AS part of Channel 4's Stand Up To Cancer line-up, there's a celebrity special of SAS: Who Dares Wins, featuring 12 stars from the worlds of politics, entertainment and sport. Chief instructor and former soldier Ant Middleton, 38, tells Georgia Humphreys about putting the famous recruits through their paces.

CAN YOU TELL VIEWERS WHAT TO EXPECT FROM THIS VERSION OF SAS: WHO DARES WINS?

Celebrities go through their lives showing the public a front and face they want them to see but this process stripped all that away.

They've importantly turned up to raise money for SU2C (Stand Up To Cancer) but also to learn something about themselves by facing extreme experiences.

WHAT WAS IT LIKE FOR YOU TAKING THE CELEBRITIES THROUGH THE COURSE?

We didn't treat them any differently. Being in the limelight myself, I know that you have to portray yourself in a different way - you have a sense of responsibility.

We wanted to relieve that responsibility from them, almost cut the shackles of life and go: 'Listen, if you try to pull the wool over our eyes, you're gone. This is your time to be free.'

IN THE FIRST EPISODE, WE SEE MADE IN CHELSEA STAR SAM THOMPSON TALKING BACK TO YOU. WHAT DID YOU MAKE OF THAT?

He gives me something to work with. It's quite refreshing and it's one of those where I wanted to turn this boy into a man so it gave me a challenge.

We're always out there trying to better ourselves as well and if we can change someone for the better, then I'll put all my effort into doing it.

If they don't allow us to, then it's simple - just get rid of them.

YOU PICK HIM TO GIVE AN IMPORTANT COMMAND, EVEN THOUGH HE'S MAYBE NOT THE BEST LISTENER...

But you teach them the hard way, right? That's the thing about life nowadays - we're not allowed to make mistakes.

It's only through mistakes and through learning that we go, 'Whoa, actually, I can learn from that'.

If you learn, you grow. With Sam it was just like, 'Listen, I'm going to teach you a few lessons and hopefully you'll learn from them', which he did.

And if you don't, that's over to you. I can't change you, you have to do that yourself.

THE RECRUITS SHOWING YOU AND THE OTHER OFFICERS RESPECT IS VERY IMPORTANT, ISN'T IT?

Thirteen years of my career has been designed to go to war, to save life and to take life. It's not a joke, it's not a game.

If you've entered our world and showed that sign of disrespect, then it's going to cost lives. It's as simple as that.

We aren't talking about this being a game show ... I'm bound to the secret service for the rest of my life. This is serious. Take it seriously.

WE HEAR THAT WHEN INTERROGATING FORMER MP LOUISE MENSCH. YOU ASKED HER: 'WHAT ARE YOU RUNNING FROM?' WHY?

With Louise, just from her CV, from her career, jumping from job to job, I was like, 'You're either running from something or you're running towards something'.

Because I've been there and done it. I've come from the university of life. I'm an extreme doer, I do do do, and nine times out of 10 I fail or make a mistake or I learn from it. That's what makes me so resilient.

That stage where I was running, what was I running from? Was it my father's death? You're running from something, whether it's people or situations, there's just something.

I could tell with Louise ... it's not a generic question I ask everyone, you could just see her mind going over.

WOULD EVERYONE BENEFIT FROM EXPERIENCING THE SAS SELECTION PROCESS?

What we lack in society is realness. Obviously it's not accepted, but being brutally honest not only with yourself but with other people is the best form of therapy.

Once you get a situation or person for what it is, you can go through the process of acknowledging that situation, processing it and executing what needs to be actioned.

We have a tendency of complicating life and complicating ourselves. All I'm doing is stripping it down to the simple realities.

Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins starts on Channel 4 from Sunday, April 7