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Privacy NoticeSAS: Who Dares Wins star Ollie Ollerton has opened up about his decision to go sober, revealing that one of the scariest things about giving up alcohol was that he “never knew” who he was without booze. During an interview with OK!, the former Special Forces soldier spoke about his sobriety and how he transformed his relationship with alcohol thanks to the hit Channel 4 show. “The biggest thing for me was that I never knew who I was. I never knew who Ollie Ollerton was without a drink. It’s scary when you cut your identity away like that. I was basically renting my personality every time that I drank,” he said.
Ollie Ollerton is known for appearing on SAS: Who Dares Wins
(Image: Pete Dadds / Channel 4)
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“Even when I wasn’t drinking, the gaps between having my last drink and having my next drink weren’t great enough for my body to rid itself of alcohol. I never knew who I was. That was my identity and it was absolutely terrifying.” For Ollie, the process of giving up alcohol is something that happened over time. In 2014, he kickstarted his transformation by isolating himself for three months to focus on his health and reconsider his relationship with booze. “I locked myself away in a house in Cornwall and I concentrated on myself. I really focused on me and my mind, body and nutrition. I didn’t stop drinking then – it was something I never thought I could do,” Ollie explained. “But I definitely started to limit the amount I was drinking and the transformation in me was phenomenal.”
“I was basically renting my personality every time that I drank,” says Ollie
(Image: Steve Parsons/PA Wire)
Then two years later, in 2016, Ollie began filming the Channel 4 show SAS: Who Dares Wins, and decided to go alcohol-free in a bid to make the most of the opportunity and to stop himself looking back on the show with any regrets. “I was in my early 40s and I’d been all over the world, I’d earned a lot of money in places but I had nothing to show for it. So when I got the opportunity for the TV, I knew I’d hate to be me in 10 years time and look back on that time and go, ‘it could have been something different if I hadn’t drank alcohol’,” he admitted. “I just said ‘look, I’m gonna give myself a break before filming and then after filming I’ll do the obvious thing and get smashed’. That was the longest I’d actually given up drinking since I was 16/17. It was about six weeks.” However, Ollie hasn’t looked back since. By the end of filming, the TV personality was left with “so much clarity” that he decided to continue his sobriety.
Ollie went alcohol-free in 2016 and hasn’t looked back since
(Image: Ryan McNamara / Channel 4)
“Since giving up alcohol, my life has just been phenomenal. I wasn’t happy at all until I gave up drinking. It’s ruined so many aspects of my life,” Ollie said. “I believe it was a massive cause of me not really making the most of being in the military. Everytime I managed to achieve something, I would ruin it. It was quite incredible that I’d take all the good I’d done and then ruin it because of alcohol.” This month Ollie and the BreakPoint team have partnered up with Alcohol Change UK for the Dry January 10k event to encourage others to take a break from alcohol and raise money along the way. Having started his own journey 10 years ago, he has some words of wisdom to share. “It’s really important that you don’t allow failure to define you because you will slip up. Just keep going, keep trying and keep pushing,” Ollie explained. “Also, ask yourself this question – ‘do you want to live a longer and happier life?’ I think I can answer that question for everyone.” Ollie Ollerton and his Break-Point team are heading up the Dry January 10k, in partnership with Alcohol Change UK. Taking place at Pippingford Park on Sunday 28 January 2024, there’s even a 5k option, you can bag your spot on the start line at www.dryjanuary10k.org Story SavedYou can find this story in My Bookmarks.Or by navigating to the user icon in the top right.Follow OK! MagazineFacebookTwitterCommentMore OnCelebrity SAS: Who Dares WinsHealth
