Following on from the interview with Sam in the SMH yesterday, two other papers have interviews with their local participants. The Sunshine Coast Daily has John Morrall while the Central Western Daily has Michael Sandford.

Both articles are worth a read for different reasons. John’s reveals a little more about why he applied to be on the show, and like so many others before him it’s due to a recent health scare:

John, who has had heart problems and recently had a bit of a heart scare, said he was motivated by his wife and family to shed the kilos and improve his health.

“The fear on her face is a picture I will carry with me for the rest of my life,” he said.

The article goes on to say that his daughter is expecting a baby soon and he’d like to get his life in order. He was also recently spotted in Maroochydore looking “decidedly slimmer and tanned”. So it sounds like, inside the house or not, John’s on the right track.

The piece on Michael is interesting for another reason. I’m sure we’re all well aware that the show is edited down for time considerations, so while we only saw maybe a half hour in total of the contestants being put through their paces in last night’s show, they were actually exercising for two or more hours.

Many have been assuming that because we didn’t see anybody quit during this session that nobody did give up. Not so, says Michael:

“No matter what [the trainers] threw at me I did it. A lot of things I did would, and did, make a lot of people quit but I never did. I never quit once.”

So it seems like, at least according to him, some folks did give up at some points during the selection process. I expect the producers had good reason not to show this, perhaps saving the “breakdown” for one of the Commando’s sessions, to reinforce his toughness?

At any rate, it’s interesting to sort of peek behind the curtain like this from time to time.

The rest of the story is just about Michael wanting to get his confidence back and perhaps get back into his local first grade footy team, so he can play with his brothers again. With Shannan’s background in footy training, you have to figure that’s a match made in heaven!

To read the rest of the articles, click here for John’s story or click here for Michael’s.