We Worked With Flintoff!

Back in May 2015 when Wales Outdoors was primarily and Adventure Activity provider we were once again contacted by the BBC and tasked with providing the technical expertise for their show, hosted by Andrew 'Freddie' Flintoff, 'Ultimate Hell'.

It was a difficult piece to work on, with the BBC bringing in a huge team and the filming taking far longer than either planned or it should. The BBC then took an age to pay up for the Wales Outdoors teams time. There were multiple managers, so for the oversight of safety there were army guys, the Wales Outdoors team and another manager brought in for who knows what reason.

Given the brief and left to our own devices Wales Outdoors could have delivered the footage for a fraction of the cost and in a fraction of the time. But then, we were working with the BBC where 7am through to 2pm became 15 seconds of TV time...

Following this shoot Wales Outdoors decided that when contacted by the media but especially by the BBC we would work out a standard quote and then triple it. If accepted we'd work hard and with smiles and if not no worries and we're glad not to have the hassle.

Here's our gallery from the rather sunny morning at Llangattock where we delivered a great abseil for the contestants and the BBC crew.

Ultimate Hell Gallery

You can see clips from series one and two at BBC2 iPlayer

This is from The Guardian

BBC recruits Andrew Flintoff for 'ultimate hell' endurance contest

Contestants to face SAS and navy Seal tasks, with each day bringing a ‘living nightmare’ of exercise drills, mind games, forced marches and interrogation drills

Andrew “Freddie” Flintoff will front a new BBC2 show, Special Forces: Ultimate Hell Week, in which contestants will be put through SAS and navy Seal tasks to find Britain’s “toughest recruit”.

Having tried his hand as a boxer and a panel game team captain on Sky’s Bafta-winning A League of Their Own, Flintoff’s next challenge will be fronting the BBC2 show, which sounds like a special forces version of The Apprentice. 

Flintoff said: “I have always had an interest in the armed forces and what it takes, both physically and mentally. 

“The contestants are going to be pushed to their very limits and it is going to be a great insight into what our armed forces go through on a daily basis.”

The six-part series will put participants “under intense pressure” and “push their physical and mental endurance to the limit” by drill sergeants who will presumably do a lot of screaming like this.https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/pNQPLewGR9k?wmode=opaque&feature=oembedNot the new BBC2 show. Features language not for the faint-hearted

It promises “physical and mental challenges designed to break the most hardened soldiers”, reflecting the selection process used by the US navy Seals, the Philippines’ Navsog (Naval Special Operations Group), the Russian Spetsnaz (Special Purpose Forces) as well as the UK’s SAS. 

BBC2 controller Kim Shillinglaw said it was a “lively new format”. “It will be fascinating to see what sort of person survives to the end,” she added.

It certainly will. The BBC, announcing the show on Wednesday, said “each new day will bring a new living nightmare”, with participants “having to endure constant exercise drills, impossible mind ‘games’, lonely enforced marches, escape, interrogation drills and pain.

“The series will give a unique insight into who will endure and why. Viewers will discover what kind of person makes it through and who walks away.”

It will broadcast on BBC2 in the autumn.

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