Special Forces veteran Dean Stott has dealt with military coups and kidnappings and now rescues people from war zones for a living. But he says his most difficult decision was to leave wife Alana 12 hours after she gave birth to their third child to film his hit Netflix show. “I have an incredibly understanding wife,” he says.
“That was probably one of the hardest moments in my entire life.” The decision to film The Toughest Forces on Earth has turned him into a global TV star as millions follow the adventures of Dean, 47, and his two US veteran sidekicks. The trio of tough guys train alongside the world ’s most feared military units in the show considered Netflix’s most dangerous ever.
It has made the top 10 in 61 countries and the top five in 16 – and one fan is Dean’s old friend and military comrade Prince Harry . “All my military friends have reached out about the show,” he says. "I wanted to make sure that it remained authentic because my biggest critics are my military friends, including Harry.
So if they are liking the show, I know we’ve done well.” Dean’s long forces career before the show made him the perfect choice to front it with ex-Navy Seal Ryan Bates and former Ranger Cameron Fath. Raised in a Scots Army family and growing up in Swindon, he says: “I actually wanted to be a fireman but after school there were about 2,000 applicants for one job in 1993.
I ended up working in a surf shop in Newquay. My father told me I had wasted my edu.