In every potential sponsor’s eyes, I was a nobody. And soon I had notched up more rejection letters than is healthy for any one man to receive. - Bear Grylls

Just let me get moving, I thought, and the pumping blood will shake the stiffness and pain from my back and feet.

The day before our final exercise had begun, the DS had made the briefing crystal clear.
“Don’t give them anything or they will exploit it. Be smart. Stay focused despite the pain and fatigue. Slip up for a second and you fail. And no one is your friend, until you see me walk in wearing a white cross on my sleeve. Only then is the exercise over.”
“The Red CROSS is not my white cross; a vicar’s CROSS is not my white cross…the offer of a hot-CROSS bun and a sip of tea is not my white cross. Do you understand?”
He reiterated. “Don’t get caught out — not at this stage of Selection.

The DS had told us the parameters – run, you pass; walk, you fail.