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EXCLUSIVE: Gabby Allen on Celebrity SAS 'mind games' viewers never get to see

The former Love Island star is among the 14 famous faces participating in a new series of Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins

[Gabby Allen appears on the new series alongside fellow Love Island alum Dani Dyer]

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Gabby Allen appears on the new series alongside fellow Love Island alum Dani Dyer(Image: Channel 4)

A new series of Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins returns to TV screens tonight (January 4), pitting famous faces from the UK against Australian celebrities in a series of brutal tasks.

The 14 recruits undertaking SAS-style training in the blistering heat of North Africa this year include former Love Island stars Gabby Allen and Dani Dyer, as well as former Olympic swimmer Mack Horton and Married At First Sight Australia's Jessika Power.

The celebrities will go through the challenging course under the watchful eye of Billy Billingham MBE and his team of Directing Staff Foxy (Jason Fox), Rudy Reyes and Chris Oliver. Ahead of the first episode's debut, Rudy teased that series eight demonstrated the show "at its most dangerous, with blistering heat and a break-neck pace."

He continued: "Australia and UK - a rivalry in sport but now going head-to-head in the art and brutality of warfare. North Africa is a blast furnace and the DS fan the fire until only the strongest remain."

[Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins 2026]

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UK celebrities go head-to-head with Australian stars in the new series of Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins(Image: Pete Dadds/Channel 4)

While the challenges, endurance exercises and disciplining seen by viewers seems particularly tough, one of this year's cast, Gabby, revealed that viewers don't actually get to see "80 per cent of what we go through."

In conversation with the Mirror, the Love Islander turned wellness guru shed some light on the mind games that are played on the cast during filming - and not all of it makes the final cut.

"Being girls we all get a shower on day two, and we'd been sweating all day long in the same clothes," she said. "We'd literally just got out of the shower feeling fresh and then they were like 'Outside now with your water bottles.' Your water bottle is a millimetre away from the top and they walk past and go 'No! Pour it on your head.'

"At the time you're thinking 'These b*****s be crazy, why are they doing this to us? When you look back, it's not about the water bottle. It's about discipline and working as a team."

She added: "It's mind games at the start because it's just really hard to get through every minute. In the camp, every minute you're sleeping with one eye open in case they bring you out. Then you realise why they do that - it's about teamwork, unity and working together."

Her co-stars also had their own stories to share, with sportsman Mack revealing that the Directing Staff set a trap at one point to try and catch them out. He recalled: "They left a box of chocolates out. It was named 'Rudy's chocolates', so they were just playing games with us, testing to see if we eat it or hand it back.

"It's just things like that all week until you're looking at where they're trying to get you, where to catch-up and how to play this game to stay on their side."

Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins returns tonight at 9pm on Channel 4

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