Ant Middleton has a new doco, K2 Killer Mountain, coming to TV —and he’s headed West for Telethon this weekend

It’s fair to say the past year has been a busy one for SAS: Australia star Ant Middleton: he’s been a contestant on Dancing With The Stars, summited the world’s second-highest mountain, the treacherous K2 — for a doco coming to Seven later this month — and tonight he’ll arrive in town for Telethon.

It will be the second time the ex-UK Special Forces soldier-turned-star has taken part in the charitable fundraiser.

“Last year was my first one — and I got ‘Best On Floor’,” Middleton says.

“It was brilliant, and what a weekend, you know?”

Last year, Middleton took part in a host of stunts to raise money for Telethon, including a now-infamous boy band lip sync battle, which he performed alongside 7News newsreader, Rick Arden.

“(It was that) which ultimately led to my Dancing With The Stars call-up,” he explains.

“And I got slimed, live on TV, which was great!”

His kids — Middleton has five children with wife Millie — particularly enjoyed seeing this.

“It ended up in my hair, and you absolutely cannot get rid of it,” he laughs.

Middleton’s experiences were just the start of a year of saying ‘yes’ to things that pushed the notorious hard man beyond his comfort zone.

In his film, K2 Killer Mountain, he sets his sights on one of the most perilous challenges known to mountaineers: the treacherous ascent of K2, or “The Widow-maker” as it is known to mountaineers.

Middleton says his children were front and centre in his mind as he undertook the perilous climb.

“They’re at the forefront of everything I do — I’m a huge family man,” he says.

“As you will see in the documentary, (the expedition) takes a huge toll on me, physically, psychologically and emotionally, and I, sort of, use (the thought of) my children for the very first time, to get me through it”

Middleton says he chose to show viewers a more “vulnerable” side to himself in the doco.

“There was so much content I could have filmed, you know, of the “strong man”, chest out and standing on the summit, smashing the mountain, but I wanted to show a different side to me, a bit like with Dancing with the Stars,” says the star, who finished third in this year’s TV dance contest.

“I wanted to show that it’s not all (winning): it’s tough, you are exposed, you are vulnerable — you do get emotional…

“You’re not relatable when you smash everything, and if everything you put your hand to, you achieve or succeed at.”

Life won’t slow down any time soon for the TV star, who is now based in Dubai with his family — the same day his show premieres, his new book, Military Mindset, launches here and in the UK.

And he’s got more TV projects in the pipeline.

“There’s talks for me going into space,” he says.

“I’ve been to the apex and stood on top of the world, and for a documentary called Mutiny, I’ve been on the water — think it’s time to see what’s up there.”

Catch Ant Middleton in Perth this weekend for Telethon. Killer K2 with Ant Middleton premieres Thursday, October 24 exclusively on 7plus.