Outrage as 'Cocaine Cassie' Sainsbury joins the cast of SAS Australia trends now

Aussies are outraged that convicted drug smuggler 'Cocaine Cassie' Sainsbury has been cast on the new season of Channel Seven reality show SAS Australia.

In April 2017, Sainsbury, 28, was caught trying to smuggle 5.8kg of cocaine out of Columbia concealed in headphones. She later spent 27 months in prison.

The Adelaide native returned to Australia last September for the first time in five years, and now she is set to launch a television career. 

Members of the public have expressed their disgust at Seven for choosing her for the military-inspired show, as the only reason she is famous is because of her crime. 

'This is ridiculous. We should not be putting someone convicted of a crime up on a pedestal calling them a celebrity,' one Twitter user wrote.

Another viewer said: 'SAS Australia: Cocaine Cassie is one of 14 new contestants...  surely Seven can do better than making a cocaine convict a celeb in a TV show?'

A third commented: 'Cocaine Cassie also going on that SAS show, so you can see the producers love playing in the gutter.'

The convicted drug smuggler will star alongside controversial actor Craig McLachlan and boxing champion Anthony Mundine.

She'll also compete against Olympians Stephanie Rice, Peter Bol and Matthew Mitcham, as well as Balinese princess Lindy Klim, Thai cave rescue hero Dr Craig Challen and Brownlow medallist Jason Akermanis.

For the first time on SAS Australia, these men and women will travel offshore to a secret base in the Middle East.