Ant Middleton burned letters from loved ones while in the military to separate life from career

SAS: Who Dares Wins star Ant Middleton has shared the extreme lengths he went to in order to disconnect his career from his personal life while in the military.

The 39-year-old joined the British Army aged 17 before enlisting in the Royal Marines in 2005 until 2012 but in order to keep his mind on the job he would burn letters from wife Emilie and other family members.

"When I was in the military and on operations, I wouldn’t read any letters from my wife and family. I’d burn them," Middleton told Men's Health magazine as guest editor.

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"I didn’t need that in my head. I wanted to be totally focused on the job and to do it to my best ability. And then I could get back to them.

"The best educator is life experience. I’m not an intellectual – everything I’ve learned has been through action."

The TV personality, who rose to media fame as Chief Instructor on SAS: Who Dares Wins, shares four children with his wife and also has a son from a previous relationship.

Middleton is currently featuring in a celebrity version of the Channel 4 show with stars including Joey Essex, Helen Skelton as well as Katie Price who was the first the leave the show in Monday's episode.

The father-of-five attracted criticism last month when he told fans to 'calm down' about the coronavirus pandemic.

He implied the virus should not bother people who were "young and healthy" and that it would not stop him from living his life, in comments that were made prior to the implementation of lockdown measures across the country.

Middleton later admitting to making "a mistake" with his remarks and took down the Instagram video.