Celebrity SAS' Gabby Allen on show's terrifying 'mind games' viewers don't see

The new series of Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins is back on our screens tonight (January 4), pitting UK celebrities against their Australian counterparts in a series of gruelling tasks.

This year, the 14 recruits will undergo SAS-style training in the scorching heat of North Africa, including former Love Island stars Gabby Allen and Dani Dyer, ex-Olympic swimmer Mack Horton, and Married At First Sight Australia's Jessika Power, reports the Mirror.

Under the watchful eyes of Billy Billingham MBE and his team of Directing Staff Foxy (Jason Fox), Rudy Reyes and Chris Oliver, the celebrities will navigate the challenging course. Ahead of the first episode, Rudy hinted that the eighth series showcases the show "at its most dangerous, with blistering heat and a break-neck pace."

He added: "Australia and UK - a rivalry in sport but now going head-to-head in the art and brutality of warfare. North Africa is a blast furnace and the DS fan the fire until only the strongest remain."

Despite the tough challenges, endurance exercises and discipline shown to viewers, one of this year's cast members, Gabby, revealed that viewers don't actually see "80 per cent of what we go through."

Speaking to the Express, the Love Island star turned wellness guru shed some light on the mind games played on the cast during filming - not all of which make the final cut.

"Being girls we all get a shower on day two, and we'd been sweating all day long in the same clothes," she explained. "We'd literally just got out of the shower feeling fresh and then they were like 'Outside now with your water bottles.' Your water bottle is a millimetre away from the top and they walk past and go 'No! Pour it on your head.'

"At the time you're thinking 'These b*****s be crazy, why are they doing this to us? When you look back, it's not about the water bottle. It's about discipline and working as a team."

She continued: "It's mind games at the start because it's just really hard to get through every minute. In the camp, every minute you're sleeping with one eye open in case they bring you out. Then you realise why they do that - it's about teamwork, unity and working together."

Her fellow stars also had their own tales to tell, with sportsman Mack disclosing that the Directing Staff set a trap at one point to try and catch them out.

He remembered: "They left a box of chocolates out. It was named 'Rudy's chocolates', so they were just playing games with us, testing to see if we eat it or hand it back.

"It's just things like that all week until you're looking at where they're trying to get you, where to catch-up and how to play this game to stay on their side."

Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins returns tonight at 9pm on Channel 4