Recruits on Channel 4’s SAS: Who Dares Wins are not as tough as you’d think, says a former commando who appears in the show.

Hardman Ross Johnson was last week unmasked as a ‘mole’ posing as a competitor in the series that is taking the nation by storm.

The hit programme sees 30 wannabes endure brutal physical and psychological challenges based on the special forces recruitment process.

Ross, a 36-year-old fitness trainer from Canterbury, had been tasked with infiltrating the contestants to monitor their progress ‘from the inside’.

A former marine with eight years’ active service under his belt, Ross was drafted in by pals Matthew ‘Ollie’ Ollerton and Jason ‘Foxy’ Fox – the tough-as-nails trainers putting the recruits through their paces.

Ross told KentOnline: “My job up until the end of last week’s episode was to stay in the middle and not get noticed.

“I couldn’t lose anything, but I couldn’t win either. I was there to watch the others.

“To be honest I expected the standard to be a little better and at times it was difficult not to draw attention.”

SAS: Who Dares Wins is aired tonight at 9pm, and viewers can expect to see plenty more of Ross.

“In this one you’ll see me with Foxy and the team getting into their heads,” he said. “I’m amazed by the reaction to the show, to be honest.

“It’s really taken off.”

Ross runs the Crossfit Stone Towers fitness centre in the Barton Industrial Estate off New Dover Road.

Crossfit focuses on developing body strength and endurance and is less about vanity and more about overall fitness, he says.

“Crossfit is about building your body’s ‘engine’ so you can get stronger and push yourself harder,” he said.

“It’s about functional movement, the way the body was designed to move, so there are gymnastic exercises, some weight lifting.

“We do it in short high-intensity bursts which might start for short periods but gradually build up.

“This is about all round fitness, not isolated exercise.

“You’d be surprised how quickly your fitness develops using this method.”

Crossfit has been developed using military-style work-out routines, and its effectiveness at developing complete fitness is the key to its increasing popularity, he says.

“Take someone like Mo Farrah, it sounds silly, but he’s not completely fit, as such. He can run 5,000 metres better than anyone.

“But he won’t be great at pull-ups.

“The fittest all-rounders are probably decathletes. Crossfit is rather like that. You get everything.”

Ross says the contestants on SAS tend to have similar difficulty, in that they have specialist fitness rather than overall strength and endurance.

“You’ve got triathletes, others who have competed in Iron Man competition. That’s all well and good but you need an all-round fitness to get through these things.”

The 30 contestants have been wittled down to 12 – and tonight sees another six fall by the wayside.

Asked who was tipped to progress, Ross would not be drawn.

To find out more about Crossfit Stone Towers, visit crossfitstonetowers.com