You may have seen it, if you haven’t it’s certainly worth catching on the BBC iplayer. Twenty two incredibly fit individuals volunteered to be beasted by a succession of Special Force operatives with the sole purpose to create a winner, who best overcomes intensive training and tasks designed to weed out those who don’t have what it takes.
John Durance, an engineer from Leicester, is profoundly deaf and was one of the participants. All the way through, he was consistently one of the top performers, despite being at a disadvantage to the others. Many of the tasks and assignments involved communication and although he is an accomplished lip reader, when your body is being tested to the limit and your sole source of ‘hearing’ is watching someone’s mouth, his deafness was a considerable obstacle. Other situations involved sensual depravity. Hoods over the head, performing in darkness meant that John had to overcome much more than the other contestants in order to compete on the same playing field, and boy did he compete.
John reached the final 6 contestants before the end of his journey and along with the others, the punishment he suffered was extraordinary and yet he came through everything that the operatives threw at him. Well done John Durance, you stated that you wanted to be an inspiration for everyone with a disability, you did that and much, much more.