The seventh series of Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins kicked off on Sunday, August 3
Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins returned to Channel 4 this weekend(Image: Pete Dadds/Channel 4/PA Wire )
Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins has returned for its seventh season where viewers can watch fourteen new famous faces take on some of the toughest challenges they’ll ever have to face.
The new series of the popular Channel 4 show features celebrities Lucy Spraggan, Tasha Ghouri, Chloe Burrows, Adam Collard, and Michaela McCollum among more well-known names.
Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins returned to our screens on Sunday, August 3, and is set to be broadcast on Channel 4 every Sunday and Monday night for the next few weeks.
In the first episode, released on Sunday, an elite team of ex-Special Forces soldiers took the new recruits to Wales, the home of the first phase of SAS Selection, where they will be stripped of their home comforts, families, agents and social media.
For their first challenge, the celebrities had to make a 23ft plunge into the sea and swim 45m to a speedboat.
Within the first episode, singer and actress Hannah Spearritt gave up her armband before attempting the second challenge, making her the first person to leave the show.
Later in the episode, Louie Spence also chose to give up his armband, declaring “I don’t have the conviction”.
Among those taking part this year’s series is Michaella McCollum. Michaella, 31, made headlines back in 2013 after she was one of two women who were arrested for trying to smuggle drugs into Peru.
Michaella McCollum is appearing on the new series of Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins(Image: Pete Dadds/Channel 4/PA Wire )
Herself and Scottish woman Melissa Reid became known as the “Peru Two” after being caught with more than 12kg of cocaine. Michaella, who was described as a ‘drugs mule’ was just 19-years-old at the time and had been living in Ibiza where she worked as a waitress.
She met a man named “Davey” who asked her to do “a run” for him from Ibiza to Barcelona. However, “Davey” changed the destination to Peru.
She spent three hellish years in a prison near Lima, before both women were granted early release in 2016. Since then, Michaella has been vocal about her experience.
Celebrity SAS fans have taken to social media to query why Michaela is taking part in the Channel 4 show.
Over on X, formerly known as Twitter, @QueenRhone wrote: “I’ve never missed a series but I’m sitting this one out. Having a convicted drug smuggler classed as a celebrity is disgusting and sends the wrong message to young kids plus its insulting to the others taking part.”
@PaulHitchen2010 also commented: “Does a drugs mule now warrant celebrity status?? This is the problem with this country.”
Over on Reddit, one user has written: “Celebrity? Shes a convicted drug smuggler,” while another added: “So criminals are celebrities now?”
Speaking about going on the Channel 4 show, Michaela said: “The level of resilience I learned from being in prison in Peru and knowing how important that mindset is, will definitely help get me through the course, so I’m going to need to use my mental strength to help me along the way.
“In Peru, I was completely stripped back to the rawest version of myself…and I know in this course, it will have a similar effect. I will get to see the real me again and I want to challenge myself to see how capable I am.
“I don’t know if I’m physically fit enough to complete the course but I have good mental strength.”