Traitors star Harry Clark says Celebrity SAS was 'kick I needed' to overhaul life

Yahoo

4 days ago

The reality TV star won The Traitors in 2024 but has admitted he struggled with adjusting to the pressures of fame.
Viewers might expect The Traitors star Harry Clark to have found Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins a breeze thanks to his military background.
But he has admitted the gruelling contest was "the kick I needed" to sort out his life, revealing that the series "broke me physically and mentally".
Clark, who won BBC One series The Traitors in 2024 after double-crossing show best friend Mollie Pearce, joined the Army at 16 and served as an engineer before leaving the military and becoming a TV star.
So he might have had more experience than most of his fellow recruits in the Channel 4 show that simulates SAS selection, but revealed that taking part helped him to find himself and get "on the right path" and said that he had felt "lost" in life going into the show.
Read more: Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins line-up from Rebecca Loos to Michaella McCollum
Celebrity SAS put star on the 'right path' after overnight fame
After winning The Traitors at just 22 and becoming an overnight celebrity, the pressures of fame were overwhelming for Clark to adjust to.
Asked why he wanted to take part in Celebrity SAS, he replied: "For me, it was trying to do something that helped me find myself, if that makes sense? I was hoping that it would be an experience that would put me on the right path, on the right track, especially with advice or help from the people involved in the series."
Clark, who has previously opened up on mental health struggles, added: "I hadn't had the greatest experience during my last six months after leaving the military." But despite his Army past, he admitted of whether he was prepared for Celebrity SAS: "I know that at that time in my life I wasn't in the fittest shape. Now I'm in the best shape!"
The reality star, who previously took part in BBC show Pilgrimage, shared that he had been "broken" by Celebrity SAS but that he believes it was exactly what he needed to get his life back on course.
He said: "I sum up the whole experience as confusing because the course broke me physically and mentally. But that was actually the kick I needed and the experience I needed at that time.
"It was definitely a growing point for me. That's what I've matured from, what's taught me that not everything goes perfectly to plan. So yeah, I would say it's confusing because of the amount of emotions I felt. I felt every single emotion you can feel from a TV show on that course."
How Harry Clark's military past helped with Celebrity SAS
However, Clark undoubtedly got some advantage from having served in the Army, as he shared that being shouted at by the directing staff — something many other celebrities find tough — was not a problem for him.
"Oh, that didn't really bother me, to be honest," he said. "When you are in the military, I think you're taught to have no emotion. And again, because I was so lost anyway, I can't really remember it fully, but I just remember it being like my time in the Army — if you get shouted at or you get screamed at, it doesn't matter. You just listen to it and then you change from that.
"I was in the military from age 16 and I'd been screamed and shouted at and told to do press-ups and burpees and run here, there and everywhere, so it wasn't really any different from those six years of my army life."
Clark added: "I had a strong mentality. No matter how much pain I was in, I was never going to hand in my armband. I remember my feet were busted the whole time I was there because right before I'd gone, I was doing other sports for charity. So it was a bit of everything together - the mental and physical."
Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins returns to Channel 4 at 9pm on Sunday, 3 August.