SAS Who Dares Wins star Billy Billingham has praised a Manchester contestant ahead of the new series.
The Channel 4 show returns on Sunday (May 9) with 12 new members of the public being put through their paces in an SAS selection-style process.
Among those competing in the competition is 32-year-old Holly, who is the programme's first transgender recruit.
Holly grew up as a boy but always felt uncomfortable with who she was and how she looked.
Now, she wants to use the experience to show the transgender community and wider audience that not all transwomen have to look the same and to inspire others to not feel ashamed about being different.
Billy, a DS on the show, told the Mirror. "You know what, alright, she has been dealing with the situation all her life for so long, that internal battle she's had to go through.
"To stand on national TV and be judged for who she is and then go along with doing this horrendous challenge of being pushed to the limit of physical and mental ability...hats off to Holly."
He believes she will give transgender people the confidence to talk about who they really are.
"For the rest of the people out there who are scared to talk about who they are, what they are, she’s really put them on the map to say hey, don’t be afraid of who you are, come forward and show what you can do.
"And why not? You are who you are. For Holly to come forward and do that was a ballsy, ballsy call."
Billy, who has previously been a bodyguard for Hollywood stars Tom Cruise, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt after 17 years in the SAS, has been in the show for five years now.
And this series, they will be joined by a new officer.
Melvyn Downes, 55, will join Billy, Jason Fox and Ant Middleton as the show's first mixed-race officer and member of the Directing Staff (DS).
While they didn’t know one another while growing up, the show’s newest member of staff was also raised in the Midlands, just 20 miles away from Billy.
Their paths would later cross in the SAS, where Melvyn served for 12 years.
"I know Melvyn from way back. I’ve done a lot of operations with him side by side, everything from hostage release to indicting people for war crimes," Billy said.
"He's got so much experience and so much to offer.
"I came from a poor background in a poor community, exactly like Melvyn. He grew up in the Midlands like me.
"It's funny because he was 20 miles up the road doing exactly the same. Growing up the same time, doing the same thing, same sort of situations, gangs, poverty, looking for direction. The direction for us was the military. It was our saving grace.
"We end up side by side in the SAS doing real operations, here we are doing the same thing on TV and we love it."
*SAS: Who Dares Wins returns to Channel 4 this Sunday at 9pm