At the risk of coming in half way through the conversation here........
I'm not sure I would describe BA's selection process as tough. I think the candidates that BA want fit a certain mould and have the potential to obtain a particular skill-set.
Looking at myself and some other flight crew colleagues , we are certainly not " gifted, natural pilots", but possess other skills that BA are looking for. Apologies to the couple of ex Red Arrow guys we have flying for us, but we are not necessarily looking for 3500 ex display or test pilots. Just ordinary people that achieve the BA standard. All IMHO.