Gareth Gates is no longer ‘ the timid boy cowering in the corner’ after SAS training

Gareth Gates has urged the bullies who made his childhood a misery to step up and face him after his SAS training. But he warned them: ‘I am not the timid boy cowering in the corner.’ The West End star, who was ‘massively bullied’ as a youngster, pushes himself to the limits in the new series of Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins. Gareth, 39, was targeted as a child because of his stammer. But he said it was these painful memories which gave him the strength to take on some of the toughest ordeals on television. The Pop Idol star said: ‘You have to dig deep and face challenges to try to make yourself stronger.’ He said his childhood torment had toughened him up, even claiming the SAS show’s instructors, or directing staff, were ‘wimps’ compared to the school bullies. He said: ‘I was massively bullied as a kid and in a way that actually helped me through the course, because as awful as it was, it didn’t really touch me. Every time I thought it was a bit too much I tapped into the hard time I had as a kid. The directing staff were wimps compared to the bullies at school.