Who is Ollie Ollerton?

If you are a fan of Channel 4’s hit television show SAS: Who Dares Wins, then you are familiar with the name Matthew “Ollie” Ollerton.

On the show, people know Ollie as a hard-edged, no-nonsense, military veteran. However, there is a lot more about him that the person you see on the television screen.

Here you will learn more about Ollerton, and maybe even find inspiration in his struggles and triumphs.

The Trials and Tribulations of Young Ollerton

Did you know that the face of Battle Ready Fuel (premium range of nutritional supplements) is Ollie Ollerton?

Ollie Ollerton may look like he has his life planned out the way he likes, but he was not always like this.

If you follow Ollerton’s Instagram, you will find quite a lot of pictures of him in the gym, but he also posts motivational quotes every once in a while.

But, he was not always the cheery bloke that he is right now, there was an extended period wherein he struggled a lot with his inner demons.

When he was a young lad, maybe around ten, Ollie was mauled by a circus chimpanzee.

What most people do not know about these primates is that they are numerous times stronger than human adults, and they are still wild animals at heart.

One of these wild animals attacked young Ollie and ripped out chunks of his flesh at the process.

Thankfully, the circus staff managed to pry off the wild primate off of the screaming lad before it can do irreparable damage.

The sad part is that the animal attack was not the most traumatic event in Ollerton’s life.

While he was still in elementary school, his parents divorced each other, and then not long after, his beloved grandparents died.

This led to the juvenile Ollie to grow up a bit off the rails and rebellious. Ollerton discovered the military a bit later and enlisting there saved his life.

Like many other military veterans, Ollie Ollerton had trouble conforming to civilian life when he retired.

He was stationed in some of the harshest battlefields on the planet, and those battles took a toll on him psychologically.

To get his mind off the loud noises in his head brought about by his PTSD, Ollerton turned to alcohol.

He used alcohol to numb all of the pain that his PTSD is bringing him, and due to his uncontrolled drinking, Ollerton developed depression; to say that Ollie had constant suicidal thoughts back then would be an understatement.

Thankfully, Ollerton got out of that dark phase in his life, and he is now sober for the past couple of years.

He also volunteers his time and energy to help veterans like himself who are currently battling depression and other mental illnesses.

He knows firsthand what kind of hell they are going through, so he knows what kind of help they need.

Ollerton’s Military Career

SAS: Who Dares Wins is one of the toughest reality television shows currently on the air today.

Unlike other shows, the contestants in Who Dares Wins undergo almost the same kind of rigorous military training and challenges that the real candidates for the SAS do.

But, as tough as the television show is, it is still but a mere shadow of the kind of hellish experiences that the real SAS candidates have to go through during the real selection process.

Only a select few individuals actually make it to the end of the Selection course, and some have even died during the process.

One of the trainers in SAS: Who Dares Wins is actually one of the elite few that managed to survive the extreme punishment of the selection process.

Matt “Ollie” Ollerton has been in the military ever since he was 18. At the time, young Ollerton enlisted for the Royal Marine Commandos.

In the five years he was in the commando unit, Ollie Ollerton saw action in Northern Ireland, and he was also dispatched in Iraq during the infamous Operation: Desert Storm.

After his somewhat successful stint with the Royal Marines, Ollerton received a recommendation for the elite Special Air Service of the British Army. Just being invited to the Selection Course is a testament to Ollerton’s toughness.

Only a few members of the military are actually recommended to participate in the SAS Selection Course.

In Ollerton’s batch, there were more than 250 candidates on day 1, but by the end of the six-month “hike from hell”, only seven men managed to cross the finish line, and one of them is Matt Ollerton.

Upon completing the SAS Selection course, Ollerton joined the SAS Special Boat Service, where he signed up for even more tough training to become a Special Forces Combat Frogman.

Ollerton stayed in the SBS for six years, and during that time he participated in many high-profile missions.

Some of the missions that Ollerton played a vital role in included hostage negotiations and rescues, counter-narcotics, counter-terrorism, homeland security, and also a couple of humanitarian missions.

After six years, Ollerton retired from the military, but he technically did not leave behind the military lifestyle.

Ollie worked as a private security contractor stationed in Iraq. His usual clients back then were American TV crews; he provided them with security when they took wartime footage.

One time, while escorting a vehicle convoy full of press people, armed Iraqi insurgents ambushed them.

Ollerton saved all twelve people in his vehicle convoy by driving through the streets of war-torn Baghdad at speeds exceeding 140 kph.

Aside from being a private contractor, Ollerton also served as a Country Project Manager in the Middle East for seven years, and during that time he oversaw the construction of several large infrastructure projects.

However, the highlight of Ollerton’s career, according to the man himself, was when he went to Southeast Asia where he used his skills and experience to help the less fortunate.

Ollerton was the leader of a three-man team that rescued children from human traffickers.

One of his most memorable missions during his stint in the SEA was when he and his team rescued 22 children bound for the sex trade and sweatshops.

Thanks to the efforts of Ollie’s team, the children are now receiving proper care and education.

Ollie Ollerton the TV Celebrity

In 2015, Ollerton joined the crew of SAS: Who Dares Wins as one of the consultants, but the other producers saw that he was more suited as one of the guides/trainers of the recruits.

Along with two other military veterans, Ollerton will push 25 civilian contestants to their physical and psychological limits.

The whole premise of SAS: Who Dares Wins is to subject the contestants to as close an experience that recruits have to go through during the SAS Selection course.

This means that the men have to go through extreme physical challenges, go through quite a lot of psychological hurdles, and doing them all while trudging through some of the harshest terrains on earth.

Because the civilian volunteers are not trained military personnel, the challenges and difficulty of the entire program had to be dialed down a bit. But with that said, the competition is no cakewalk at all.

Ollie Ollerton experienced firsthand just how dangerous making this television show was.

The episode started with the civilian players riding on a military helicopter and then they had to jump into a freezing lake.

The contestants were not briefed beforehand about what would happen to them, so jumping into an almost frozen lake was a bit of a surprise.

To add to the difficulty, each person was carrying more than 40lbs of gear as they hit the water, also, some of the contestants are not competent swimmers.

One of the participants panicked so much that he could not understand the instructions given by Ollie. Instead of relaxing and letting himself float, he instead grabbed hold of Ollie and pulled him under.

Thankfully, years of military training prepared Ollerton and the other hosts for these sorts of scenarios.

Ollie managed to regain control of the situation and got the distraught contestant and himself out of the water and onto the shore.

That was just one of the many misadventures Ollie and the other trainers experienced in these past couples of years that the show is on air.

Ollie Ollerton Outside of Television

Ollie also keeps himself busy outside of his television career.

Ollerton is also the CEO and founder of BREAK-POINT.

This company observes and analyses businesses and then applies strict military principles to streamline operations and make them more efficient.

BREAK-POINT uses Special Forces style mentoring and coaching to make teams work as a single cohesive unit, much like army platoons where each person has a specific role to play.

They also emphasize team collaboration and transfer of skills so that companies can achieve their ultimate goals.

Ollerton is also a successful motivational speaker.

When he is not busy taping for SAS: Who Dares Wins, Ollie travels to different parts of the UK and abroad delivering motivational messages and keynote speeches.

One of the most common topics in his talks is veganism and why people should at least give it a chance. Ollerton is a staunch vegan, and he says that he owes his life to this healthy lifestyle.

Almost as soon as he got out of the military, Ollerton struggled with alcohol abuse.

He would use alcohol to help himself cope with civilian life, and also so he can forget the horrors he experienced during his lengthy military career. When his first marriage quickly crumbled, he realized that he needed help.

He got psychiatric therapy to help with his PTSD and alcoholism. That was also the time when he became a staunch vegan.

Ollerton shares his experiences with others and he has actually been successful at converting quite many people into trying a healthier alternative lifestyle.

Ollerton does not always use his companies to do philanthropic acts, sometimes he does it on his own time and using his own money.

Recently, Ollerton started a Gofundme campaign to help out a former contestant of SAS: Who Dares Wins, Dan Cross.

Cross’s family was a victim of a home invasion, which resulted in his wife getting murdered by the intruder. His two young children witnessed the murder, and they now need extensive psychiatric therapy.

The Gofundme account started by Ollerton will help cover the Cross family’s therapy costs and other needs. Right now, the Gofundme account has raised more than £3000.

Ollie’s Family Life

During the time that Ollie was still in the military, he was in a long-time relationship with his girlfriend.

The two of them have been seeing each other for more than twelve years. They also had a son together during that time, and when Ollie got out of the military they immediately got married.

Now, you would think that the Ollie and his girl would have been the perfect couple, but their marriage only lasted eight months. The divorce hurt Ollie bad.

First of all, Ollie’s ex-wife got full custody of their then 7-year-old son, and then the court decided to deny him of all visitation rights. The reason for this is Ollie’s drinking problem and his regular bouts of PTSD.

Ollerton believes that the reason their relationship lasted all of 12 years is that the two of them rarely got to see each other, seeing as he was always on the battlefield.

This separation kept the two of them from actually knowing each other. Ollerton finally got to see his son seven years after the divorce, and since then he has gotten clean and got his life back together.

Understandably, Ollie’s son still holds a couple of grudges against him, but the two of them are starting to patch things up between them, and Ollie is dead set on being an active part of his son’s life from then on.

Today, Ollie Ollerton is living together with his new girlfriend, Laura, and her two children from a previous relationship.

The two of them are getting along quite great as they both shared a lot in common, like their burning passion for health and fitness. They started their own small health food company.

If you check out Ollerton’s social media, you will not find posts of him together with his family.

The most personal posts that you will see of Ollerton is him with his dog, his other posts are mainly of him working out and providing motivational quotes, and quite recently, he is also promoting his businesses and other endeavors.

Conclusion

There is more to Matthew “Ollie” Ollerton than the tough guy that you see on Channel 4.

Behind the tough and weathered exterior lies a genuinely humane person who will stop at nothing to do the right thing.