Celebrity SAS Who Dares Wins 2026: Triple Winners & Cast

When Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins wrapped its 2026 season on Channel 4, three contestants walked away as winners — an outcome the show had never seen before. Dani Dyer, Gabby Allen, and Emily Seebohm all passed the final test in Morocco, each earning the green beret in a finale that gave the series its first triple-crown moment.

Series 8 Air Date: 4 January 2026 ·
2026 Winners: Dani Dyer, Gabby Allen, Emily Seebohm ·
First Triple Winners: Yes ·
Host Channel: Channel 4 ·
Location: Morocco

Who’s in the SAS celebrity 2026 cast?

Confirmed celebrities

Series 8 broke from the show’s usual format by pitting two national teams directly against each other. Seven UK celebrities and seven Australian celebrities lived and trained in the same Moroccan compound, competing in shared challenges before facing individual final tests. The makeup of each squad reflected a mix of reality television experience, sporting credentials, and social-media reach.

Team UK brought together several figures already known to British audiences. Reality star Dani Dyer, Love Island alumna Gabby Allen, social media personalities Jack Joseph and Cole Anderson-James, retired rugby player Ben Cohen, Gladiators competitor Toby Olubi, and former cricketer Graeme Swann made up the roster. Team Australia counterbalanced with its own blend of credentials: reality star Jessika Power, Neighbours actor Ryan Moloney, musicians Axle Whitehead, actress-singer Natalie Bassingthwaighte, cricketer Brad Hodge, and Olympic swimmers Emily Seebohm and Mack Horton.

Both squad lists were confirmed across the Channel 4 broadcast record and entertainment press coverage, including Cosmopolitan and Hello Rayo.

Episode-by-episode elimination timeline

Celebrity SAS has always punished early quitters harder than dramatic exits — most contestants in Series 8 called it a day well before the final test. Here is how the field narrowed across the eight episodes.

What celebrities are in the new SAS Who Dares Wins?

Season 8 lineup

Beyond the headline names, each cast member brought specific backgrounds that shaped how the series played out. The two Olympic swimmers — Emily Seebohm and Mack Horton — were obvious physical standouts, while Ben Cohen’s rugby career and Graeme Swann’s professional cricket career offered different models of elite endurance. The reality and social media contingent — including Dani Dyer, Gabby Allen, Jack Joseph, Cole Anderson-James, Jessika Power, and Ryan Moloney — entered with different expectations about what the course would demand.

Cosmopolitan confirmed the complete cast lists for both teams, matching the rosters established through the Channel 4 broadcast record. Each celebrity’s participation was confirmed through official announcement channels and cross-referenced across entertainment outlets.

Directing Staff

Series 8 was overseen by four directing staff: Jason Fox, Chris Oliver, Rudy Reyes, and Billy Billingham MBE. Rudy Reyes has served as Chief Instructor since October 2021, having joined the series during an earlier shake-up. Chris Oliver entered the directing staff in 2023. Jason Fox and Billy Billingham MBE complete the quartet that ran the course in Morocco.

Ant Middleton, who served as Chief Instructor through earlier seasons, was dismissed in 2021. Middleton publicly disputed his removal, claiming the show had become constrained by editorial pressures — a claim that has circulated through secondary reporting but remains contested.

Middleton subsequently claimed ‘the woke patrol have kicked in to the point where we can’t say anything, we can’t be ourselves’.

— Ant Middleton, former Chief Instructor via Wikipedia

Who wins Celebrity SAS 2026 season 2?

Finale results

The Series 8 finale delivered a result the show had not produced in any of its previous seven celebrity seasons: three separate individuals crossed the finish line as winners. In Episode 8, Dani Dyer (UK), Gabby Allen (UK), and Emily Seebohm (Australia) each passed the final test administered by the directing staff, earning the green beret. All three outcomes were confirmed through the broadcast record and entertainment press coverage.

That Emily Seebohm — an Australian — joined two UK winners in the triple crown was notable given the competitive framing the series built around national identity. The UK vs Australia structure had implied a single winning team, but the finale treated individual passage as the ultimate measure.

First triple winners

The triple winners outcome was unprecedented. Prior series had produced single winners or, in some cases, two winners sharing the distinction. Series 8 was the first time three individuals passed independently. Hello Rayo reported all three names directly in its entertainment coverage of the finale.

Gabby Allen, Emily Seebohm and Dani Dyer all successfully passed the SAS course to win the 2026 series of Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins.

— Alex Ross, Hello Rayo entertainment correspondent

Who dares wins Celebrity SAS 2026 location?

Filming sites

Series 8 was filmed in Morocco — marking a shift from the Welsh mountains used for Series 7 and the New Zealand landscapes of Series 6. The announcement of the UK-Australia format in December 2025 preceded the location confirmation, with Morocco confirmed through the broadcast record and cross-referenced across entertainment press.

Morocco provided a geographically neutral venue between the two competing nations, and its climate offered physical challenges distinct from the wet and cold conditions of prior UK-based seasons. The Channel 4 broadcast schedule of Sundays and Mondays at 9pm ran across both nations’ audiences without alteration.

Where to watch

Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins Series 8 aired exclusively on Channel 4. All eight episodes were broadcast on the channel’s linear schedule and available through its on-demand platform. The show has aired on Channel 4 since its debut on 19 October 2015.

Why did Ollie Ollerton leave SAS?

Ollie Ollerton, a former Directing Staff member and one of the show’s original instructors, was dropped from the series in prior years. Reports indicated the departure followed internal decisions by the production team, with some coverage pointing to disagreements over casting direction.

Ollerton has not returned to the directing staff in subsequent seasons. Series 8 was overseen entirely by the current quartet of Jason Fox, Chris Oliver, Rudy Reyes, and Billy Billingham MBE, with no announcement suggesting any change to that staffing approach.

What this means: the original command team that defined the show’s early identity has been entirely replaced. The production has maintained its viewership without relying on nostalgia for the show’s founding figures, suggesting that the SAS Who Dares Wins brand now rests on the format itself rather than any individual instructor.

Comparing Series 8 to prior seasons

Five seasons of data allow a meaningful comparison across format, location, and winner count. The trends are clear: the show has progressively internationalised its cast, shifted its filming geography with each series, and — in 2026 — produced its first three-winner finale.

The implication: Series 7 produced three winners in Wales, but under a standard format. Series 8 matched that winner count while introducing a fundamentally different competitive structure — one built around national identity rather than individual merit alone. The Morocco location, meanwhile, returned the series to warmer and more geographically varied terrain compared to the Welsh slate of 2025.

Directing Staff and show evolution

The show’s command structure has undergone three distinct phases. Ant Middleton served as Chief Instructor from the 2015 launch through 2021, when his dismissal prompted a public dispute. Rudy Reyes replaced him in October 2021 and has since been the most consistent presence in a role that has seen significant turnover.

The addition of Chris Oliver in 2023 and the retention of Jason Fox and Billy Billingham MBE completed the current quartet. None of the four currently serving were part of the original 2015 launch team — a fact that underscores how completely the show has reinvented its on-screen authority structure over a decade.

The civilian SAS series, which ran in parallel to the celebrity version in earlier years, was shelved indefinitely in 2023. Since then, Channel 4 has treated the celebrity format as its primary SAS offering, with no announcement of a civilian return.

Related reading: Cast of Gavin and Stacey

The 2026 edition in Morocco echoes the grueling tests that produced 2024 winners and cast in earlier series like 2024, pitting UK and Australian celebrities head-to-head.

Frequently asked questions