Ant Middleton says ‘inappropriate comments’ made to female staff were ‘banter’

Richard Keys would like his line back mate

Sacked SAS guy Ant Middleton has invoked the Richard Keys defence following his sacking by Channel 4, insisting that any "inappropriate comments" he made to female staff at the channel were just "banter". Middleton appeared on Good Morning Britain this morning as part of what no doubt will become a tiresome tour of TV and radio during which he bemoans being 'silenced' while speaking to hundreds of thousands of people live on air. Calling out "snowflakes" and PC culture, Middleton claimed that any comments he made which were deemed "inappropriate" were in fact banter. "The inappropriate comments, it's all smoke and mirrors, from the last episode it became a half scripted reality show and full control was taken from me," he said. "I was done with SAS: Who Dares Wins they knew that I was going and then all of a sudden they drop this bomb, I've been axed. "They're just protecting their brand, they knew I was going. "We say inappropriate things and do inappropriate things, if you get offended by them that's the show, the comments weren't made directly, it's what someone's seen on the show. "It's never direct, there's a new protocol on set that if people feel offended then they can complain anonymously, someone has probably seen military banter or humour, it's something indirect that they've seen and felt offended by. "If you're a snowflake you don't belong on the SAS set - this isn't Dancing On Ice." In a statement released on Tuesday, Channel 4 said of the departure: "Ant Middleton will not be taking part in future series of SAS: Who Dares Wins. "Following a number of discussions Channel 4 and Minnow Films have had with him in relation to his personal conduct it has become clear that our views and values are not aligned and we will not be working with him again."