New SAS: Who Dares Wins instructor Remi Adeleke has revealed bosses first tried to recruit new Directing Staff two years ago.
Speaking exclusively to RadioTimes.com ahead of season 7’s premiere on Sunday (10th April), the actor and former Navy Seal said: “The producers reached out to me, actually, I want to say about two years ago. And it didn’t work out. I guess they decided to go in a different direction.
“And then they reached back out to me in July of last year and asked if I would be open to come in because they were rebranding the show.”
Talking about what drew him to the Channel 4 series, he explained: “And I said, you know, I was interested. It was mainly because I do a lot of work in the nonprofit space coming from the Bronx. I just like to give back in different ways to inner city communities. I’m speaking at a school that’s opening in September and things like that, I always like to kind of give back.”
He continued: “What I love about this show, it’s not just about entertainment. That’s a part of it. But you know, pouring into people’s lives. It’s about taking people who are probably some of them at the lowest point in their lives, socially, mentally, and helping them work through a battle that they’re facing.
“So the most appealing thing to me was this was this holistic approach to build people up, and how people could watch that person’s story and identify with it and in return have a transformation in their lives. So without doubt that was the main selling point.”
When asked whether he’s watched any of the previous episodes, he said: “None until they reached out to me. They sent me, I want to say the previous celebrity season. So that was what I watched, so that was my first real experience. I thought it was cool. It’s raw, authentic, and it’s about the people.”
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He added: “I get contacted a lot of times for scripted shows, I had a meeting yesterday for a scripted series, but when the basis of these shows is, if you make it to the end, you get a million dollars or X amount of dollars, I think it changes the heart of the show and it changes the heart of the people most times for the worse, and that creates trauma, which trauma sells right.
“And that doesn’t appeal to me. So when I was watching episodes, and I saw that it’s raw and it’s not about the money, it’s about self and growing, that’s what I loved the most about it!”
The Channel 4 show returns on Sunday (10th April) with season 7 as a new batch of recruits head to the Jordanian desert to take on a series of daunting challenges.
Adeleke will step into Melvyn Downes’ shoes following his exit last year.
And he isn’t the only new Directing Staff for season 7, with Rudy Reyes joining the series as chief instructor, taking over from Ant Middleton who starred on the show from the first season in 2015.
Reyes and Adeleke will be teaming up with existing instructors Jason Fox and Mark Billingham to put the 10 new recruits through their paces.
Additional reporting by Grace Henry.
SAS: Who Dares Wins returns to Channel 4 and All 4 on Sunday 10th April at 9pm. While you’re waiting, check out more of our Entertainment and Documentaries coverage or visit our TV Guide to see what’s on tonight.
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