FORMER soldier, adventurer and television presenter Anthony "Ant" Middleton is on his way to the Cliffs Pavilion with his brand new tour, Mind Over Muscle.

This fully immersive show, promises to bring the ‘elements’ to the audience through lighting, sound and set.

It will recreate what mental strength it took behind the scenes for Ant to complete his recent SAS series and his huge Everest challenge. Plus throughout Ant will take the audience through a motivational journey of self-help and self-discovery.

Ant said: “I am so excited to take my brand new show on the road in 2019. I want to bring my recent journeys to life and show how mental strength can help overcome huge challenges. The mind is stronger than muscle and I promise to take audiences on an incredible journey”

Ant, best known as the Chief Instructor for Channel 4’s hit shows, SAS : Who Dares Wins, Mutiny and Escape was also named as the Number1 Sunday Times Best Selling Author.

Born in Portsmouth and raised in rural France, he set his sights on a career in the armed forces and didn’t stop striving until he achieved his goal.

He has achieved the ‘Holy Trinity’ of the UK’s Elite Forces (P Company, Commando Course, UK Special Forces Selection) and thanks to his huge range of Special Forces experience, Ant has invaluable skills in survival and endurance. His appetite for adventure and extremes has no limit and has lead him to take on some amazing challenges.

Ant burst onto our TV screens in 2015 in SAS : Who Dares Wins. Heand other ex-Special Forces soldiers recreated the SAS's secret selection process in the ultimate test of physical and psychological resilience.

Since then Ant captained a team of men in Channel 4's re-enactment of Captain William Bligh's journey after the infamous Mutiny on the Bounty. He also led teams of engineers as they attempted to build a vehicle in extreme environments, in Channel 4's engineering and survival based show Escape.

He released his book First Man In: Leading From The Front, earlier this year.

In August, speaking to Newsquest about the book, he admitted that writing it was a difficult experience as he looked back at his life.

“Writing the book was quite painful,” he said. “I’m very positive and a forward thinker. I don’t dwell on the past so going back into my life and bringing up the stories was difficult. I’ve come so far from the young military man to the man I am today, it was hard to write.”

Ant is not afraid to speak of past mistakes including receiving a 26-month jail sentence for assaulting two police officers during a night out in Chelmsford shortly after leaving the Special Boat Service.

“Looking at yourself and being brutally honest does free you,” he said. “It’s about holding yourself accountable. Society doesn’t cater for that now; there’s this mollycoddling of people and there’s a blame culture.

“People will try and make excuses for me saying it was because I was probably traumatised after being in the military - he served in the elite forces ‘holy trinity’ the Paras, Marines and SBS - but that’s not it. I got myself in these situations and I have to take responsibility for that.

“Once you hold yourself accountable, you can process that information, acknowledge it, learn from it and move on. A lot of people don’t do that. They just make excuses and the problem floats around in the background.

“Everyone has had that cringey moment in their lives. I just want people to know I’ve been there and done it to the extreme and that I’ve come out the other end.”

As well as preparing to tour with his show, Ant features in a documentary about his attempt to climb Everest. Extreme Everest with Ant Middleton, shows one adventure that tested Ant further than ever before.

You can watch the incredible documentary now on All4.

Aside from the TV shows Ant runs the Ant Middleton Fund which he has set up to help ex-forces personnel.

The fund, backed by the armed forces charity SSAFA, aims to provide mentors to help people who leave the forces settle into everyday life.

“We provide individual mentors who may be with a person for 12 or 18 months,” said Ant. They can help take the stress out of coming out of the forces even if it’s with things like sorting out your rent or dealing with official forms, all those aspects of life they have not really experienced before.”

The Mind Over Muscle Tour comes to the Cliffs Pavilion in Station Road, Southend, on Tuesday April 9.

Tickets are available via southendtheatres.org.uk