BY day, Mark Whistler is a marketing executive battling it out on TV’s toughest programme, SAS Who Dares Wins.
By night, he is drag queen Cybil War.
Mark, who is 6ft 5in without his heels, signed up for the rigorous programme to see if he measured up to his dad Andrew, an SAS veteran.
The 31-year-old contestant said: “Dad never gave the slightest inkling about what he did. But Mum told me a helicopter once landed on our back garden at night and took Dad away for a few weeks to work.
“I wanted to be part of SAS Who Dares Wins to gain even a slither of a fraction of a glimpse into what he went through. I have a newfound respect for him.”
Mark, who splits his working life between London and New York, came out aged 18, but said the revelation he was gay did not faze Andrew.
The super-fit recruit said: “There’s never been a period in my life when I’ve managed to shock my dad. When I’d leave the house in more of my sister’s clothing than my own, Dad would say, ‘Have fun’.
“When I told him [I was gay], he was like, ‘OK. That’s not going to change a thing’.
“A few years later I thought, well if that didn’t shock you – ‘I’m a drag queen!’ He was like, ‘I like Dame Edna.’”
Mark, who was brought up in Kingston, Surrey, has even invited his dad to one of his drag queen shows – although Andrew says they are not his “cup of tea”.
Andrew, who spent 20 years of his 37-year British Army career with the Special Forces, said: “When I look back at his childhood, I can see he always loved to do things his own way. And he loved playing women on stage from a young age.
“When he came out it wasn’t a shock. And it certainly would never change our relationship. I’m incredibly proud of him.”
Mark, who is known as number seven on the show, said there was another bonus to doing the programme: the opportunity to ogle director of staff Jason Fox as he puts the contestants through their paces.
“I make no qualms... Foxy is the most beautiful man to ever walked the face of the earth.
- SAS: Who Dares Wins is on Channel 4 on Sunday at 9pm.
