Disgraced British Masters champion to take part in punishing SAS survival TV series

The disgraced British Masters 35-39 champion Andrew Hastings has announced that he is to take part in a Channel 4 series recreating the SAS's secret selection process.

Hastings has been banned from all sport for four years after testing positive for two different types of anabolic steroids, UK Anti-Doping (UKAD) confirmed last year.

In the documentary series, five ex-Special Forces soldiers recreate the SAS's secret selection process and put 30 men through it, in the ultimate test of their physical and psychological resilience.

Hastings announced the news on his Facebook page, linking to the trailer for the upcoming series.

UKAD said the Richardsons-Trek RT rider had tested positive at the 2015 Team Time Trial National Championship in Newark, Nottinghamshire on 30 May 2015, organised by Cycling Time Trials (CTT).

His team finished second, but was been disqualified.

Hastings claimed he was a victim of contamination, saying that he had borrowed a syringe from someone at a gym so he could inject himself with vitamin B12 following a workout in February.

One of the ex-SAS men feaured on the series,  Jason 'Foxy' Fox, said of the punishing trials set for the participants: “I didn't have any misgivings about subjecting them to such agonies and it had nothing to do with perverse enjoyment but all to do with trying to prove, on this scale, that what I and few others have achieved does not come easy.

“Let’s not forget the pressures they felt over 8 days are normally endured for over six months on the real thing. In addition they were there to impress us and themselves and to do that they had to overcome what we put in front of them.”