Black Gold Motel and its employees experienced a brush with fame earlier this year when the crew of SAS Australia called Lidsdale home on-and-off for several months.
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Elite ex-Special Forces soldiers Ant Middleton, Mark 'Billy' Billingham, Jason 'Foxy' Fox and Ollie Ollerton stayed at the cabins while filming the next season of the show in the Wolgan Valley.
The action-packed series is set to start after the Olympics and leads celebrity recruits on a gruelling course, pushing them to their mental and physical limits.
Black Gold Motel owner Linda Cluff said having the commandos stay was busy, fun and something she won't ever forget.
"We didn't have the contestants here just the commandos and crews.
"It was great, they were excellent, really nice people and friendly from the time they arrived until they left," she said.
She said business was full on providing breakfast for the crew at 4.30am and late dinners when they had arrived back from filming.
"Our breakfast chef had to be here at like three in the morning but it was great and we were pleased to have them stay with us," she said.
Head chef Abby Case said she enjoyed making meals for the commandos and noted the eye-candy on offer.
"They would exercise every morning, it was a great view," she laughed.
"We'd [employees] send a quick text among ourselves saying 'hey they're outside now'."
Housekeeper Tammy Coupland also said the commandos were "easy on the eyes".
Linda said with the show being under wraps her team at Black Gold remained professional and tight-lipped.
"It was hard not to say they were here with the excitement of it all but we kept it under the radar," she said.
"If people were here for dinner they might've noticed, but because probably they're more well-known in the UK than they are in Australia, some people recognised them and some didn't.
"They kept to themselves, they were here for a job, but they were respectful, friendly and praised our service."
Abby said she kept her kitchen professional but was surprised when Ant, Ollie, Jason and Billy personally thanked her.
"I knew they were out there but I wasn't going to make a fuss... but they came in and thanked us and said the food was amazing," she said.
Linda said the SAS crew were "awesome people" and allowed photo opportunities with her staff and took on board her husband Rob and son Brad's knowledge on the local area.
"We had photos taken with them which we will finally be able to share now that the show is coming out.
It was fun days and we made a lot of friends and they became part of the family.
- Black Gold Motel owner, Linda Cluff
"Brad and Rob were very instrumental in getting them into places with local knowledge, where to go, what to do out in the bush, where the best scenery was and took them to all these places," she said.
"They were ever so grateful for the knowledge in helping them get some amazing scenery which people might've seen already on the ads on the TV."
Linda said it was a great experience to meet the crew and make new friends.
"It was fun days and we made a lot of friends and they became part of the family," she said.
"They said the atmosphere here was like a family and they didn't want to leave."
The SAS commandos presented Linda and Rob a signed photo of themselves which has now been hung in the Crib Room Restaurant and Linda was also lucky enough to receive a special gift.
"I kept asking if Sam Burgess was on the show and they couldn't tell me, but they gave me a signed Rabbitohs jumper signed by him which was so nice and lovely of them to do that," she said.
Surprise of a lifetime
From their lengthy stay, Rob and Linda formed connections and struck up friendships in particular with the stunt helicopter pilot.
With all the hard work their staff had done to provide the SAS crew with the best-of-the-best, Linda and Rob wanted to surprise them with a joy flight.
"The pilot that was doing scenes with SAS had the helicopter which ironically was black and gold, parked here for a few weeks, we let people believe it was ours," she laughed.
"We struck up a friendship with him and Rob asked if we could go for a ride and he said yes.
"I asked if some of my staff could go for a ride because I really wanted to give them that experience."
Linda and Rob sent 15 of their staff members on a 15 minute sky-high experience over the Wolgan Valley.
"Of course we paid for that because we didn't expect him to pay for all that fuel to take us on rides, some missed out, unfortunately we couldn't take everybody but it was a wonderful experience," she said.
"Everyone worked really hard, the housekeeping was flat-strapped and the restaurant was too it was all very busy, and they deserved the reward."
Abby said said she came in for work expecting it to be a normal Saturday shift until Rob surprised her.
"Rob comes in and says "in half an hour you, you and you are gonna be needed on the oval you're going on a helicopter ride".
"I'm thinking what? What do you mean Rob? It's a Saturday night I can't just fly off," she laughed.
"But being a local you sort of don't explore as much and I had never been down into the Wolgan Valley, to actually go and see it was amazing and how often do you get to do that, so thank you Linda and Rob!," she said.
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