A Test of Endurance and Resilience
From being punched to a pulp to dangling 45 metres above water, former Home and Away star Axle Whitehead was tested like never before on the brutal SAS: Australia course. Even as a fan of the reality series, he had no idea how tough it was going to be on him physically and mentally.
“I’d never experienced that kind of pressure and exhaustion before,” Axle, 45, tells TV WEEK. “Your body is taking a pounding in ways that you weren’t expecting. You’re trying to knock the other guy’s head off and it’s kill or be killed. It was bloody hard, I won’t lie.”
The reality series sees Axle and six other Aussie celebrities, including former Neighbours stars Natalie Bassingthwaighte and Ryan Moloney and Olympian Emily Seebohm, taking on seven British celebrities. Filmed in harsh 40-degree days in North Africa, Axle says he hoped the harsh temperatures would see the Brits wilt. But it wasn’t the case.
“I thought, bugger, they’re actually holding up,” he says.
A public figure since appearing on Australian Idol in 2003, Axle admits there was a sense of danger about revealing a different side to himself on TV. “Risk excites me,” he says, adding the show allowed him to see a real person beyond the “showbiz veneer”.
“I think authenticity and showing a human side is a far greater commodity in the showbiz world than it used to be 20 years ago,” he says. “I really enjoyed being myself and being vulnerable and sharing that.”
Axle says he was previously offered the chance to be on SAS, but back injuries, which resulted in surgeries, ruled him out of the series. “I tried to bluff my way through the SAS medical and they said, ‘No, you’re not doing it.’ I’m really glad I didn’t do it because I would have ended up probably needing another surgery.”
And as demanding, both physically and mentally, as the show was, Axle says, given the chance, he’d do it all over again. “It was a life-changing experience, and I don’t say that lightly,” he says. “I would 100 per cent do it again. There’s just no other place in the world or in life where you get to go through something like that.”
After Idol, Axle’s debut single, ‘I Don’t do Surprises’ peaked at No.8 on the ARIA charts, he had a stint as a presenter on Video Hits, before he landed the role of Liam Murphy in Home and Away in 2009. That led to a stint in Hollywood, where he picked up roles in series such as Shameless and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
“The amount of opportunity (in Hollywood) is wild,” he says. “But there’s 10 times as many people going for the roles. To get the role for Shameless, for example, I probably had at least seven auditions.”
Recently, he was set for a movie project which ultimately fell through. He’s also been in the studio working on new music, with his new single ‘Stick Around’, due out on May 29. The title would seem like a fairly accurate description of his career longevity. “You sometimes have to juggle a few hats,” he says.
SAS: Australia V England airs Wednesday, 7.30pm on Channel Seven and 7Plus.
