05 November 2023 , 22:00
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Gareth Gates says he has finally rectified being Britain’s “biggest loser in 2002” by winning Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins.
He was crowned winner after former Health Secretary Matt Hancock was humiliated by being told he had failed the course as he cannot be trusted.
Gareth, 39, who lost out to Will Young in the first-ever Pop Idol final, said tonight’s victory was cathartic. He said: “It actually felt like I’d been preparing for this my whole life. “The struggle with my speech and having to be mentally strong to hear them say [I had passed]. I was like, ‘Wow, this is incredible’.
“I thought at last, I’ve actually won a talent TV show and not came second this time. It was a massive weight off my shoulders. I’ve finally redeemed myself from being the biggest loser in the UK back in 2002."
Gareth Gates won Channel 4's Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins (PA)Hancock was left to reflect on a far less redemptive time on the Channel 4 show. He was variously branded “arrogant”, a “lying c***” and a “weasel faced c***” and was ripped into for having an affair during the pandemic. After making the final three for the last challenge, where Gareth managed to hang from a crane for the longest time, Hancock and Danielle Lloyd were asked to hand in their numbers.
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Gareth endured interrogation and physical challenges (C4)DS Foxy explained: “I think back to my time in the special forces and when the chips are down and you think you’re going to die and you think about the people you want next to you. It’s all about trust. I look at the people who are stood in front of us and I ask myself, in the darkest of dark places would I have that person stood next to me? If the answer is ‘Yes’, they’ve passed, if it’s ‘No’, then they haven’t.”
Matt Hancock made it to the final three (PA)Gareth managed to endure the physical challenges but said the final interrogation is “unbearable torture”. He explained: “After the whole nine or 10 days we were in there and the sleep deprivation, being stretched physically, emotionally, mentally, the thing that tipped me over the edge was the interrogation.
“I had to have quite a bit of therapy afterwards and the show is great for that. When you come out, you’re checked over and I had about five weeks worth of counselling and therapy because it really, really did affect me."