Ant Middleton has left SAS: Who Dares Wins, and Channel 4 has said it will not work with the star again following discussions over his “personal conduct”.

The former special forces soldier faced criticism in 2020 over comments he made about the Black Lives Matter protests and COVID-19 restrictions.

SAS: Who Dares Wins sees civilians put through military training exercises to test their physical and mental strength, with Middleton the chief instructor since it launched in 2015. It also has a celebrity spin-off which has seen stars including Joey Essex, Katie Price, Anthea Turner, John Fashanu and Wayne Bridge taking part.

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After five series, Middleton has said it is “time to move on” from the hit show and the broadcaster has released a statement announcing his departure.

“Ant Middleton will not be taking part in future series of SAS: Who Dares Wins,” the Channel 4 statement said.

“Following a number of discussions, Channel 4 and Minnow Films have had with him in relation to his personal conduct it has become clear that our views and values are not aligned and we will not be working with him again.”

In March last year, Middleton backtracked on comments he made about the coronavirus crisis after urging his social media followers to carry on as normal and not to “be a sheep”.

The star, who has more than 300,000 followers on Twitter and more than 1 million on Instagram, also said he did not believe he should have to isolate as he is “strong and able”.

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He later said he had been “a bit insensitive towards the magnitude, the scale, of the crisis that’s happening in the UK”.

Later in the year, the star came under fire once again after appearing to refer to Black Lives Matter protesters as “absolute scum” as he complained about the “extreme left” and “extreme right” taking to the streets.

He later deleted the tweet and apologised, saying he was “anti-racist and anti-violence”.

Middleton also hosts the Straight Talking series, which sees him taking celebrities out of their comfort zone. So far, he has travelled to the Namibian desert with One Direction’s Liam Payne, and Mexico with actress Rebel Wilson.

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