Former military man Ant Middleton won’t try to Escape a challenge​ in new Channel 4 show

LAYING his body and, potentially, his life, on the line is second nature for Ant Middleton.

But although the former military man says he’s only too well aware of his loved ones waiting at home, he admits he can’t resist a challenge.

Ant shot to prominence as chief instructor for Channel 4’s SAS: Who Dares Wins series and is back tonight with a new show called Escape.

Earlier this year he made plenty of headlines in Mutiny, which recreated Captain William Bligh’s journey after the infamous Mutiny on the Bounty.

“I always remember before I left for it, my wife Emilie reminded me I didn’t know those guys,” dad-of-three Ant, who spent four years in the SBS, the naval special forces outfit that is the sister unit to the SAS.

“She said I shouldn’t think of doing anything silly and risk myself for them.

“But then she just laughed and said she didn’t know why she was even saying that, because she knows what I’m like when I go off on something.

“I’m tuned in a way I can’t seem to let go. It does worry me and it does worry my wife, but that’s just who I am.”

The series sees five groups of engineers stranded as survivors of a plane crash and have to use their ingenuity to build a craft in which to make their escape.

Ant says it pushes the participants to the limit and it’s not always the ones you expect that tough it out against the odds and show they have the right stuff.

“Sometimes it’s the quiet ones that get stronger and stronger.”

Mutiny was another show that pushed everyone to the limit.

“There were bits where things could have gone wrong, particularly towards the end,” he adds.

Escape, Channel 4, tonight, 8pm.