SAS Australia star Ant Middleton says he’s HAPPY he spent 14 months in jail

Ant Middleton has revealed that his 2013 jail sentence was a blessing. 

The ex-Royal Marine-turned-reality TV star, who served a four-month prison stint for assaulting two police officers outside a nightclub in 2013, said the experience was a ‘learning curve’ which changed him for the better. 

The 40-year-old told The Daily Telegraph on Tuesday: ‘I ended up in an altercation with a policeman and rightly so, I got handed a custodial sentence. 

‘I never tried to get out of it, I held my hand up, I realised that violence wasn’t the way. I never shy away from it because hopefully it can be a lesson for other people.’

He added: ‘It was such a learning curve for me but I am glad it happened and I am glad that I got handed a custodial sentence because it is a harsh, life-changing lesson’. 

Speaking on Eddie Hearne’s Podcast No Passion, No Point earlier this year, he also described the prison sentence, which came six months after he left the military, as something of a relief. 

‘I can just remember as soon as that hammer went down, I remember this weight being lifted off my shoulders because I knew what I needed to do – I’ve got to do 14 months,’ he said. 

‘The worst moment is not being able to own a situation, I didn’t know if I was going to get one year, two years, five years. When you are in control you can take ownership.’

Ant, who says he struggled to fit back into normal society after leaving the military, also went on to discuss prison as the most ‘shameful’ experience of his life. 

‘I remember the first roll call, standing by my door, shouting my number saying I was present. Thinking I have gone from being an elite special forces operator to being a number in the nick and that was the most shameful experience of my life – my head hung with shame,’ he said. 

The solider spent four months of his 14 month sentence in prison before turning his life around. 

He joined the British show SAS: Who Dares Wins in 2015, as a Chief Instructor, propelling him to stardom before he joined the Australian version in 2020.