Anthony Middleton (born 22 September 1980) is a British television personality and former UK Special Forces soldier, Royal Marines Commando, and

Royal Engineer The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is the engineering arm of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces ...

in the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

. He is best known as the former Chief Instructor on the

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

television series '' SAS: Who Dares Wins'', a role he held from 2015 until 2021. Middleton also appeared as the Captain in the adventure/reality-show ''Mutiny'' and the survival show ''Escape''. In 2018, he climbed Mount Everest for the TV show ''Extreme Everest with Ant Middleton''.

Early life

Middleton was born in

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent, making Portsmouth the only city in En ...

, Hampshire, and brought up in France.

Career

Military service

Middleton joined the army in 1998 at the age of 17 where he served in 9 Parachute Squadron Royal Engineers and served tours of duty in

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

in 1999 during Operation Banner, and in the

Republic of Macedonia North Macedonia, officially the Republic of North Macedonia, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe. It shares land borders with Greece to the south, Albania to the west, Bulgaria to the east, Kosovo to the northwest and Serbia to the n ...

in 2001 during

Operation Essential Harvest Operation Essential Harvest (or Task Force Harvest) was a deployment mission in the Republic of Macedonia by NATO, officially launched on August 22, 2001, and effectively started on August 27. Because national contributions were larger than expecte ...

. After leaving the army in 2002, he later enlisted in the

Royal Marines The Royal Marines provide the United Kingdom's amphibious warfare, amphibious special operations capable commando force, one of the :Fighting Arms of the Royal Navy, five fighting arms of the Royal Navy, a Company (military unit), company str ...

on 2 May 2005. He passed the 32 week commando course on 20 January 2006 with 898 troop, winning the King's Badge for best all-round recruit, and was posted to D Company, 40 Commando. In 2007 he did his first tour in

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

. In 2008 he joined the

Special Boat Service The Special Boat Service (SBS) is the special forces unit of the United Kingdom's Royal Navy. The SBS can trace its origins back to the Second World War when the Army Special Boat Section was formed in 1940. After the Second World War, the Roy ...

, serving for 4 years as a point man and as a

sniper A sniper is a military or paramilitary marksman who engages targets from positions of concealment or at distances exceeding the target's detection capabilities. Snipers generally have specialized training and are equipped with telescopic si ...

, in two further tours of Afghanistan. After leaving the armed forces, Middleton worked as a security guard for VIPs, and later as a security expert in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

and for various

West African West Africa, also known as Western Africa, is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Ma ...

governments.

Television

Middleton was the Chief Instructor on ''SAS: Who Dares Wins'', a reality high-fitness training television programme produced by Minnow Films for

, which was first broadcast in 2015. The show featured a military-style training programme and propelled Middleton into the celebrity limelight. ''Mutiny'', an adventure/reality crossover show, was screened on UK television in February 2017, with Middleton starring as boat captain alongside eight volunteer participants. The show was a re-enactment of the

Mutiny on the Bounty The mutiny on the ''Bounty'' occurred in the South Pacific Ocean on 28 April 1789. Disaffected crewmen, led by acting-Lieutenant Fletcher Christian, seized control of the ship, , from their captain, Lieutenant (navy), Lieutenant William Bli ...

and Middleton described the experience as "mentally speaking, the hardest thing I've ever done". In March 2021, Middleton was dropped by Channel 4 over their objections to his personal conduct. Middleton then repeated his ''SAS'' hosting position on the Australian version of the show for the Seven Network. Additionally, he was the host of the reality adventure show ''Million Dollar Island'', also for Seven.

Publications

In 2017, Middleton co-authored his first book, ''SAS: Who Dares Wins: Leadership Secrets from the Special Forces'', with his fellow TV presenters and Special Forces colleagues Jason Fox, Matthew "Ollie" Ollerton and Colin Maclachlan. Middleton's autobiography, ''First Man In: Leading from the Front'', was published in 2018, becoming a Number 1 ''

Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British Sunday newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of N ...

'' best-seller. His second book, ''The Fear Bubble: Harness Fear and Live Without Limits'', was published in 2019, and was also No.1 on ''The Sunday Times'' bestseller chart. His third book, ''Zero Negativity'', was published in 2020. Middleton features in Coach Mike Chadwick's audiobook The Red On Revolution, published in 2022.

Other

On 14 May 2018, Middleton reached the summit of

Mount Everest Mount Everest (), known locally as Sagarmatha in Nepal and Qomolangma in Tibet, is Earth's highest mountain above sea level. It lies in the Mahalangur Himal sub-range of the Himalayas and marks part of the China–Nepal border at it ...

with

Ed Wardle Ed Wardle is a British television producer, director, camera operator, and adventurer. Wardle first gained publicity for adventure activity in 2008. He partook in a guided 'last degree' expedition to the North Pole. Later, he was a member of the ...

, completing the ascent over a five and a half week period. The pair almost perished when they were caught in a

blizzard A blizzard is a severe Winter storm, snowstorm characterized by strong sustained winds and low visibility, lasting for a prolonged period of time—typically at least three or four hours. A ground blizzard is a weather condition where snow th ...

behind a group of ten climbers who hampered their progress during the descent. In November 2019, Middleton was appointed as Chief Cadet and Honorary

Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

in the Royal Navy's

Volunteer Cadet Corps The Volunteer Cadet Corps (VCC) is a national youth organisation managed by the United Kingdom's Royal Navy and sponsored by the UK's Ministry of Defence. The VCC comprises: * Headquarters VCC. Based at in Portsmouth. * VCC Training Centre. ...

. He left the position nine months later amidst controversy surrounding a comment he made on Twitter, which appeared to compare

Black Lives Matter Black Lives Matter (BLM) is a Decentralization, decentralized political and social movement that aims to highlight racism, discrimination and Racial inequality in the United States, racial inequality experienced by black people, and to pro ...

protesters with the

English Defence League The English Defence League (EDL) was a Far-right politics, far-right, Islamophobia, Islamophobic organisation active in England from 2009 until the mid-late 2010s. A social movement and Advocacy group, pressure group that employed street demo ...

as extremists and "scum", though he clarified that he was not equating the two groups. In 2023, Middleton climbed to the summit of K2, second highest in the world only to

Politics

On 20 September 2024, Middleton gave his support to

Reform UK Reform UK is a right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. Nigel Farage has been Leader of Reform UK and Richard Tice deputy leader since 2024. It has five members of Parliament (MPs) in the House of Commons and one membe ...

and he spoke at the party's conference in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

. On 8 January 2025, Middleton hinted on

X (formerly Twitter) Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, imag ...

that he would run for

Mayor of London The mayor of London is the chief executive of the Greater London Authority. The role was created in 2000 after the Greater London devolution referendum in 1998, and was the first directly elected mayor in the United Kingdom. The current ...

for Reform UK in 2028, stating "My country is calling me once again! I've fought for it once and I WILL come back and serve it again! Standby, standby...". On 20 January 2025, Middleton was part of Reform UK's delegation to the

second inauguration of Donald Trump The United States presidential inauguration, inauguration of Donald Trump as the 47th president of the United States took place on Monday, January 20, 2025. Due to freezing temperatures and high winds, it was held inside the United States Capi ...

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, along with leader

Nigel Farage Nigel Paul Farage ( ; born 3 April 1964) is a British politician and broadcaster who has been Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Clacton (UK Parliament constituency), Clacton and Leader of Reform UK since 20 ...

and party treasurer Nick Candy.

Legal issues

Middleton was convicted of the unlawful wounding of a male police officer and the common assault of a female police officer in a nightclub in Chelmsford, Essex in 2013 the following year after leaving the Special Boat Service. He described the incident as being "alcohol-fuelled" and went on to state "Once I realised what I’d done, I thought, "Oh my God"". He gave himself up to the police after a short initial search. He was sentenced to 14 months in prison, of which he served only four months due to good behaviour. In March 2025, the

Insolvency Service The Insolvency Service is an executive agency of the Department for Business and Trade with headquarters in London. It has around 1,700 staff, operating from 22 locations across the UK. The Insolvency Service administers compulsory company liq ...

announced that Middleton and his wife had been banned from becoming a director of a company for four years following the failure of his company to pay over £1 million in tax. The UK

said £385,000 in

VAT A value-added tax (VAT or goods and services tax (GST), general consumption tax (GCT)) is a consumption tax that is levied on the value added at each stage of a product's production and distribution. VAT is similar to, and is often compared wi ...

and £869,000 in

corporation tax A corporate tax, also called corporation tax or company tax or corporate income tax, is a type of direct tax levied on the income or capital of corporations and other similar legal entities. The tax is usually imposed at the national level, but i ...

was owed on £4.5 million in income which flowed into the company between 2019 and 2022.

Filmography

Television

Live Tours

Works

Non-fiction

*''SAS: Who Dares Wins: Leadership Secrets from the Special Forces'' (Headline, 2016) *''Leader et soldat d'élite: Leçons des forces spéciales'' (Talent Editions, 2019) *''Mental Fitness: 15 Rules to Strengthen Your Body and Mind'' (HarperCollins, 2021) *''Mission: Total Resilence'' (Red Shed, 2022) *''The Wall'' (HarperCollins, 2022) *''Mission: Total Confidence'' (Red Shed, 2023) *''Military Mindset: Lessons from the Battlefield'' (Hodder and Stoughton/Hachette, October 2024)

The Mindset Trilogy

*''First Man In: Leading from the Front'' (HarperCollins, 2018) *''The Fear Bubble: Harness Fear and Live Without Limits'' (HarperCollins, 2019) *''Zero Negativity: The Power of Positive Thinking'' (HarperCollins, 2020)

Fiction

*''Cold Justice'' (Sphere, 2021) *''Red Mist'' (Sphere, 2023)

Medals

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Middleton, Ant 1980 births Living people 20th-century British Army personnel 21st-century British Army personnel 21st-century Royal Marines personnel British expatriates in France British military personnel of the Sierra Leone Civil War British people convicted of assault British summiters of Mount Everest Male actors from Portsmouth Military personnel from Portsmouth Reform UK people Royal Engineers soldiers Royal Marines ranks Royal Navy personnel of the War in Afghanistan (2001–2021) Special Boat Service personnel Television personalities from Hampshire