Bimini Bon-Boulash had never seen SAS: Who Dares Wins before signing up. They just knew it was dubbed ‘the hardest show on television’ — and that alone was enough to lure them in.
Despite the show’s infamous reputation, Bimini is impressively unfazed when shot at, punched in the face, or dropped from a great height into ice-cold waters.
The drag artist — real name Tommy Hibbits — admited to Metro that even they’ve asked themselves while watching it back: ‘Am I okay? Nothing seems to be bothering me that much, as if I need the extremities to focus and be calm.’
However underneath the undaunted surface the star admits they approached the process with caution.
Not because of the endurance it demanded, but because they were being thrown into an intense environment with hyper-masculine straight men like former Premier League footballer Troy Deeney, professional boxer Conor Benn, and Love Island heartbreaker Adam Collard.
‘I knew people weren’t gonna be homophobic, but I thought, “Is it gonna be like high school again — hanging around with the straight lads, and everyone just taking the p**s out of each other all the time?”’
But quickly, that didn’t matter. They had to come together as a team, become friends — they were all each other had.
Still, Bimini is clearly disappointed that there’s a lot we don’t see on-screen — presumably because Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins prefers to show its stars at their lowest.
‘I had a conversation with Conor, Adam, Troy, myself and Lucy [Spraggan], and the men said they don’t know how to express emotion without anger. They realised it’s actually sadness — but they don’t know how to be sad without being angry. That’s all they’ve ever been taught: to “man up.” We deconstructed it in a progressive way that would be really beautiful to see.’
Instead, those moments of vulnerability are cut in favour of pure misery. In a recent episode, Bimini was gloved up and put in the ring with Traitors winner Harry Clarke — instructed to pull no punches.
‘That was so out of my comfort zone,’ they say. ‘I don’t like physical violence. I don’t like the idea of war.
So that challenge was what I was most worried about — which is interesting, because that was the one a lot of the other guys were most excited about.’
But that wasn’t even Bimini’s lowest point. While they can’t say too much before the episode airs, they warn: ‘There’s a moment coming soon where it definitely started to get to me.’
While many stars who boldly sign up for this relentless mental and physical battering either drop out or get thrown out by furious DS leaders Mark ‘Billy’ Billingham, Jason Fox, Rudy Reyes, and Chris Oliver, Bimini proves that the LGBTQ+ community possesses a unique strength and determination that refuses to be broken.
‘A lot of people are coming up to me and saying, “You’ve been doing it with such poise,’ they said. ‘I guess it goes back to the resilience of being queer.’
‘If you can accept yourself in a world that doesn’t accept you, then you can jump off a cliff, you know? I just never had a voice in my head telling me I was going to give up.’
Regardless of how often the LGBTQ+ community’s grit is tested, it remains constantly underestimated — especially when it comes to physical strength.
Bimini’s been dancing their whole life, performing cartwheels down the aisles of Tesco, totally unapologetic even when bullied at school. ‘I was told I didn’t have the genitals I have because I can do the splits,’ they tell me, with an eye roll.
But anyone who’s been to a Bimini show can attest to their athleticism, gasping as they backflip in 10-inch heels and bend their legs behind their head without barely breaking a sweat.
One DS even told them they were ‘wasted in drag,’ as though they don’t already channel the full force of their body on stage.
‘I don’t know why drag queens are underestimated, considering what we put our bodies through. I told one of the DS staff to wear a pair of 10-inch Pleasers for 12 and a half hours and then see who thinks they’re hard.
‘We take to anything like a duck to water. We throw ourselves into it. So I really enjoyed the fact there were so many physical tests — this was once-in-a-lifetime stuff.’
The physical challenges were a breeze. The real challenge was the constant anticipation of being shouted at or summoned by the DS.
‘I only had two showers,’ they say, mortified. ‘It was gross. But you’re on edge the whole time — you don’t know if they’re going to shout at you, so no one dared take a shower.’
Thankfully, they emerged from the process unscathed — unlike some of their co-stars. X Factor star Lucy Spraggan tore her vulva so badly she required reconstructive surgery after filming.
“That was crazy — she’s got a designer vagina now,” they tease.
Instead, Bimini left with a deeper sense of self and more conviction in the strengths they always knew were there.
‘It cemented me to my core,’ they say. ‘I’m Lara Croft, and no one is going to tell me otherwise.’
Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins airs Sundays and Mondays at 9 p.m. on Channel 4 and is available to stream on All 4.
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