Blackburn’s Tez Ilyas quits Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins

On Sunday’s episode (September 29), the former Witton Park High School pupil was partnered with reality television star, Pete Wicks. They were tasked with carrying heavy equipment across icy terrain.

The task proved too difficult for Tez who was forced to quit the show on episode three.

On the show, he said: “I am not physically fit at all. I think the physical side of things is going to be tough. I don’t care about excelling or being the best at these tasks. I don’t need to be first I just want to pass.”

Sadly, this was not a task that the 41-year-old could finish and he was forced to hand his armband over.

Instructor Mark ‘Billy’ Bilingham said: “He was walking, he wasn’t pushing, he wasn’t doing anything. He was struggling to walk and keep up with [Pete]. It was starting to become a bit of a safety thing.”

Tez was not the only celebrity to quit at this stage, with reality star Marnie Simpson, and former England rugby captain Chris Robshaw, also withdrawing.

Tez said the experience was far from smooth saying it was “awful, uncomfortable and brilliant”.

The author of Sunday Times bestseller The Secret Diary of a British Muslim Aged 13 ¾, said he went on the show, which started on Sunday (September 22), to have a “money can’t buy experience.

He said: “I just thought what an amazing experience it would be, a money can’t buy experience. I feel like with my stand-up, I travel around and after a while it starts blurring into one.

Tez Ilyas (Image: NQ)

“Wouldn’t it be nice to be in one place and just really see it, feel it, touch it and smell it and also have a money can't buy experience. I'm not SAS material, so the fact that I got to do some SAS training and exercises was very, very exciting.”

Tez said he didn’t go on the show expecting to win.

He said: “I'm not going to sit here and be like, ‘I was hoping that I'd win’ because I didn’t expect to win.

“I was pretty sure that I wasn't going to make it to the end. I was hoping just to experience it, see how much I can take mentally as well as physically, see how much of my own personal boundaries I could push, how much of my comfort zone I can be out of and still be okay and survive and be mentally intact. And I think it did that."