SAS instructor opens up on “excruciating” behind-the-scenes trench foot
SAS: Who Dares Wins instructor Rudy Reyes opened up about his experience with trench foot whilst filming the 2023 season.
The 2023 season of SAS: Who Dares Wins, titled Jungle Hell, continues on Channel 4 tonight and if you thought it was just the recruits who were suffering in the rough conditions, then you were sorely mistaken.
SAS: Who Dares Wins instructor Rudy Reyes has revealed that he experienced "excruciating pain" during filming after suffering with trench foot – a condition that occurs when feet are exposed to cold and wet surroundings for too long.
Speaking to RadioTimes.com in an exclusive interview, Reyes revealed that his feet looked as though they'd been "bitten by a million mosquitoes" in the last week of filming SAS.
"By my last week, days before I finished, my feet finally had enough. I had two pairs of boots – it didn't matter. I got the good old trench foot. I got the immersion foot.
"One evening, they were hurting so bad and so swollen and looked like I'd been bitten by a million mosquitoes on my feet. I was thinking, 'How am I going to find the strength to go on because every step I take is excruciating pain?'
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"Do you know what I did? I got down on my knees, put my elbows on my freaking rack – that's what we call camp beds – and I prayed and I prayed and I prayed. When I woke up the next morning, my feet were feeling a lot better."
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He added: "Anyway, it was really, really challenging over time but I wouldn't miss it for the world. It's the most beautiful and most dangerous place I've ever been."
As for how long it took the former Navy SEAL to recover, Reyes explained it took a month. "You can imagine being on a plane for so long, I think my flight was 24 hours and something – and so the swelling and such."
Tonight's episode will see the remaining recruits take on the next stage of the SAS challenge in the Vietnamese jungle, while Reyes and fellow instructors Jason 'Foxy' Fox, Mark 'Billy' Billingham and Chris Oliver put them through their paces.
Read more:
- SAS: Who Dares Wins 2023 cast – Meet the line-up taking on the jungle
- SAS Who Dares Wins 2023: release date, instructors, news
- SAS: Who Dares Wins changes location and replaces Chief DS for 2023
SAS Who Dares Wins returns to Channel 4 at 9pm on Mondays. Check out more of our Entertainment coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on.
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