A FORMER Royal Marines Commando is set to star in the next series of Channel 4’s Hunted.

Matt Mason from Clayton-le-Moors will appear in the fourth series of the hit show when it comes back to TV screens on Thursday January 10.

Mr Mason is part of a group of East Lancs marines taking on the Ocean Revival challenge in 2020, where he will row 3,700 miles from New York to London in just 60 days.

READ: East Lancs lads will row 3700 miles from New York to London, in 60 days

Despite the show being a far cry from the arduous conditions he's set to face in the North Atlantic, Mr Mason said he’s excited about his TV debut, but is nervous to see how he’s been portrayed by show bosses.

The 29-year-old, who lives with wife Lindsay, and their one-year-old son, said: “It’s a popular show and you have no control over the edit, so I have no idea how it will come across.

“My family are the same, they were put under a lot of stress by the hunters in their attempts to try and track me down, which is stressful at the best of times, never mind when we have a one-year-old.”

Hunted is a reality television programme where ordinary people, known as ‘fugitives’ go on the run for 25 days, trying to evade capture from expert ‘hunters’ across military, intelligence and policing.

Ten contestants are given a small amount of cash as well as money on a credit card, which is used to help them try and travel around the country without being caught.

The Hunters can use any surveillance technique operated by the state to try and find the fugitives, including open source intelligence and interrogation of family and friends.

And a prize of £100,000 is up for grabs for those who manage to last the 25 days.

Without giving too much away, Mr Mason said he was allowed to go anywhere within mainland UK in the hope of not being tracked down, but despite his military background, filming the show was no easy task.

He said: “We were under strict instructions not to let anything loose before the show airs, but what I can say is that it was tough; the hardest part was having a camera and microphone recording everything I was doing from the moment I woke up to the second I went to sleep.

“It’s a pressure that was completely alien to me and at points quite stressful, as you could imagine.”

Watch Matt in action when Hunted returns to Channel 4 on Thursday January 10.