Merrick Watts has revealed he will not appear on SAS Australia, following inaccurate reports of Ant Middleton confirming his return to the Channel Seven show.
Speaking on The Fox’s Fifi, Fev & Nick on Tuesday, the 50-year-old comedian set the record straight after the Herald of the sun reported that he will take on the role of a member of the DS team.
“Some people have asked me, but this is the first time I’ve talked to the media about this because the media didn’t bother to ask me at all,” he said on the radio.
‘They just went and wrote it, and I read it and thought, “That’s interesting, I didn’t know that.” So that’s news to me.
—So look, I mean, I’m just waiting for the call from Now from Channel Seven to tell me I have the job. But other than that, I don’t have the job. It’s not true.’
Co-host Fifi Box asked Watts if the position “was even an option,” to which he responded, “No. Not only have I not been talked to about it, but I haven’t talked to anyone about it either. It’s never come up.” .
‘I don’t know how this happened. “Obviously someone laughed a little,” he added.
‘It is unfounded, false. I will not return to SAS Australia.’
Merrick Watts (pictured) has revealed he will not be appearing on SAS Australia, following inaccurate reports of Ant Middleton confirming his return to the Channel Seven show.
The DS’s role is to propel the contestants through the course before reporting to Chief Instructor Middleton on their progress and skill.
On Friday, former UK Special Forces soldier Ant Middleton reportedly told publication NewsCorp that Watts will be part of the management staff, making him the first Australian DS member on the show.
“Merrick Watts, he comes as one of the DS, the management staff, he will be at my side in the next SAS,” he said.
‘I guess the cat is out of the bag now. We have to continue evolving it (the program), keep it updated.”
Watts successfully passed the grueling selection course during SAS Australia’s first season in 2020.
Following his time on the show, the radio presenter revealed how signing up for the grueling Channel Seven show has helped him overcome his darkest moments.
Watts successfully passed the arduous selection course during SAS Australia’s first season in 2020
On Friday, Ant Middleton (pictured) told the Herald Sun that Watts will be part of the management team, making him the first Australian DS member on the show.
The father-of-two said he was in the “worst mental state” he had ever been in before agreeing to take part in the programme.
After talking to her doctor, she visited a psychologist and even took a 10-week mediation course, but “nothing” was working.
“I felt like I was wearing myself out,” Watts said during an interview with Nova’s Fitzy and Wippa at the time.
‘I did all the right things, I spoke to a psychologist, I spoke to my doctor, I did a 10-week meditation course. Nothing worked. “I know what I needed was to get my confidence back.”
Watts said he knew joining SAS Australia would help him “rebuild his confidence”.
‘When I am confident I am very, very capable. “When I don’t have confidence, I go back into my shell… I knew that just the preparation process for SAS Australia would be enough to regain my confidence and I was right,” he explained.
‘I look at myself a year ago and when I signed up for this program I was in the worst mental state I’ve ever been in. I look at myself a year later and I am in the best physical and mental state I have ever been in. I have been in my entire life.
And he concluded: ‘It has been extraordinarily good for my mind and my body.’
During his appearance on SAS Australia, Watts admitted his confidence took a hit after losing his radio career “about three years ago”.
‘For 20 years I worked in radio and had extraordinary success. He had a number one radio show, got massive ratings and made a lot of money. It was a really good moment. And it’s over,’ he reflected during his interrogation with the SAS General Staff.
‘You do something like radio for 20 years non-stop. You get used to a certain way of doing things, and then when you stop doing it for a while, it’s exciting and then it’s kind of cool and it’s a release.’
‘But suddenly, there was a period when I just didn’t have much work. There was a moment where I just said, “What’s next for me? Who am I? What am I going to do?”
‘I lost confidence in myself and I lost my strength and myself. That little by little began to manifest itself in anxiety and depression.”
Watts confessed that his struggle with anxiety and depression was what prompted him to sign up for the program.
‘I’m doing this course to completely change myself from what I was. Everyone knows me as a carefree person…’ he explained.
But I haven’t felt that way in a while. And I want to feel that way again.”
