Military service and security roles Middleton joined the army in 1998 at the age of 17 where he served in
9 Parachute Squadron Royal Engineers and served tours of duty in
Northern Ireland in 1999 during
Operation Banner, and in the
Republic of North Macedonia in 2001 during
Operation Essential Harvest. After leaving the army in 2002, he later enlisted in the
Royal Marines on 2 May 2005. He passed the 32 week commando course on 20 January 2006 with 898 troop, winning the King's Badge for best all-round recruit, and was posted to D Company,
40 Commando. In 2007 he did his first tour in
Afghanistan. In 2008 he joined the
Special Boat Service, serving for four years as a
point man and as a
sniper, in two further tours of Afghanistan. After leaving the armed forces, Middleton worked as a security guard for
VIPs, and later as a security expert in
South Africa and for various
west African governments. In November 2019, Middleton was appointed as chief cadet and honorary
captain in the Royal Navy's
Volunteer Cadet Corps. He left the position nine months later amidst controversy surrounding a comment he made on Twitter, which appeared to compare
Black Lives Matter protesters with the
English Defence League as extremists and "scum", though he clarified that he was not equating the two groups.
Television Middleton was the chief instructor on
SAS: Who Dares Wins, a reality high-fitness television programme simulating realistic special forces-type military training and produced by Minnow Films for
Channel 4, which was first broadcast in 2015. The show propelled Middleton into the celebrity limelight.
Mutiny, an adventure/reality crossover show, was screened on UK television in February 2017, with Middleton starring as boat captain alongside eight volunteer participants. The show was a re-enactment of the
Mutiny on the Bounty and Middleton described the experience as "mentally speaking, the hardest thing I've ever done". In March 2021, Middleton was dropped by Channel 4 over the channel's objections to his personal conduct. Middleton then repeated his
SAS hosting position on the
Australian version of the show for the
Seven Network. Additionally, he was the host of the reality adventure show
Million Dollar Island, also for Seven. Middleton and his brother Dan were announced as contestants for a Celebrity Edition of
The Amazing Race Australia in March 2025 for Network 10. However, on 18 April 2025, the
Herald Sun reported that Ant and Dan were removed following an off-camera verbal altercation with another team after filming of the first episode. According to the tabloid, Dan Middleton made remarks and gestures that were homophobic, offensive, intimidatory and disturbing towards social media personalities and brothers, Luke and "Sassy" Scott O'Halloran following a night out during a break in between filming episodes. A representative for Network 10 stated, "Following a breach of the production's code of conduct by one contestant, on a day off during production, a team from
The Amazing Race Australia was disqualified and swiftly sent home."
Publications In 2017, Middleton co-authored his first book,
SAS: Who Dares Wins: Leadership Secrets from the Special Forces, with his fellow TV presenters and Special Forces colleagues
Jason Fox, Matthew "Ollie" Ollerton and Colin Maclachlan. Middleton's autobiography,
First Man In: Leading from the Front, was published in 2018, becoming a number 1
Sunday Times best-seller. His second book,
The Fear Bubble: Harness Fear and Live Without Limits, was published in 2019, and was also number 1 on
The Sunday Times bestseller chart. His third book,
Zero Negativity, was published in 2020. Middleton features in coach Mike Chadwick's audiobook
The Red On Revolution, published in 2022.
Climbing On 14 May 2018, Middleton reached the summit of
Mount Everest with
Ed Wardle, completing the ascent over a five and a half week period. The pair almost perished when they were caught in a
blizzard behind a group of 10 climbers who hampered their progress during the descent. In 2023, Middleton climbed to the summit of
K2, second highest in the world after Everest.
Politics On 20 September 2024, Middleton gave his support to
Reform UK and he spoke at the party's conference in
Birmingham. On 8 January 2025, Middleton hinted on
X (formerly Twitter) that he would run for
Mayor of London for Reform UK in 2028, stating "My country is calling me once again! I've fought for it once and I WILL come back and serve it again! Standby, standby...". On 20 January 2025, Middleton was part of Reform UK's delegation to the
second inauguration of Donald Trump in
Washington, D.C., in the
United States, along with leader
Nigel Farage and party treasurer
Nick Candy. On 13 September 2025, Middleton took part in the
far-right '
Unite the Kingdom' rally in London. He was a speaker at the rally announcing his intention to run for mayor of London as an independent in 2028. He led the march near
Waterloo station alongside
Tommy Robinson and fellow TV personalities
Katie Hopkins and
Laurence Fox. On 25 February 2026, Middleton publicly disclosed that he had engaged in preliminary discussions with
Rupert Lowe concerning the possibility of standing as a candidate in the next London mayoral election under
Restore Britain. Middleton described the exchanges as exploratory “talks”, indicating that no formal decision had yet been taken regarding his candidacy. He characterised the discussions as focused on assessing political viability, campaign strategy, and the broader electoral landscape in the capital. ==Legal issues==