AFL great Jason Akermanis has shocked the SAS Australia team with a stunning – yet highly questionable – move on the opening night of Season 5.
After a harsh morning in the brutal Jordanian desert – where contestants were buried alive, stripped and hosed, and subjected to torrid mental challenges in scorching heat – they then had to run at pace to board a moving train where they were asked to conduct a search-and-find mission within three minutes.
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Jason Akermanis sees SAS doctor with foot injury.
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Akermanis was put offside early when he was paired with 57-year-old cave diver Dr Craig Challen for the train challenge.
The Brisbane legend (who is 46 years old) boarded the train quickly, but Challen struggled to reach it
“When you’ve got a team, it’s hard because you’ve got other people who can let you down,” Akermanis said.
“If they’re just incapable of being better, I just can’t cop that … if they’re that incompetent that they’re letting down a team, and they are in my team, I will be saying absolutely, categorically that they don’t deserve to be here.”
An exhausted Challen did make the train and also found the ‘mission essential’ item in a box that was missed by Akermanis.
The pair jumped from the train together but a huge twist was yet to come.
Akermanis – a three-time premiership star for the Brisbane Lions and Brownlow medallist – later complained of a foot injury when the group was back at the base.
He asked to see the medic.
“It’s f*****. I think I’ve done something bad to it … coz it’s all swollen, it’s all puffy. I just need to see the doctor,” he said.
“It’s so hard to run.”
But Akermanis soon fumed when his request was turned down.
“That’s a s*** doctor, you stupid f******.. It’s not a f****** bandaid. F****** wankers,” he mumbled.
Later, Akermanis was discussed by the Directing Staff during the daily assessments of the recruits.
“No.3 (Akermanis’s contestant number for the course) … is saying he’s got a foot injury. He sprinted onto the train. He jumped off the train.,” chief instructor Ant Middleton said.
DS Ollie Ollerton interjected: “He sprinted to me … and he sprinted off.”
Middleton: “I didn’t see no limping at all, did you?”
DS Jamie Morton said: “No, nothing.”
Middleton: “I think No.3 is looking for a way out.”
Akermanis was eventually granted access to the doctor but the medic also questioned the injury, despite Akermanis visibly limping.
“I don’t know, but it’s not good … it’s not good,” Akermanis said as he pointed to an area between his toes.
Akermanis later talked about “bending the rules” and said, after proving himself on the football field, “there is no need to prove myself to anyone”.
“It’s very sore … I don’t know if I’ve cracked a bone in there. Normally, if I get pain, it’s this level,” he said, holding his hand at a certain height.
“It feels way worse. Like, I did some running and, f*** me, I was in so much pain.”
The doctor asked what happened.
Akermanis thought about it then talked about running up a sandhill and running to a rock, but was unclear.
“These toes are feeling f*****,” Akermanis told the doctor.
But the doctor doubted the injury: “Doesn’t really look swollen, does it?”
Akermanis: “No, but it’s painful.”
Doctor: “I get you’ve got a bunch of pain, but there’s not a history there of a fracture. It’s certainly not, to my eye, any more swollen than the other (foot)
“I don’t think you’ve broken a bone. It’s not like you’ve twisted it or rolled it or come off an obstacle funny. What are you hoping I can do for you?”
Akermanis responded: “I’m telling you there’s nothing we can do if it’s gonna be that painful. So we either … I get a discharge or I have to just hand my … and say I can’t, physically I can’t do it.
The doctor said there was not any “medical” reason to pull Akermanis off the course.
Akermanis then asked: “What do I do?”
Doctor: “Put your boots back on … and you won’t even try some basic pain relief and just see how it goes? I mean you’re sort of getting way ahead of yourself.”
Akermanis: “Honestly …. nah.”
Without a medical withdrawal, Akermanis was left with only one option, and that was to voluntarily quit the course.
He informed Middleton who said to him: “Go grab your kit … you’ve gone soft.”
As the rest of team attempted to sleep, Akermanis put his backpack on and whispered, “See ya,” to those who were still stirring.
He later said: “I’ve got out of it what exactly I hoped to get out of it … I didn’t leave injured, umm, that injured. I’m a bit sore, but not that injured.
“And I don’t need to come on course like this and prove anything else to anyone else.”
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