After 18 celebrity recruits battled through endless gruelling physical and psychological tasks, just one has emerged victorious from the 2021 SAS Australia selection process – Sam Burgess!
WATCH: Sam Burgess gets emotional on SAS Australia
In Tuesday night’s nail-biting finale of SAS Australia, five recruits were put to the ultimate test to prove they had what it takes to pass the final selection.
The selection process kicked off with a literal bang, with recruits being captured in a staged kidnapping and forced to recall as much information to the DS as possible, which was followed by the culling of Home and Away star Dan Ewing.
Next up, an arduous physical challenge in a simulated active warzone saw the DS tell Jana Pittman that her “reserve is empty” and that her time had come to an end.
The final test saw our final three recruits – ex-South Sydney Rabbitohs player Sam Burgess, sprinter John Steffensen and tennis legend Mark Philippoussis take on the sky-high task in which they were made to hang from a rope for a gruelling 90 seconds.
While all three recruits passed the final task – including Sam who powered through despite his career-ending shoulder injury – the DS decided that Sam Burgess would be the only recruit to make the final selection.
“Im feeling a lot of things, a bit of emotion,” Sam explained.
“It was my goal. My goal was to get to the end and be selected – and it was great to achieve my goal. It was a once in a lifetime experience.”
To celebrate Sam Burgess coming out on top on this season of SAS Australia, here are some of the football star’s most memorable moments throughout the series.
Cheating bombshell
During an intense interrogation, Sam confessed he was previously unfaithful to his former wife Phoebe Burgess during their four-year marriage.
The 32-year-old, who shares Billy, two and Poppy, four, with his ex-wife was unable to hide his emotions as he spoke about his past.
“I don’t think I was the greatest husband at times,” he said.
“I embarrassed my wife. I’d had an affair with a girl, a woman in Melbourne. That’s true,” he confessed.
“I was away on tour and regretful that it happened. It would’ve been a tough place for Phoebe to be.”
The couple tied the knot in December 2015 in a lavish wedding at Phoebe’s parents’ home in the NSW Southern Highlands but by Christmas 2018, rumours began to swirl that the couple called it quits when photos emerged of Sam leaving the family home with packed bags.
During an interview with Stellar in 2019, Phoebe set the record straight that they were still together, but in 2019 they split up for good.
Overcoming his fears
During his stint on SAS Australia, Sam revealed the “most uncomfortable position” he was put in on the show was during the tunnel challenge, where the recruits were required to crawl through a narrow underground pipe.
“I thought I was in there for over an hour. That was the most uncomfortable position I’ve been in throughout the whole show, my whole life,” he told Fitzy and Wippa.
“I still to this day don’t know how I made it through that tunnel. I kind of just faced out, got in a rhythm and I was moving with my shoulder blades.”
Sam praised Chief Instructor Ant Middleton for helping him get through the brutal task.
“In that situation, I’m in a pipe underground, it was pretty scary but Ant Middleton is brilliant, he got me through that. If he wasn’t there I wouldn’t have made it through,” he said.
Sam opens up about dad’s death
Sam Burgess got candid in a discussion with the DS as he opened up about his heartbreak over the death of his beloved dad, Mark, from motor neurone disease in 2007.
“My work ethic comes from my dad,” the 32-year-old explained.
“He was just a good man, a really good man,” Sam said.
“We lost him when we were quite young, which was sad, but he taught me enough when he passed away for me to carry it on.”
“I was 18,” Sam continued. “He had motor neurone disease. Crap disease, it’s awful. It’s hard to see someone you love so much go through because it’s pretty demoralising.”
“The muscles eat away and everything just stops, you become just a body but your mind is there.”
Sam went on to say that his father’s health seemed to rapidly deteriorate after watching his debut in his first game for the Bradford Bulls.
“He actually passed away after coming to watch me play… I played first team for Bradford in 2006, It was my debut, I told him not to come because I’d worry about him in the stand.
“It was freezing and I knew he was deteriorating. I saw him in the crowd during the warm-up and started shaking my head, laughing. He had gotten his way in through the parents.”
Sam continued, “Anyway, he was freezing cold and from that night on he was in the hospital for a couple of weeks and passed away a couple of weeks after that.
“One of the biggest things that hurts me in life is that he never got to see my brothers play,” Sam explained before becoming visibly emotional.
“My dad was a pretty amazing person, he was pretty heroic. I spent every day with Dad, carrying him up the stairs, helping him in and out of the bath,” he explained.
He added, “You never think you have to do that.”
“It was a very pivotal time in my life.”
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