
SAS: Who are you? In tonight’s first episode of the new series, Dares Wins recruit number 11 heartbreakingly revealed his story of wanting to ‘discover himself’ following a traumatic encounter with sexual assault.
Zachariah was one of 20 new recruits put through their paces by Directing Staff Mark ‘Billy’ Billingham, Jason ‘Foxy’ Fox, Rudy Reyes, and rookie DS Chris Oliver in the harsh Vietnam jungle.
Zachariah was dragged into the Mirror Rooms after failing to impress the DS during the second task, which required the recruits to carry each other on their backs through the harsh terrain.
Talking to the other DS about Zachariah, Billy had said: ‘I can’t work out whether something’s missing, he doesn’t quite get it or there’s a delayed reaction to understanding what we’re telling him’.
Chris then brought the 27-year-old Woolacombe head chef into the interrogation room, where he was repeatedly urged to cease squirming.
Opening up about his reasons for being on the course, Zachariah began: ‘I feel like I lost myself at such a young age, now, as an older man I don’t feel like I know who I actually am anymore’.
‘I was about 17 and I got sexually assaulted by some bloke, and it sent me off to a different path, and I found everything to disguise myself from that, because I felt like a waste,’ he continued. ‘I felt worthless’.
‘I’m trying to find myself again,’ he tearfully added.
Later, while speaking to the camera, Zachariah explained that he didn’t tell anyone in his family about it at the time.
‘Once I knew what was going on, it just made me feel completely empty and lost.
‘It sent me on a path of complete self-destruct for many years. When I’m alone with my own thoughts is when I struggle with it.’
Jamie acknowledged ahead of the series’ premiere that the most difficult battle for him was the mental aspect of the selecting process.
He said: ‘For me, the hardest part of the course was the mental side, the psychological side of things, specially being so tired all the time and feeling quite fatigued.
‘It was really hard to stay mentally resilient on top of everything, especially in that heat. The tasks were quite difficult as well but all mixed together, with the constant pressure of just being under intense scrutiny about everything I was doing, was just mentally draining.’
SAS: Who Dares Wins airs on Mondays at 9pm on Channel 4.