NRL star Sam Burgess 'choked out instructor' during challenge on SAS Australia

By Andrew Bucklow

news.com.au·

17 Jun, 2021 10:50 PM2 mins to read

Former NRL star Sam Burgess reportedly "took matters into his own hands" on a new season of SAS Australia. Photo / Supplied

Former NRL star Sam Burgess choked out one of the instructors on TV show SAS Australia, it's been claimed.

Burgess is one of the 18 celebrities who will appear on the second season of the Channel 7 show which has already been filmed.

According to Fox Sports, one of the challenges on the show saw Burgess and seven other celebrities being 'kidnapped' by two SAS instructors.

They were put in a car and were driven at speeds of up to 100km/h. The point of the exercise was to see which of the contestants would step up and set the other hostages free.

"Sam took matters into his own hands, ordering [John] Steffensen to pull the handbrake," Fox Sports' James Hooper claimed. "Burgess reached over and put the soldier in a head lock, choking him out, before climbing in to the driver's seat and taking the wheel."

An ambulance reportedly had to be called to treat the SAS instructor and producers were left "dumbfounded", Hooper wrote.

News.com.au contacted Channel 7 for comment with a spokesperson saying: "The new season of SAS Australia, coming soon to Channel 7 and 7plus, is the most gruelling course in the world to date. All participants will be pushed to their limits like never before."

The Burgess report comes after SAS Australia chief instructor, Ant Middleton, told Kyle and Jackie O that the season two cast pushed his buttons.

"There's been some tears, there's been aggression," Middleton said on KIIS FM in May. "But I shut them down straight away.

"You get a different setting, a different group of people and personalities and it's gonna be a different show, but a lot of people still pushed my buttons," he said.

The other celebrities on season two are: Alicia Molik (Tennis Champion), Bonnie Anderson (singer/actor), Brynne Edelsten (socialite), Dan Ewing (actor), Emma Husar (former politician), Heath Shaw (AFL star), Isabelle Cornish (actor), Jana Pittman (dual Olympian), Jessica Peris (sprinter), Jett Kenny (ironman), John Steffensen (Olympic runner), Kerri Pottharst (beach volleyball Olympian), Koby Abberton (bra boy), Manu Feildel (celebrity chef), Mark Philippoussis (tennis legend) and Pete Murray (singer-songwriter).