In last week\u2019s premiere, \u201cSpecial Forces: World\u2019s Toughest Test\u201d unveiled a slew of challenges that pushed the show\u2019s new \u201crecruits\u201d to their limits. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Four of the 16 celebrity participants were eliminated, including TV host and celebrity addiction specialist Dr. Drew Pinski. He joined singer Montell Jordan and reality star Kate Gosselin, who were medically eliminated from the show. Celebrity chef Tyler Florence left voluntarily.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI got sicker than crap in like an hour,\u201d Pinski told Military Times. \u201cI just went completely down. It caught me so off guard. They took me to the hospital, I was in the ICU a few hours later, and I was going in and out, I was not there. I\u2019m furious about that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Despite the short tenure on the new FOX reality show, which forces recruits to complete challenges out of the Special Forces selection process playbook, the trials the celebrities faced in the Jordanian desert made a family of them all, Pinsky said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cNo matter how long you spent in the camp, we were all equally bonded,\u201d he added. \u201cIt\u2019s very strange, but we\u2019re all close friends now. It was that camaraderie, that closeness, that connection to each other that made it tolerable. … We were sort of in it together.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
During the episode, participants were ordered to run two miles in the Wadi Rum Desert and jump out of a helicopter into the sea, among other tasks that tested mental fortitude and physical strength.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt could traumatize you really easily,\u201d Pinski said. \u201cYou do a lot of psychological screening before you go in and a lot of psychological follow up. … I could see where, if somebody were traumatized, watching the show could be a little problematic.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Olympic skier Gus Kenworthy, who is still in the game, said parts of the show were surprisingly difficult despite making a career as a professional athlete.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019m used to pushing myself and pushing my body and dealing with injury and setback and digging deep,\u201d he said. \u201cBut when I was training for the Olympics, at the end of the day, if I was sore, hurt or frustrated, I got to go back to my hotel room or my house and shower and have a nice meal and be in a comfortable bed. This was like all of that same pain, then being on a cot [with] wet clothes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Both Pinksi and Kenworthy explained that the show was different from reality TV in that the experience wasn\u2019t one that felt filmed. While in the tents or carrying out select tasks, for example, the recruits were not typically followed by a film crew. Instead, the show employs hidden cameras and drones to provide an experience more authentic to a Special Forces training environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhen we were in the barracks, it was just the cameras that were mounted everywhere, so you really forget that you\u2019re even being filmed,\u201d Kenworthy said. \u201cIt definitely allowed you to be present in that and buy into it, because it felt very, very real, and there was no break from it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At one point later in the season, Kenworthy is set on fire, which can be seen in the previews for later episodes. That, however, was not the worst thing that happened to him, he said. For Kenworthy, being yelled at by the crew, the ex-U.S. and U.K. special operators, was the hardest part.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019ve never been anywhere in my life where I\u2019ve been yelled at like that,\u201d he said. \u201cIt kind of makes you feel like a little kid again. And you can\u2019t yell back, obviously.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kenworthy, like Pinsky, felt the greatest takeaway from the show was the camaraderie. The pair also said that among the 14 other recruits, they both connected most with former NFL wide receiver Danny Amendola.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI feel like my strongest connection was probably with Danny Amendola,\u201d Kenworthy said, joking, \u201cI actually didn\u2019t think he was going to like me going into it because he\u2019s an actual jock \u2014 a straight football player, a hotshot Super Bowl winner \u2014 and I\u2019m … gay. But he was the sweetest guy ever.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In keeping with military tradition, the celebrities also had battle buddies, which for Kenworthy, meant accompanying Amendola everywhere. Learning to be in close quarters with people for the duration of filming emphasized the need for that level of teamwork, he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou get really bonded when you don\u2019t have any privacy, and you really end up with your guard down,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There are 12 \u201crecruits\u201d left on \u201cSpecial Forces: World\u2019s Toughest Test.\u201d The second episode airs Jan. 11.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Four of the 16 celebrity participants have already been eliminated from ‘Special Forces: World\u2019s Toughest Test.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":105835,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"single-post-observation-post","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":68,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[101,23,89,68,12,26,13,65],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3271],"class_list":["post-71829","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-home","category-middle-column","category-military-culture","category-news","category-newsletters","category-off-duty","category-your-navy"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"IONLHRPA5ZD45I5TDISMMWHAQQ","arc_canonical_url":"\/off-duty\/military-culture\/2023\/01\/10\/celebrities-forge-bonds-on-special-forces-worlds-toughest-test\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"observation-post","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n