Pete Dadds
EXCLUSIVE: Channel 4 is resting SAS: Who Dares Wins for the foreseeable future as focus shifts to the celebrity version.
Filming on an expanded eight-part series of Celebrity SAS will begin in the coming weeks, but the original “civilian” version, which last aired in season eight, is unlikely to return to screens for some time, if ever .
A Channel 4 spokesman said the decision was made “due to the huge success of Celebrity SAS,” and insiders stressed the move wasn’t made to cut costs.
“We have shifted our focus to prioritize this area,” the spokesperson added. “As a result, a longer eight-part series is scheduled to begin filming this summer while ‘Civilian’ SAS is on hiatus.”
The last season of Minnow Films’ “civilian” version ended in February and was watched by about 1.5 million viewers per episode, while last year’s celebrity version secured about 2 million for each episode. The latter was won by AJ Pritchard, Ferne McCann, Calum Best and Maisie Smith.
Today’s news comes about two years after the British ‘civilian’ version was hit by a scandal. Head coach Ant Middleton was resigned in 2021 due to his “personal conduct” after controversial remarks about the Covid-19 pandemic and Black Lives Matter. He was replaced by Rudy Reyes.
Elsewhere, a US version entitled Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test appeared on Fox earlier this year and has already been renewed.
Channel 4 insiders stressed that the decision to pause SAS: Who Dares Wins was performance-related, not budget-related, and had nothing to do with the cancellation of the channel’s Four Weddings reboot, the deadline announced late last week gave.
The cancellation of Four Weddings sparked frenzied speculation about Channel 4’s financial position amid falling advertising revenues, a cost-of-living crisis and spectacular new bets like Studio Lambert’s 18-episode Rise and Fall. The shocking move came just before the show began production, and around two dozen production staff had to be paid a two-week compensation package.
The situation for Channel 4 has deteriorated this week after reports revealed that CEO Alex Mahon could receive the highest annual salary for a CEO in the channel’s history this year if she is awarded the maximum possible bonus payout from a retention scheme.
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