Action Man Ant banned
CHARITY’S TOY AXED OVER JAIL TIME ROW
PLANS for a charity Action Man toy featuring TV star Ant Middleton were ditched after someone complained about his jail past.
The former soldier was banged up after attacking a policeman in a nightclub bust-up in 2013, but reinvented himself as an instructor on the Channel 4 show SAS: Who Dares Wins.
Ant, 38, said: “Not long ago there were plans to make a limited edition Action Man of me, the proceeds of which would go to the Royal National Lifeboat Institution.
“I’d spent some time working with the team, the design had been finalised and it was about to go into manufacture.
“The day before it did – and I was to announce the Action Man at a big press conference – the entire project was cancelled.
“It turned out someone was offended that I’d served a prison sentence and had contacted the manufacturers to complain.”
In his new book The Fear Bubble: Harness Fear And Live Without Limits, Ant said he had to put the let-down behind him for the sake of his mental health.
Ant joined the Army in 1997 at the age of 16, one year after stopping his suicidal brother from jumping in front of a lorry. He served in Northern Ireland and North Macedonia before enlisting in the Royal Marines and heading to Afghanistan.
Later, he joined the SBS as a sniper. Married Ant, a dad to five children, was sentenced to 14 months in prison for the club assault in Chelmsford, Essex, in 2013. But he has put the episode behind him and the Action Man snub came as a shock.
He added: “To be completely honest, I did take it personally at first. I thought, ‘Wow, someone’s obviously out to get me. They’ve got a personal vendetta against me.’
“I’ve not hidden my past. It’s not a secret. Anyone can see that’s not who I am any more. I had to shake it off.
“Someone out there had obviously let negativity get hold of them and I wasn’t going to take it on board. The negativity was theirs, not mine.
“As a former member of the military, I’m well aware how damaging it can be
SOLDIER: How Ant toy could look. Left, in Who Dares Wins
to someone’s mindset if they take everything personally.
“These days I spend a lot of time talking to people who are struggling with the psychological issues that are sadly all too typical in those who’ve experienced the horrors of war.”
Action Man dolls were launched in 1966 following the success of an American version called G.I. Joe.