you?

They're pretty clean.

What's that? Zink-oxide tape.

Do you need this for your feet now?

I don't need that for my feet.

Have you noticed what Ollie's doing?

So, he's answering every question with a statement.

She said, "Do you need the tape?"

He doesn't say no, doesn't yes and he's done that for every question.

In a real life scenario, saying yes or no is high risk,

as captives may be recorded and their words manipulated by the enemy.

Have we missed anything off there?

I don't think you've missed anything off there. Shall we go through it,

as we put them into the bag?

That's not necessary, honestly. Really?

Is this all yours? It's all mine, yeah.

He just won't like that, he went...

Did you see his face when he said "yeah", he went "ooh"!

When not being interrogated the recruits face unknown

periods of time in the cell.

Being blindfolded for a long period of time will take them

to places that they're not expecting.

You are living entirely inside your own head.

Now, for some people that's fine

and for some people it's very uncomfortable and tricky.

If you'd met me at 18 you wouldn't think I was an angry man.

I would have been polite and affable like I am all the time

but, you know, behind that exterior was a lot of pain and torment.

The aggression came from, I guess,

it's got something to do with my mum passing away, I think.

You know, growing up, I wasn't really an aggressive kid.

On the fourth anniversary of her death, I went out,

I was 18 and I got this overwhelming emotion that I'd never felt before

and I left friends, my friends didn't know where I was.

They were calling their mums and went out looking for where I was

and I just went off and ran off and ended up smacking a car,

the car's an off-duty police officer,

so I ended up getting arrested for that...

Um, yeah.

You know, when I look back on my run-ins with the police,

I'm not going to make an excuse and say, it's all down to my mum

co, you know, it's down to me and my decisions that I've made but

when you lose your mum, yeah, it's

going to twist you up a little bit.

After being hooded for nearly seven hours, Ollie quits.

I've got a lot to be proud about but I can't sit in there any more,

it's just, pfff.

I wanted to complete it but

there was no way I was going to complete that, sorry.

Well done, buddy, mate. Fucking lovely to meet you.

Honestly, mate, it was a pleasure having you on the course. Cheers.

The loss of my mum, it isn't all negative

and I've had a chance to reflect on that.

It's made me a much more of a compassionate person, I think.

I'm more aware of how people are feeling

and finally it's just brought me closer to my family and my brothers.

I formed a relationship with my father that I didn't have before.

Lovely to meet you.

The remaining three recruits have become accustomed to being

interrogated individually.

Now the team tries a different approach.

Right, time to stop fucking about now.

Who are you?

Ryan. Ryan what? Roddy.

Ryan Roddy. Who are you? Freddie Iron. Who are you? John.

John, look at me.

Look up, look up.

Open your eyes and stop fucking about.

Look up, open your eyes and stop fucking about!

When I was captured in Iraq, there's a whole range of emotions that

would have went through.

I might have been special forces

but I'm in the life preservation society,

so I want to be alive.

Roddy, do you know John?

No. John, do you know Roddy? Look at me.

Freddie, do you know John? No.

John, do you know Freddie? Hm-mm.

Thought you did.

What the fuck's going on?

And that, I was the commander, so the other person who was

captured with me, I was responsible for him

and I was always aware of that.

I was always aware of where he was and how he was coping

and not just my means of survival or escape but his also.

Do you know what he told me?

He told me that you two went to school together.

Where did you go to school, Freddie?

I can't remember.

Oh, fuck off!

Where did you go to school?

I went to school in Dulwich.

Dulwich? You told me that you went to school with this man over

here in Bracknell, at Garth Hill.

Now, he's telling me that he went to school in Dulwich for dullards.

What do you think, Ryan?

Which one of these two is the biggest knobhead? I don't know.

It's hard, isn't it?

You told me that you didn't have a bag but guess what?

Your friend over here told me that you did.

You know damn well, you have just dropped him in the shit!

'When I was in Iraq, captured,

'I don't think I ever got to a point where I was scared of dying.

'It was just something that, if it was going to happen,

'it would happen.'

But until it did, I would do all I could to prevent it.

'Putting certain pressures during selection like sleep deprivation,

'like stress positions, put pressures on candidates

'that are as close to reality as possible...'

'..it helped me no end.'

Ryan, Freddie and John have been awake for 35 hours...

and are about to undergo the next phase of interrogation.

Recruit number 11, Ryan, has so far revealed little information

about himself or his fellow recruits.

Ryan? Yes?

We're going to start talking about John again.

We're going to start talking about Freddie again.

What were your impressions of both these guys

when you were out on the hills with them?

That they were fairly...fairly impressive.

In what sense? Er, just... You know, they were good hill walkers,

big men, bigger than me,

so I found it difficult to sort of keep, you know, to their pace.

We're looking for the grey man. The grey man doesn't stick out.

The grey man blends in.

I think they've both got, you know, backgrounds in sports and stuff.

What about you? What's your background in sport?

Erm...

Martial arts background. Good results?

Mixed. Mixed results.

Emotion is no bad thing,

but if someone can easily read your emotion, you're no longer grey.

I would say being a grey man would underpin

the success of a Special Forces operative.

Some people may say that I'm not that emotional,

some people may say I'm a little bit cold.

I think, more than that, I'm just maybe not that expressive.

I'm not good at showing you what I'm feeling even though

I'm feeling it at the time.

I want you to draw your family tree.

Why? Why do you need my family tree? Why? Because I'm asking you.

Not rocket science. Crack on.

(SIGHING) OK.

Erm...

What about your mum? Where does your mum live?

She lives, er...back in Ireland.

Write her address down there.

I can't write her address down.

Why can't you write her address down there?

I fear for her safety.

I don't give a flying fuck what you fear for.

I've been asked to get this information.

You put the fucking thing down.

I guess my mother was probably the biggest role model growing up.

Erm... When you realise a lot of people don't like you

because of the...because of your background or your religion,

you could easily become bigoted or something like that.

She didn't let that happen.

She was very careful about how to describe that

so she didn't let that become an issue.

You don't understand where I'm fucking coming from.

I need this information. Write her name and address down.

Contact number. I'm not sure where she's living, or...

I'm quite honestly not sure of her contact number.

That's the truth. Being fucking straight with me?

I'm being straight with you.

I'm being straight with you.

Just don't have it off the top of my head. OK then.

He's very natural at this.

Or if he's not, he's very good at being grey.

I didn't think I was the grey man in selection,

but it surprised me that, when I came through selection,

people didn't even know I was on selection with them.

So, I was surprised by that, but, you know, sometimes being

the gobby Scottish guy, it's quite hard to stay the grey man.

But I must've done.

OK. Hood off.

Goggles off.

Right. This is the situation.

I can either be good mummy or bad mummy. It's kind of up to you.

After being compromised by John's earlier statements,

Freddie needs a strategy to regain some credibility.

Now, it was John that mentioned the fact that you had a bag.

Now, I want to know about that bag. Who does that belong to?

I'm very sorry, I lied before.

So, you're not going to be doing that again, are you?

I will not. Good.

'I was dishonest. I'm very sorry...'

He's a bright one, this one. Yeah, he plays it. Yeah, he is.

Right, John, open your eyes. You need to open your eyes. Yep.

Going to have a chat. Conversation.

'Here's a chance to tell me what you were doing yesterday.'

'Who was with you?'

'Freddie.' 'Yeah?'

This guy Freddie?

It was. Yeah? Is this the Freddie you went to school with?

It's not, is it?

So, which Freddie is this and when did you meet him?

He's Freddie... I met on, erm...

Facebook?

OK. Met him on Facebook. What was the reason for meeting him?

Just a walking group.

One thing was really strange yesterday when you got picked up.

'You all dressed exactly the same.'

Is there a dress code in this Facebook? It was his idea.

Just, like, he likes to dress up, I guess.

Whose idea? Freddie's. Freddie's idea.

'OK.' 'Sure.'

How do you feel about your friend John...

..dropping you in the shit today? He didn't drop me in the shit.

We were all terrified. We were all scared.

We're not used to this at all, so, you know, what he says under

duress is not something that I'm going to ever judge him for.

Really trying to humanise himself there, really.

I'm getting some cramps in my legs and hips and stuff. Right.

One of the recognised techniques is humanising yourself.

Explain that you've got weakness.

If he identifies you as a person than he's not going to treat

you how he doesn't want to be treated.

Who are all these people on your Facebook page?

Erm, lots of people help promote me because I'm trying to raise...

I'm fundraising for charity.

My dad's a four-time survivor of cancer when we were growing up,

so I've made some money when I did my Ironman race.

'There was one memory, when I went to my dad's bed in hospital.'

'You know, he could, sort of, barely speak and...

'I don't think I really understood what was going on.

'Mum and Dad put on a pretty good face.'

It's a positive story in the end, that's the thing,

cos he's still around. I think you can always view things positively.

There are some things that are really shit, and they will stay

shit, but it doesn't improve the situation, your outlook on it,

so be positive.

Grab a seat. Go on, quickly.

Right. What I want you to do...

..on this bit of paper, I just need you to write at the top

your next of kin details there, please, and a contact

telephone number that I can reach them with.

My cousin is in Antigua.

Who's your next of kin here in the UK?

Don't have one in the UK. OK.

Got no brothers and sisters?

Don't have any.

On selection, the interrogators are given no background information

on the recruits, but can do their own research of public sources.

Who's Gary?

John? Who's Gary?

Gary Calloway. Who's he? Is he your brother?

Someone with a similar surname, I guess.

Similar surname? The same surname. Is he a family member?

He's... He isn't.

Take five seconds now, reassess, reappraise

and think what the fuck you're doing.

Look at me. Oi.

'Some people will just gradually grind down and break.'

And you can almost see a mental battle going on inside their heads.

'Always getting more tired, more hungry and going to a dark

'and darker place until you could either manage it or you couldn't.'

At the moment, all you're doing is moving round

and round in a circle, and you're not giving me a straight answer.

Look at me, John. Look at me.

Number eight, Calloway, he's just going downhill.

It's the lack of mental agility, the lack of any kind of strategy.

I think that he would seriously jeopardise himself

and his colleagues

and he would potentially find himself in a life-threatening

situation if he acted like that in a scenario like that.

I would like to bring him out.

All right, John, take your blindfold off.

Recognise me?

Yep.

I'm here to tell you you've now been officially withdrawn

from this phase.

All right? Come in. Grab a seat, man.

'The deteriorating performance of recruit eight, John,

'during the interrogation

'has led to him being withdrawn from the course.'

OK, what do you feel from that phase of the course?

It's hard work. It is hard work.

It's just draining. What could I have done better?

It's just the whole "alpha male" thing.

If you could learn to just humble yourself...

You need to go through life and you need to look at people as equals.

You can have an attitude, you can have an ego, but just control it.

Hmm. Yeah, it's mad. It's been a mental week.

I just need to go home and process it, basically -

and figure out what the hell's gone on.

We do wish you the best of luck, John. It's been a pleasure.

Nice to meet you, anyway. You too, man.

'Only Freddie and Ryan are left on the course.

'The interrogation has lasted 18 hours...

'..and the interrogators have six hours left to break the recruits.

'They launch an all-out attack,

'using all the lies and inconsistencies against them.'

Where were you going with the fucking map?

Why were you going there? Why were you going there? Why?

That was the point we picked to finish.

I understand this looks really bad...

"Looks bad?" Looks fucking "bad"?

Who sent you out? Who gave you the kit?

We bought it... Who made it all match? Who map read? You did.

Who planned it? You did.

This is not good enough and if you think that by sitting there,

saying nothing... Shut up, we're wasting our fucking time.

Guard! Guard!

What were you doing up the hill? We were walking. Why?

Because we were part of a small, closed group. No, enough.

You were thinking to lie

and that don't carry no fucking code with me, sunshine.

Ryan, you don't kit all your fucking mates out

with specialist military-type kit

and then say, "You know what? Let's go on the hills..."

You can get a list -

an itinerary list online and that's all standard stuff.

It's as simple as that.

Sometimes, the most obvious answer is the right one.

Listen to him. I have. What do you think of what he's just said?

I'm going to put your hoods back on in a minute.

You're going to be taken away...

Whatever time you spend, start considering your future.

The winning is not important to me. It's the process that's important.

And it's not that I want to win,

so that people will think I'm good at something.

FREDDIE: 'A lot of people asked me

'whether this could be a competitive process.

'Of course it's competitive.

'But actually, it's competitive together.'

'When things are getting tough and you're in a small group,

'Whatever's happened, it's a really unique moment.'

Take your blindfold off.

Do you recognise me? Yeah.

Take a moment. I'm back. Get your eyes used to it.

OK, that is this phase complete.

Just take a moment and just relax. Deep breaths...

FREDDIE SIGHS OK? Yeah.

I say again, over and complete.

Take a couple of minutes, collect yourself.

OK?

It's quite hard, adjusting to the light, sir.

Ready to move on? Couple of more minutes.

Turn around and face me. Come here.

That's it.

It's all working, it's all right.

Deep breaths.

Deep breaths. RYAN SIGHS

Take your time.

All right?

'Of the 30 recruits who started the course,

'Freddie and Ryan are the only two to make it to the end.

'But that doesn't mean they've done enough to pass.

'That decision is still in the hands of the DS.'

We had an officer who got right to the end of the course

and as we were preparing for our badging day,

he got told he'd failed.

And he'd just done six months

and this guy was obviously in tears.

There wasn't anything wrong with him, he just didn't fit the mould.

Right, OK.

Freddie.

He wasn't quite the grey man.

However, he always, always, throughout,

attempted this humanising, polite, respectful...

Wanted to maintain rapport.

Yeah. Number 11?

He adopted this "grey man" persona.

He was very submissive and he played what he had to play.

No more, no less. Yeah, I saw that on the monitor.

Let's do it.

All right...

I won't leave you in suspense any longer.

You have come to the end of the course.

Do you have...

..the qualities of a Special Forces operator?

Sometimes, you took your finger off the pulse...

I can let you know that you have passed the course. Well done.

Cheers!

Fucking brilliant. Amazing. Well done. Absolutely brilliant. Cheers.

That means a huge amount. I'd just like to tell you that you've passed.

Well done, Ryan. Thank you.

Well done, mate. Thanks. Call me Anthony. All right, Anthony.

That's fucking brilliant, mate.

Only you two have passed.

Only us two have passed?

Yeah. You two, out of 30. Wow.

So... That's a good feeling.

I think they've finally broken me!

Fuck me!

That euphoria of being at the end -

being that guy standing,

when all those others have fallen

and you've achieved what others have failed to - is immense.

Oh, man! How satisfying was it?

He's like, "I'm pleased to say you've passed."

Yeah, so you could be in this if you want. That was the coolest thing.

Literally the coolest thing ever. Shit, that is amazing.

I'm so glad I stuck it out and kept at it. Yeah, yeah.

I completely agree.

For the last time please, gentlemen.

Guys, on behalf of myself and the team,

I'd just like to congratulate you.

You would never put yourselves together...

in a pub, or anywhere - at school, university -

but the SAS world is such a unique world.

It's got such a unique skills...

You get your guys that have come from broken families,

that have had a rough upbringing

and then, you get your guys who come from a privileged background.

You've got that drive and that passion to push forward.

You two have got something that you share together

and that belongs in our world.

And honestly, if we ever see you again,

come and tap us on the shoulder and have a beer with us.

Will do. Well done, Freddie..

'It taught me a lot about myself.

'I understood my limits, I understood my weaknesses.'

It was unbelievable. I fucking really loved it.

Then I got to the squadron

and realised I was back at the bottom of the fucking pecking order!

It's short-lived!

Come on, guys. You two lead us out.

'I've absolutely loved my Special Forces career.

'It was the best days of my life.

Having the guys there by your side,'

knowing that they're going to literally die for you, if need be,

is a very special bond to have.

LAUGHTER

All right, guys - fuck off(!) LAUGHTER

All the best for the future, guys. Cheers. Take care.

'Generally, we all want to be part of the flock.

'But for some of us, we want to excel at something.

'We want to be remembered for something.

'If not for everybody else, for ourselves.

'We've come through a gruelling assessment

'and no matter which way you look at that,'

you've achieved something phenomenal.

That was amazing that, wasn't it? That was amazing.

Honestly, the coolest thing... That is the coolest thing I've done.

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