Get ready for round two of stars putting themselves in danger for entertainment! FOX’s Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test is back to put celebrity recruits through the wringer with vigorous, high-intensity military training exercises in the most brutal environments as they face their biggest challenge ever: surviving at all costs. The ante is being upped for season two, which premieres Monday, September 25 at 9/8c and next day on Hulu.
This season, the action moves from the balmy desert in Jordan to the icy mountains of New Zealand. Competing in the grueling challenges are 14 celebrities – a mix of professional athletes, actors, reality stars and personalities. The celebrity recruits include actress Tara Reid, Vanderpump Rules’ Tom Sandoval, recording artist JoJo Siwa, actor Brian Austin Green, reality TV star Savannah Chrisley, Olympic gold medalist speed skater Erin Jackson, Bachelor Nation alums Nick Viall and Tyler Cameron, ex-NFL pro Dez Bryant, TV personality Jack Osbourne, NBA champion Robert Horry, Olympic Gold Medalist Alpine Skier Bode Miller, TV host Kelly Rizzo, and actress, model and influencer Angela White, professionally known as Blac Chyna.
Special Forces lead directing staff Rudy Reyes didn’t mince words when he teed up season two, which pushes the stars to their limits emotionally, physically, and mentally. “My desire, my goal is to help these recruits reveal themselves because no one is more beautiful, no one is more brave than the real you. And that’s what Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test is about,” the hard-charging 51-year-old military veteran tells The Daily Beast.
“We really turn up the heat in the cold,” teases Reyes, who previously served in Iraq as part of the elite U.S. Marines Recon. “The work rate, the pain, the continuous operations, it’s so much more like the pace in special operations in the Special Force world. You really get a window into our world by how hard we push the recruits this season. You will not be disappointed. It is full force.”
Though there are far more death-defying stunts showcased in season two, Reyes highlights seven high-risk challenges the new class of celebrity recruits bravely (and barely) survived – from being dunked into frigid pitch-black waters in a helicopter to an even scarier cliff crawl between two mountain edges 4,700 feet above the ground.
Forward Dam Descent
Expert difficulty level: Not for those with a fear of heights
Civilian difficulty level: 8 out of 10, because everything about this sounds terrifying
During this anxiety-inducing mission, recruits have to show that they can maintain control under pressure. Working in pairs, they must complete a forward descent down the side of a 420-foot water dam while in perfect synchronization. The duo that descends the dam with the quickest time finishes the challenge successfully.
“Many of these recruits are afraid of heights,” Reyes says, adding that many “are very good at one or two things in life, whether you’re an actor or model or an athlete. But very few of them are well-rounded in a robust way – mental, physical, emotional – [and] in swimming, land, sports, as well as operating at heights.” According to the Special Forces instructor, it was the sheer magnitude of the challenge that “really, really freaked out many of the recruits.” “You’re dealing with ropes, you’re going face-down on a sheer water dam that’s colossal in scale. You’re also racing against the fellow recruits, so we ramp up the stress. We put on the pressure.”
Ice Breaker
Expert difficulty level: 6 out of 10
Civilian difficulty level: 8.8 out of 10, solely due to the extreme cold
Good luck getting through this one if you can’t stand the cold. The obstacle facing the recruits here is that they must safely pull themselves out of freezing Arctic waters and successfully recite back a series of letters and phrases given to them by the drill instructors at the start of the challenge in order to pass the test. Once they get out of the ice-cold conditions, they have to strip out of their wet clothing and change into warm dry gear as quickly as possible or they “succumb to hypothermia,” Reyes warns.
“Really, it’s all mental.” Reyes personally finds ”the freezing cold exhilarating” and often feels “superpowered for two hours, three hours afterwards,” which he says some of the recruits experienced. “You could see the lightning bolt inside of them. Others, they got into the rewarming tent, they were falling apart, they were sluggish and moving slowly.”
Heli Dunk
Expert difficulty level: 7 out of 10
Civilian difficulty level: 9.9 out of 10; combining the cold with pure blackness and tight quarters sounds like a horror film waiting to happen
In this challenge, recruits sit in a helicopter and are lowered into a pitch-black freezing lake where they must hold their breath as water envelops them. They have to wait for a signal before they release their seatbelt and attempt to retrieve a key asset before swimming to the surface. The trick to succeeding, Reyes says, is not to panic even when your mind and body want you to because of the extreme, claustrophobic conditions.
“Those who succeeded, no matter what, kept their minds calm and accepted the pain knowing the pain is temporary,” he notes. Though it’s hard to imagine the seasoned military vet scared of anything, he admits the Heli Dunk is the one “frightening” task he’d hesitate to revisit. Yes, it’s that terrifying. “I was really sweating bullets down there,” he recalls of the time he had to complete the exercise. Ultimately, he overcame his fears. “I was really proud of myself. I accomplished it so I didn’t have to do it again.”
Milling
Expert difficulty level: 7 out of 10
Civilian difficulty level: 8 out of 10; intentionally harming someone with your fists can be traumatic
While many of season two’s challenges call for the recruits to partner up, here they’re asked to fight against each other to test their true mettle and iron will. Milling, a training exercise used by the elite Parachute Regiment of the British army, pits two recruits in an intense duel using hand-to-hand combat where they must punch each other in the head until Reyes and the Special Forces directing staff determines a winner.
“This is a primal level of violence for survival. This is used to teach them to turn it on and turn it off,” describes Reyes, who says milling is “the kind of fighting I have done personally” and drives home the point that any trace of compassion could be used against you by the enemy. “This could be psychologically the most difficult or hard to even describe for some of them how difficult it must be,” he says of the recruits, some of whom have never intentionally imposed physical harm on another human being. “I remember seeing some tears and overwhelming emotion. These are people that are not used to having to fight and to defend with their fists.”
Commando Cliff Crawl
Expert difficulty level: 8 out of 10
Civilian difficulty level: 11 out of 10; anything with heights is scary enough
Recruits must crawl out on a rope between one mountain cliff’s edge approximately 4,700 feet high to the other, over a 72-foot ravine where the drop is 147 feet. To pass the mission, they have to use balance and core strength to pull themselves across the ravine.
“It’s much more difficult than it looks, if you do not utilize technique,” Reyes says, emphasizing the importance of “real physical fitness, not just gym fitness” to finish the physically-demanding challenge. “Your grip must be strong. Your back must be strong. Your upper body must be strong. This is why frontlines, Marines, Green Berets, Navy SEALs, and SAS (Special Air Service), why we’re the freaking strong tough dudes that we are. If you’re too weak to regain yourself across the rope, you’re useless to our community.”
Suspended Trainasium
Expert difficulty level: 9 out of 10
Civilian difficulty level: 12 out of 10; there are just too many factors where things can go horribly wrong
Kicking off the season strong, recruits have to complete the Trainasium course in the first episode – and it’s not for the faint of heart. Recruits are suspended 335 feet in the air on a Trainasium structure, an obstacle course built from a complex framework of bars and ladders stabilized by only a few points from a bridge above a raging river. To complete the mission, recruits must successfully walk across the bridge and climb down the ladder to a small platform below, or fall more than 300 feet from the structure and remain dangling over the canyon.
“It is fearful because of the heights and the exposure,” Reyes says, “and the whole purpose in everything we do is to compartmentalize fear, focus on the detail at hand, and execute.” Of course, in real-world circumstances, failing a mission like this has fatal and dangerous consequences. “Real world, there is no rope. Real world, you fall to your death and the mission is compromised. Real world, this is life and death.”
Protect the Principal
Expert difficulty level: The most difficult of all
Civilian difficulty level: 20 out of 10; having someone else’s fate in your hands heightens the stakes
Simulating what special operations do in enemy territory, recruits must go into stealth mode as they extract an asset to a safe zone in convoy in this high-pressure challenge. As they attempt to move the asset over the border to safety, they’ll encounter various obstacles that threaten the success of the mission – from a series of simulated explosions to armed enemy gunmen approaching on foot to surviving a full-on kill zone attack.
According to the former Marine, this challenge is “the most difficult of all,” simply because “you have someone else’s life in your hands.” “They’ve got to do or die. They got to get to that principal. If they freeze, then they die,” Reyes says. Many factors and dynamics are also at play that add stress and urgency to the situation. “In combat, things come at you fast and you have to make tactical decisions and stand by your decisions. There are no chances for do-overs.” And, if a recruit “succeeds on this task, they’re really switched off,” Reyes credits.
Want to see how the stars do? Don’t miss the season two premiere of FOX’s Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test on Monday, September 25 at 9/8c and available the next day on Hulu.
