Special Forces veteran Dean Stott has dealt with military coups and kidnappings and now rescues people from war zones for a living.

But he says his most difficult decision was to leave wife Alana 12 hours after she gave birth to their third child to film his hit Netflix show. “I have an incredibly understanding wife,” he says. “That was probably one of the hardest moments in my entire life.”

The decision to film The Toughest Forces on Earth has turned him into a global TV star as millions follow the adventures of Dean, 47, and his two US veteran sidekicks. The trio of tough guys train alongside the world ’s most feared military units in the show considered Netflix’s most dangerous ever.

It has made the top 10 in 61 countries and the top five in 16 – and one fan is Dean’s old friend and military comrade Prince Harry. “All my military friends have reached out about the show,” he says. “I wanted to make sure that it remained authentic because my biggest critics are my military friends, including Harry. So if they are liking the show, I know we’ve done well.”

Dean’s long forces career before the show made him the perfect choice to front it with ex-Navy Seal Ryan Bates and former Ranger Cameron Fath. Raised in a Scots Army family and growing up in Swindon, he says: “I actually wanted to be a fireman but after school there were about 2,000 applicants for one job in 1993.

 I ended up working in a surf shop in Newquay. My father told me I had wasted my education, so I told him I would join the military. He said I’d last two minutes – and that was my driving force, to prove him wrong.”

In the end he lasted 16 years until a parachuting accident cut his career short. Dean joined up aged 17, serving in the Royal Engineers before transferring to the Special Boat Service (SBS) 10 years later in 2006. He was one of the first Army applicants to be accepted into the elite unit, partly thanks to having already worked as a diving instructor. The following year he struck up a friendship with Prince Harry after meeting him during a training course.

Dean says: “Him and I were partnered off together and we have just maintained that friendship and relationship ever since. We support each other. I’m a big fan of the Invictus Games. I’m a big fan of anything to do with veterans, especially around the mental health aspect.”

Dean was forced to leave the forces in 2011 when his leg got caught in his parachute rigging during a jump. During his fight for compensation, he enlisted the Royal British Legion’s help and has raised tens of thousands for charities like them ever since. In 2018, he cycled 14,000 miles from Argentina to Alaska along the Pan-American Highway, raising £1million for Prince Harry’s Heads Together mental health charity.

Despite having little experience on two wheels, he became the first person to do it in under 100 days. But it meant he nearly missed getting back home for the wedding of his old mate Harry to Meghan in Windsor that May. Receiving his invitation in the middle of the challenge, Dean said it was his new motivation to finish the ride, calling his achievement “a bit surreal still”.

Last weekend his achievements were recognised in the King’s Birthday Honours List, when he received an MBE for his services to sport, humanitarian efforts, and mental health awareness. He says: “I don’t easily get shocked but that was one of the occasions that shocked me.

“It’s nice to be recognised in such a way and I always say the world only sees 30% of what we do so to be recognised for some of that 70% was great.” Since leaving the forces, Dean has become a private global security consultant, which takes him to hot spots around the world.

KINDLY CLICK HERE TO JOIN OUR WHATSAPP COMMUNITY FOR FREE, GET THE LATEST ON THE GO HERE