SAS: Who Dares Wins - Episode Guide

The recruits' first task is an unexpected one: writing an essay about themselves. Then they face an eight-mile combat fitness test while their essays are dissected for an insight into their character.

The remaining recruits must choose their weakest colleagues, who then lead the next exercise. And there's the 'Sickener': a series of physical challenges that won't end until five recruits give up.

The directing staff test the remaining recruits' resistance to fear, with mind games and an intimidating challenge to dive backwards from a cliff into the freezing sea 12 metres below

The directing staff have to whittle the group down to the six they think may have what it takes to complete the final stage: a punishing 72-hour cat-and-mouse chase across challenging terrain

The remaining recruits each face the final, notoriously gruelling stage of selection alone: 24 hours of interrogation. Do any of them have what it takes to succeed in the Special Forces?

The recruits face a terrifying bridge leap before they can find their base. The jungle environment, altitude and insects take their toll, and the DS give special attention to two volatile individuals.

Chief Instructor Ant and his elite team test whether the remaining recruits can control their aggression, with a brutal game of murderball and the non-stop 'sickener' exercises.

The last 12 recruits' trustworthiness is tested. The directing staff sow distrust among them and they identify their least trustworthy teammates, before an abseil trust exercise.

The directing staff apply pressure to the last eight recruits, exposing hidden personality traits before sending them into a gruelling 12-hour jungle mission high in the Andes

In the final episode, the remaining recruits undergo the most psychologically demanding 24 hours of the course: the resistance to interrogation phase, as they are abducted and intensively interrogated

From the start, the recruits face a series of extreme, high-pressure tasks, including jumping from a moving helicopter into a lake and crawling across a vast canyon on a tightrope

The recruits must abseil 200 feet off a dam and climb a mountain in blistering heat with 40lbs on their backs

The recruits race each other across sand dunes in the Sahara and must cross a valley at night while avoiding hunter teams who are tracking them with dogs

The recruits must dive 10 metres into a reservoir - backwards, and blindfolded. And then they're captured and intensely interrogated in an extreme test of mental resilience, trust and moral judgement.

Eighteen recruits down, seven to go... and it's the most demanding final phase the instructors have ever designed. Some recruits have to give up, others are culled. Will any of them pass the course?

For the first time, female recruits join the selection process. In a dramatic opening episode, the women fall behind the men; how many will make it through to the end of the first stage?

The remaining male and female recruits face gruelling challenges designed to test their mental and physical strength, including a 200-foot forward abseil and an infamous boxing task

With the conditions deteriorating, the recruits must negotiate beastings in the snow and a night out in a blizzard 3000 metres above sea level, while the DS increase the psychological pressure on them

This episode is about trust. The recruits are teamed up in pairs, then take a free-falling abseil into a rocky gorge and plunge into freezing water, with their partners responsible for saving them.

The remaining recruits must cross a 200-metre gorge, swim beneath the ice on a frozen lake and navigate a perilous valley at night, while trying to avoid capture by a local hunter force and their dogs

The remaining men and women's final challenge is also the most psychologically demanding: resistance to interrogation, as they're subjected to stress positions, white noise and relentless grilling

Led by Ant Middleton, 25 men and women - including an ex-SAS operator working as a mole - face the latest intense course, beginning with a swim to a remote Scottish island

The recruits are pushed to control their aggression, as they're trained with guns and take part in hand-to-hand combat, in an episode exploring loss, loyalty and self-control

The recruits take on the intense close-combat murderball and surf immersion - a notorious water beasting that simulates water torture

The recruits' grit is tested as Jay's undercover status is revealed and he launches a brutal beasting to expose the weakest in the group

The recruits are stalked across the Scottish Highlands by a military-trained hunter force, before facing extreme interrogation on limited sleep and rations. Who will crack?

The last six recruits face deep interrogation and a day of sickeners, including 'drownproofing' - simulated drowning. Only the physically and mentally elite will make it through.

The recruits face an intense start, with an ambush, a hijack, and a 100-foot abseil off an oil rig.

The recruits face a forward abseil and an arduous beasting by the DS. There's also an extreme water immersion exercise and a team event in a dark network of disused tunnels.

The recruits are forced to master their emotions under extreme pressure - from a scary backwards dive at night to an illusion jump. And, to their shock, the mole in their midst is revealed.

The recruits work in pairs as they tackle the threat of chemical warfare and execute a fast-paced extraction in near-freezing water. Then it's time for brutal hand-to-hand combat.

The recruits go on the run across the rugged landscapes of the Inner Hebrides in a challenge designed to test their ability to evade and escape from a pursuing enemy. With limited rations and little sleep, the recruits find themselves ground down in a process where only the strongest will be able to keep going.

The seven remaining contenders spend 48 hours undergoing the most psychologically gruelling stage of the training, designed to test their ability to resist interrogation. The recruits are hooded and exposed to endless white noise, and face brutal tactical questioning from a specialist team, while those who endure this experience face an even greater challenge on the highest point on the island.

The reality show returns with its toughest training course yet, against the backdrop of the Jordanian desert. The initial 21 recruits are sent on an intense journey to their base through searing heat. Once they have made it back to safety, their ability to work as a team is tested when they cross a ravine by balancing on a rope suspended 165 above the ground.

All 20 trainees have made it through to the second stage - where they must make a split-second decision about whether or not to fire in a combat situation. They also face a brutal training session in the desert that pushes some of them to the edge, and must freefall off the top of a 50-foot cliff, trusting a teammate to catch them. This episode also deals with overcoming family tragedy and childhood adversity.

The recruits put their hand-to-hand combat skills to the test, while an elimination test on a 400 metre sand dune proves to be the final straw for four of the recruits. Among the other challenges they will face during a gruelling 48 hours are a seven-metre backwards dive and a simulated ambush while driving.

The remaining recruits are tested on their ability to trust each other through a series of tasks ranging from hand to hand combat to a terrifying 200 metre abseil. Shylla is voted the last trustworthy by her fellow recruits, and is pushed to confront why her quiet demeanour makes other people unwilling to trust her, revealing to the DS that a lifetime of racism has made her withdraw.

Reece and Sarah are put in charge for the escape and evasion test, while calls from home unsettle some of the recruits and prompt an honest reflection of the cost of war from Rudy. The recruits are pushed to their physical limits as they pull vehicles weighing 1000kg from the sand under indirect simulated fire. But being under pressure opens old wounds as some reflect on issues around bullying, infidelity and self-esteem.

In the finale, two teams of recruits are captured by the hunter force and subjected to a variety of punishing interrogation techniques by a specialist team. They endure being buried alive and thrown in water tanks, to force a confession, and struggle to maintain the cover story they are using to hide their true mission.

The eighth series of the reality show takes its inspiration from the jungle phase of SAS selection, which is notoriously the most gruelling phase of the SAS' training regime. The first episode sees the 20 candidates challenged to control their fear with an exercise carried out 50 feet above the ground, before facing one of the most dangerous infiltration methods used by the SAS - a waterfall abseil.

A recruit becomes stranded at the top of a 215-foot waterfall, ending up pinned to the rocks and terrified of drowning. The incident reminds instructor Billy Billingham of situations when he as lost fellow operatives on similar missions. Later, a breach of camp discipline is punished with a relentless series of extreme physical tasks, followed by intensive hand-to-hand combat training sessions.

The group members are tasked with an energy-sapping uphill hike, before being confronted with a 200ft abseil into a dark bat-infested cave. Later in a bustling civilian market, the recruits must track down an armed gunman on the loose among innocent civilians. Will they be able to locate the target and take them down?

The Directing Staff challenge the remaining 11 recruits to stand up and be counted on the fourth phase of the course, as they face a hostage rescue mission hoping to spring two abducted recruits. The second leadership challenge is a punishing head to head team ammunition supply race, requiring grit and determination to get the job over the line.

The remaining recruits are ambushed and handed over to interrogators for questioning. They must endure psychological and physical punishments designed to break their will while sticking to their cover story. The end is near but will the final seven prove magnificent or not?