Interview with Recruit 2 - John
Category: Press Pack ArticleJohn
Recruit: 2
Age: 39
Profession: Tattooist
Hometown: Brighton
Background
Both John’s parents are deaf and growing up, he took advantage of his parent’s deafness in order to get away with behaving badly. He spent his teenage years hanging around the streets, drinking, smoking and generally misbehaving. He never conformed to rules even from a young age and therefore grew up unable to follow them.
As he got older, he found himself partying hard but when reality hit that he was heading down a dangerous path, he realised he had to slow down. Instead, he found solace in fitness and is now in a much more confident and happy place.
Tell me about your experience on SAS: Who Dares Wins?
Being on the course opened my eyes to how much myself and others can push ourselves. It was an amazing experience. I wanted to be broken to the point of tears and that’s exactly what happened but I fought through it and pushed myself like I’ve never done before. I’m a cheeky chap caked in tattoos who started off being mouthy, but after one day I decided to stop. I went on the show to learn to listen more and not get my back up every time someone tells me what to do. The sickener was my lowest point. I really struggled carrying somebody up the hill due to my weak left leg. That’s when I nearly handed my number in but once again fought against my head telling me to leave. I’ll never forget this experience and I’ve made a good group of friends for life. Couldn’t have asked for a better outcome.
Did you find it difficult? Was it more difficult than you expected?
It was the hardest thing I’ve done by far. I’ll never feel such emotional and physical pain again. I put myself in difficult situations because I know I’ll hate them but it’s like a battle with myself to do it. Once I’ve done it and tried my hardest then it feels like I’ve won. I sat on my sofa in the past and watched SAS: Who Dares Wins and thought I could do that but it’s so tough and unless you have done it, you will never understand the torture of it.
Have you ever done anything like this before?
Nothing to that extreme. I like putting myself in shit situations. I hate fighting. I put myself forward for a white collar boxing match. I hate running. Did a marathon and 2 Spartans but that course topped them all by far.
What made you sign up?
I really wanted to do something wild but amazing. Something with a pleasure pain feeling. I wanted to find out more about myself. Why have I been struggling with anxiety for a decade? I thought to do this and meet people like the DS would be great for my morale and learn new things. They spoke a lot of sense and made me think differently about things. I now realise things are not so bad. It’s always worse in your head and I wanted to break that cycle.
What training did you do in preparation for this course?
We were all in lockdown at this point so I was doing a lot of running at this point.
Now that you have this experience, would you like to join the real Special Forces?
A simple answer to that is no!
What was the best part of the series for you?
The best part of the series for me was doing everything put in front of me. I didn’t back down. I faced it head on and completed it. I never gave up. I wouldn’t say it was my best moment because I was fucking cold but I’m so glad I smashed the backwards dive. I felt a buzz after that because I was worried about that. Oh I have to mention that running past Jamie #14 on the fifth day was a great moment for me also. I still wind him up about it now.
What was the hardest part of the series for you?
We did a 5k run over hills, through swamp like fields, to the cliff and walked back down. I stupidly drank all my water and I was hungry after doing my cliff walk but then I had to wait for 15 others to complete it. When we eventually ran back, I thought we were finished but soon discovered we were doing the sickener. I was fucked before we even started that. I was wet, cold, hungry. We got in the sea up to our necks. It was cold. My teeth were chattering. Then we had to run and climb up a small cliff edge, back in the sea again and finally we had to carry a recruit up the hill. I had no energy and nearly quit. I’ve never felt anything like it.
What is your biggest fear and has this experience helped you get over that fear?
I’ve always been scared of heights and the sea. Once again it’s the unknown. Doing tasks on the course push that fear away. It wasn’t as scary as I thought. I’d never put myself into the deep sea but once I was in the sea I was fine. Sometimes I think way too much into stuff.
You had to share all your space with women for the whole time you were there, including sleeping and toilets. How did you find that?
I didn’t mind sharing the beds next to females. It was a fun experience sleeping with others in the room, until people snored. That was horrendous. I ended up shoving tissue in my ears to block it out. Having a shit next to some was jokes. Chatting while trying not to make too much toilet noise was the goal.
Would you ever do it again?
I’d have to say no. It was so hard and took me weeks to recover. Was fun and really appreciate the opportunity though.
What do you think you’ve learnt about yourself?
I’ve learnt to not think so much, not to worry about what others think of me. As long as I’m happy, that’s the main thing. Life’s great. Just enjoy it. You can’t be everyone’s cup of tea.
Has being on the series changed your life in anyway?
I’ve made some really close friends. I’m not just saying that. Friends for life. We got forced together in a difficult situation and we all smashed it. It was also great to meet the DS.