Ant Middleton has moaned he can longer tell people they’ve done badly without being accused of “bullying”.
The ex-Marine and TV star said he has grown frustrated by not being able to speak his mind and the attitude leads to a drop in standards in the workplace.
He said: "I still got that mindset of tackling everything head on and be honest, but they say, ‘it doesn’t quite work like that Ant’.
"That is what I have struggled with the last couple of years. To really let go of certain strings on my bow.
"I like to be transparent and honest about things, and the sad state of affairs in this day and age is honesty is classed as bullying. You are being honest and all of a sudden, ‘you can’t say that, Ant’.
"Telling someone, ‘you are useless at your job, I suggest you find another job’.
"Nowadays you bring them in and go, ‘you could have done better, it was OK’ – all this mollycoddling and pampering. You know you haven’t done it well and they are saying, ‘it wasn’t too bad’.
"So you are lying to yourself and your standards drop and drop and drop...”
Middleton, who starred on Channel 4’s SAS: Who Dares Wins, with Jason Fox, Ollie Ollerton and Mark “Billy” Billingham, said:
"I am talking about being brutally honest... did you achieve it? No. Your performance was horrendous.”
Speaking on the High Performance Podcast, Middleton, 39, also said he forces his children into things they don’t want to do to develop them.
He has four children with wife Ellie – Shyla, 12, Gabriel, 11, Priseis, four, and Bligh, three, along with Oakley, 17, from a previous relationship.
He said: "I force my children to do stuff whether they like it or not. I am only forcing them through love and personal development. There is nothing negative. I know you don’t want to do it son, but you are going to do it, ‘bosh’.”
