When SAS Australia came knocking on Emily Seebohm’s front door, she initially turned it down – but now the former Olympic swimmer is ready to tackle any challenge thrown her way in the desert.
“When they asked me a second time I was like, ‘Hell yeah!’ I knew I was ready for it,” Emily tells Woman’s Day ahead of SAS: Australia V England airing.
“The hardest thing for me wasn’t anything mental or physical – it was being away from my son and not having any contact with him.”
PUSHED TO THE LIMIT
Under the command of the show’s Chief Instructor Mark “Billy” Billingham, Emily and 13 other celebrities from Australia and the UK were tested to their absolute physical and mental limits with high-stress challenges, all while living in the harsh Moroccan desert.
While many would be intimidated by the challenges on the show, which are based on real Special Forces selection exercises, Emily was excited to see what she could accomplish.
“I honestly think SAS was easier for me to do than I’m A Celeb […Get Me Out Of Here!],” Emily, 33, laughs.
“With SAS you’re doing a challenge every day, whereas in the jungle, if you’re not taken out for a challenge you’re just sitting around in camp, which is quite boring. At one point I even thought about eating dirt because I was so bored!”
As for her fellow recruits, Emily says they’re an extremely supportive bunch that always lent a helping hand when the going got tough.
She even struck up a friendship with some of the contestants from the UK.
“I don’t know how but I got added to a group chat with all the UK recruits and we chat a lot in there,” Emily tells.
“Gabby [Allen] and I talk quite a bit, and she’s spoken about coming over to Australia at some point, so we’ll definitely be catching up when she does!”
Now back at home, Emily is thrilled to be reunited with two-year-old Sampson.
“When I got home, he was not that interested in me and it took a while for him to come good again,” she says.
“After that he was like, ‘Mummy, don’t go anywhere’. When any mum tries to do something, there’s always some serious mum guilt.”
FAMILY TIME
But despite Sampson’s frosty reception, Emily shares it’s now business as usual, with gymnastics classes, swimming and music classes.
But Emily, her partner Brandon Caust and Sampson love to have fun together too.
“If you ask Sampson what his favourite family activity is, it’s going to Dreamworld to see the Wiggles,” says Emily.
“And Sampson loves spending time with Brandon. When he’s not around, Sampson’s always asking, ‘Where’s B?’”
While she’s already survived SAS and the jungle, Emily reveals she’d love to go on The Amazing Race or Dancing With The Stars.
“Unless I can do air fryer or microwave meals, then MasterChef is off the table,” Emily laughs.
“I always said I’d do The Amazing Race with my dad, but his patience has gotten a lot shorter and I don’t know how much they could air because everything would be, ‘F**k this and f**k that!’”
