Once again we find ourselves hovering over the waters just off the Isle of Raasay. This time, Ore Oduba is onboard, carefully perched on the skid of our hovering helicopter. Facing the instructor inside the aircraft, he’s given his instructions on how to perform the dive into the sea…backwards…from 20 ft. He crosses his arms over his chest, and lets himself fall blindly backwards towards the water below. This is no Strictly Come Dancing.
He is one of the 12 new recruits for the latest series of Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins.
One by one each contestant is picked up from the island and taken to the drop point. They are flown in low and fast before quickly coming to a hover, simulating a rapid military insertion. They climb out of the helicopter and onto the skid, before psyching themselves up and blindly dropping into the sea.
The stunt would be carried out in our AS355N twin-squirrel helicopter, flown by GB Helicopters Director and Chief Pilot Will Banks.
As with all our stunt work, special permissions from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) were required. We always work closely with the CAA when carrying out aerial stunt work, and our continued experience and skill in performing stunts for film and TV productions helped us gain this permission.
The third series of Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins started on Channel 4 on 29th August 2021 and is on at 9PM on Sundays. If you want to catch up on the action, you can do so on All 4.
