Ask Dr. Drew - Special Forces TELL ALL with Nastia Liukin (5x Olympic Medalist) & Your Calls – Ask Dr. Drew – Episode 170

Episode Date: January 21, 2023

Dr. Drew answers your calls on any topic! 5-Time Olympic Medalist Nastia Liukin joins the show for a LIVE tell-all following her appearance on FOX's "Special Forces: World's Toughest Test" reality competition. Nastia Liukin won five medals at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, including the coveted All-Around Gold medal. She has since been inducted into the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame, USA Gymnastics Hall of Fame, and the United States Olympic Hall of Fame. After achieving her biggest dream in the sport and graduating from NYU, Liukin set out to make her mark on the world beyond her athletic career. For the past decade, she has been the lead female gymnastics analyst with NBC Olympics. Additionally, she founded one of the most prestigious events in the sport of gymnastics, The Nastia Liukin Cup. She also serves as a motivational speaker, sharing her learnings and practices with Fortune 500 companies and their key teams. Tapping into the loyal fanbase she has cultivated over the last fifteen years, Nastia launched her influencer business, which has led to collaborations with world-leading brands and retailers. Using her platforms, she hopes to inspire others to set dream-worthy goals and empower them with the tools needed to achieve them. Follow her at https://twitter.com/NastiaLiukin and https://NastiaLiukin.com 「 SPONSORED BY 」 • BIRCH GOLD - Don’t let your savings lose value. You can own physical gold and silver in a tax-sheltered retirement account, and Birch Gold will help you do it. Claim your free, no obligation info kit from Birch Gold at https://birchgold.com/drew • GENUCEL - Using a proprietary base formulated by a pharmacist, Genucel has created skincare that can dramatically improve the appearance of facial redness and under-eye puffiness. Genucel uses clinical levels of botanical extracts in their cruelty-free, natural, made-in-the-USA line of products. Get 10% off with promo code DREW at https://genucel.com/drew 「 MEDICAL NOTE 」 The CDC states that COVID-19 vaccines are safe, effective, and reduce your risk of severe illness. Hundreds of millions of people have received a COVID-19 vaccine, and serious adverse reactions are uncommon. Dr. Drew is a board-certified physician and Dr. Kelly Victory is a board-certified emergency specialist. Portions of this program will examine countervailing views on important medical issues. You should always consult your personal physician before making any decisions about your health.  「 ABOUT the SHOW 」 Ask Dr. Drew is produced by Kaleb Nation (https://kalebnation.com) and Susan Pinsky (https://twitter.com/firstladyoflove). This show is for entertainment and/or informational purposes only, and is not a substitute for medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. 「 GEAR PROVIDED BY 」 • BLUE MICS - Find your best sound at https://drdrew.com/blue • ELGATO - See how Elgato's lights transformed Dr. Drew's set: https://drdrew.com/sponsors/elgato/ 「 ABOUT DR. DREW 」 For over 30 years, Dr. Drew has answered questions and offered guidance to millions through popular shows like Celebrity Rehab (VH1), Dr. Drew On Call (HLN), Teen Mom OG (MTV), and the iconic radio show Loveline. Now, Dr. Drew is opening his phone lines to the world by streaming LIVE from his home studio. Watch all of Dr. Drew's latest shows at https://drdrew.tv Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

And welcome everybody. It is today my sincere pleasure to welcome my friend and co-recruit from Special Forces, Nastia Lukin. You guys know her as a five-time gold medalist at the 2008 Olympic Games. I'm not sure if they were all gold. Including the all-around gold medal, she has since been inducted into the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame, the USA Gymnastics Hall of Fame, the United States Olympic Hall of Fame, and she founded one of the most prestigious events in the sport of gymnastics, the Nastya Lukin Cup. For the past decade, she has been the lead female gymnastic analyst with NBC Olympics. Who better than her? And she and I got to know each other very well over the course of this adventure we

all went on. And mostly today, in addition to giving you all a chance on Twitter spaces to talk to her as well, I want to talk about the things you didn't see on the show. Because there's a lot. All of us agree when we got off, we're like, my goodness, there was so much interesting stuff that happened. In fact, I want us to do an Unseen Moments show at some point. But today we're dedicated to special forces. We'll of course be back tomorrow with our usual conversation.

Let's get right to it. Our laws as it pertains to substances are draconian and bizarre. The psychopath started this. He was an alcoholic because of social media and pornography, PTSD, love addiction, fentanyl and heroin. Ridiculous. I'm a doctor. Where the hell do you think I learned that? I'm just saying you go to treatment before you kill people. I am a clinician. I observe things about these chemicals. Let's just deal with what's real. We used to get these calls on Loveline all the time. Educate adolescents and to prevent and to treat.

If you have trouble, you can't stop, and you want to help stop it, I can help. I got a lot to say. I got a lot more to say. We'll be right back. And no matter your team, your favorite player, or your style, there's something every NBA fan will love about BetMGM. Download the app today and discover why BetMGM is your basketball home for the season. Raise your game to the next level this year with BetMGM. A sportsbook worth a slam dunk. An authorized gaming partner of the NBA. BetMGM.com for terms and conditions.

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TD, ready for you. And again, welcome everybody. Tomorrow, just a reminder, we'll be doing calls again, which have not done a call show in quite some time. I'm exclusively your questions. I've been on a couple of Twitter spaces regarding the Twitter file dumps recently, and there's a lot of new thinking going around. I had the privilege of speaking to a congressperson today as well

who had some plans to sort of shake up what we've all been worried about. So that's coming tomorrow. There may be a guest tomorrow, but I think my preference is to have calls. On Wednesday, we still have Dr. Stephen Hetfield. Is that correct, Caleb? Am I getting that correct? Yes, that's correct. I'm very excited for him. All right. And that's, of course, with Kelly again and Ryan Cole coming back on February 1st. And I think Dr. Victory got January 25th book with Jessica Rose. Is that correct as well? Anybody want to help you with that? Possibly. Yeah. It's Dr. Jessica Rose, not the Jessica Rose from Lonely Girl 15, which I thought it was at first as an internet person.

Oh my God. Wow. You've been doing this stuff too long, Kayla. No, this is a brilliant researcher who has some strong opinions. Of course, I'm watching you all on the restream here as well as over at the Rumble Rants. I just see the First Lady of Love over there and not much else going on. But do join us. Yeah, no rumblies. No rumblies. Well, it's a different time. Whenever we come in early, sometimes people don't know.

Yes, it gets a little weird for people. And before we started, Susan leaned in and goes, they need to have flashbacks and i said no no no way reality shows work is you have unseen moment shows and today we're going to talk about those unseen moments with my friend nastya lukin nastya welcome having me oh no mike there we are this is it here it is forget all those gold medals and all that business so before we get into our experience um tell people about your story a little bit if you don't mind because i found it so fascinating with your dad and russia and all those elements that i think make you very such an interesting person please well thank you first of all it's an honor

to um have met you've been on an insane show with you that we'll dive into. But yeah, my background, I was born in Moscow and both my parents, only child, both my parents were world Olympic champion gymnasts. And yeah, I think I was born with like some good genes, I guess you could say, you know. Some, some. Yeah, I guess you could say, you know, and some, some, yeah, a couple. They actually, you know, they really didn't want me to do gymnastics just because they like knew how hard the sport was. They wanted me to find my happiness and my joy. And, and that came from gymnastics. And then they saw, you know, at a very early age, also a God-given talent. And they were like, okay, well, we're not going to take that away from you. So they let me do it. And then letting me do it kind of led me to, you know, setting these goals for myself. Strictly, like I wanted to be

just like my parents, I wanted to be a world champion, I wanted to be an Olympic champion, I wanted to be the best in the world. And I was so so lucky that, you know, I was able to do that with my dad as my coach, like right by my side. And I think like that, to me, yeah, of course, there were like, you know, like, we're such similar people. And we're perfectionist and we're stubborn. And we're all those things, which, you know, at times like a frustration or whatever, like it was hard. It was hard being a teenager and thinking that like you knew better, even though, you know, of course I knew I was not right at times, but, um, having that moment, like the

biggest, greatest moment of my entire life with my dad right next to me was a moment that I truly will cherish and remember for the rest of my life. You also, I forget the story you told me exactly, but it just stayed with me as you had some sort of moment of clarity thanks to your dad or something. Like he set some limit down with you when you were a teenager or maybe backed off. I don't know what the story was, but you sort of told me a story and I don't remember the details story was, but you sort of told me a story and I don't remember the details at all. Do you know what I'm talking about? Yeah, I mean, I think what,

and actually it's really interesting tying it back into the show now and not realizing it then, also not realizing it when I even told you the first time, I think, but it really was about like, being the best version of yourself and competing against yourself. And he was like such a numbers person that he would write down, you know, all of my routines, start values, and then like, so gymnastics scoring not to get too technical here, but

it's gotten super complicated. And basically, there's two sides of the scoring system. One is the difficulty and one is the execution. So difficulty is like the skills you perform. Execution is, you know, basically point your toes, you know, don't like stick your landing all that. And he would put the like the bare minimum like execution score and come and just like show me like, look, like all you have to do is literally like land on your feet, like, and it's yours. And so I think I was always so not worried about others, but I was always like trying to be better than somebody else. And when I realized like you're on your own journey, like just like you do you like focus on yourself because that's all that matters and that's the best you can do and especially in

a sport that is subjective like we uh moments that a judge could win like or could yeah yeah they like you better that's right i had susan i wonder if you want to lean in on this because we had we were an ice skating family for a minute yes and uh had we know exactly what you're talking about yeah very similar very similar solo sport and judges and you know the subjective side of it and what like you know it's all like somebody's like opinion essentially like yeah you can say obviously if you fall you fall but like when it comes down at the very top and like this is of every sport every industry everything it's you're all great right and it's like okay it's that little extra something and sometimes you like the difference between first and second place, you know, could be one 10th of a point. And that could be based on literally a judge liking somebody else better or your country or your leotard or something. So it's like, yeah, that's what I think I realized pretty early on in

life. And so, you know, fast forward to the show and Remy telling me that I'm literally like, this is my journey. This is not about anybody else. And I was like, yeah, like I kind of like went back to not remembering that a little bit and just kind of thinking like, but like they did better than me and they didn't get special treatment and like i had all these things like in my head and at the end of the day i also remember the importance of integrity i was raised with that and our stat our directing staff like when we got there the importance of integrity and to me you know special treatment like getting special treatment in that moment was, yeah.

Yeah. We'll, we'll talk more about that, but, but it's, it's, it's so interesting to me that, that every one of us, the, the intensity of the experience was like nothing else. And that we all came away with stuff. We all came away with really important things, no matter how long we stayed, which is sort of extraordinary. And these great relationships on top of that. And that's's that's what i was about to add on to like it doesn't matter how long we stayed like obviously i am not on the show anymore you are not either

and you know not to give any spoilers for you know the rest that's to come but it's like every single one of us like i think one of the greatest things, yes, the experiences and, you know, pushing yourself to the limit and all that. But it's, I think like the thing I was least expecting was to come away with like the

relationships and friendships that we like kind of like all created and not that like I didn't want that or I didn't need that, but I just like, didn't think that it would be like that strong. Yeah, I didn't either. But I would argue, I mean, people can see how spontaneous and friendly and stuff you are just two minutes talking to you. Anybody would see that right away. extent i'm laughing because this is a theory of mine that you're somewhat responsible for it because it we you you broke down the quarantine completely on like day one and that created a group of us and that created a group of us that that everybody else sort of came around after

that so it was you me danny bever, Beverly, Gus, and Hannah. And we all hung out for a week. So we all got to know each other very, very well. So when we got in there, we were already looking out for each other. We were all very supportive of each other. And the other guys just kind of came in around us, it seemed to me. Am I getting that? Yeah, certainly.

I mean, so I knew Danny and Gus for a while. You and I had briefly met, I think, at an event like way back when. And then Hannah, I hadn't met her, but we had done Dancing with the Stars to get like, not together, but like, it's kind of like you're part of a family, essentially. So you think you know each other. Beverly, I had never met, but just is so lovely and like so friendly. You think that you've known her your whole life. So I think like the moment I walked outside that first day when we were at the hotel in quarantine and I saw Danny and this is like typical in Danny fashion.

A backpack that with like weights he stole from the whole hotel gym, his boots on, it is like 100 degrees outside. And like, he's just running back. And I'm like, holy shit. Wait a minute, Nastia. Wait a minute, wait a minute. He was all that plus a sweat hoodie with a parka on and headsets. And I saw that insanity.

And it was 105. I took a picture of the temperature that day on my phone. And I saw that in Sandy running down the beach. I went, well, that's got to be one of us. So that's why I went out to meet him. And so I saw him, but I couldn't tell who it was, obviously, because he's like, you know, like just, yeah, hoodie on, headphones, like whatever. And I'm like, who else is first it was the shoes for

me like dad give away like it was the shoes yeah the boots are giveaway we all have the same boots yeah but then immediately i'm like well first of all before i figure out who this is i haven't even like walked two feet in my boots and so i start panicking because in they sent them to us to break in and I just didn't. And, you know, I'm like, Well, at this point, it's probably too late. So I'm like, Okay, get past that. And then I see you and Beverly. And so then you guys start kind of like, you know, talking I'm like, Okay, this for sure. But I'm still like far enough away. then it was kind of like everyone knew we weren't supposed to be talking or like you know because we were quarantining and like it was top secret and then i was like no no like we're we're all gonna hang like we're all in this together and

so yeah that's what we did and it was it was great that was it so here's here's uh a what happened up on the high wire for you, which was an amazing experience. And you put it on Instagram and compared it again. I can't believe that, that it's even anywhere near what the balance beam was for you. But that's an interesting side by side. To be completely honest, I feel like it was harder than that moment just because, and this is the way that I'm sure for you and and for pretty much everyone else we had no idea what we were like going into we couldn't prepare for it you know it's like right yes there are moments and situations within all of our careers and all of our industries where

like you feel a little unprepared or like you know but you do you did your absolute best to whether it's you know read up on somebody or study or train as hard as you can but like you're not quite prepared oh no this was like you have no idea what you're walking through like you could watch it you could you know think i remember all of us like like sitting there just like scheming being like okay so if we have to do this like like people were literally teaching eaching, being like, okay, so if we have to do this, like people were literally teaching each other breathing methods like while we were sitting on the beach. I'm looking up YouTube like videos

and I'm just like, what are we doing? Like, what are we doing here? That was- And as I recall, you had not, you were the only person I think in the whole group that didn't train, really train for this. You didn't really- Oh, like had not, you were the only person, I think, in the whole group that didn't train, really train for this. You didn't really try to found astonishing. At all.

At all. So my, okay. I had one, I had one workout session. I happened to be in New York during the time of like all of this happening, you know, it was like the calls with production and like contract, like everything. And so we weren't allowed to tell anybody, obviously, but one of my closest dearest friends is also my trainer in New York. And so I told her and she was like, Alright, let's go. I'm

canceling all my other clients like we're going and I was like, No, that's not why I told you. I was like, I'm good. I don't. And I did end up my thought though was, okay, I know that I'm not going to be physically like, where I want to be and like going into this, like I would never go into gymnastics competition as unprepared or as just like weak as I was. That being said, I knew mentally I needed to be in a place where I was able to kind of take on that challenge. And for me, part of that mental state is my body not being like, I didn't want to go into it sore to begin with. And I knew what the, like the lack of time that i had i just needed to like i see so that was my thought process of like and so nastia laid on the beach for the whole week

that we were so i want to interject something so my our friend our good friend heather mcdonald is like a huge reality show like housewives follower. And she called me up and she goes, um, why did you do this? And why did you let him? I would never do this in a million years. And are you, are you, are you kidding me? Did you want him to die? Was that a secret, was that a secret wish of yours? So funny. Like, thanks for being our friend yeah no it's so true though like like after watching it like you would yeah you would think like oh did you just like read your will for the first time and like you realize no i'm just i'm totally kidding but like that's my dad honestly it was scary yeah my dad literally said after watching the first and

like this is months after we filmed it but he was like why like yeah did you not have enough you know like training your whole life like being you know like putting like literally just ever and like nothing was shown. Well, we'll talk about that in a second. Yeah, we'll talk about that. Hold on. We'll talk about that. But I did notice there's like two camps of people out there, people that really, because you cannot describe what this experience is like.

You can't. But people who sort of appreciated that and kind of got into it with us and people who stand back and go, what are doing what's all this about what's happening here and why did you do it and uh it's it's fascinating to me because all of us i don't think anybody regrets have any regrets or feels that we should have yeah we're all like no this is a great experience we all came up with something important and so uh i have a weird thing for me and remy asked me this and uh i kind of have a score to settle he goes would you go back in and i said yeah i i because i'm really so pissed that i went out the way i did and um and you and you probably understand that you know what i mean you understand you want to do your best and not have yeah yeah's funny it just interrupted i got sick i got sick yeah i'm sick

i know and it was like that watching you like i think that hit us all like really hard because you were kind of like our like the foundation and our glue and like we just we all trusted you for some reason no clue why no i'm just kidding but we were just like okay if dr drew is is doing this and if he think like we we kind of felt more at ease for some reason knowing like you were there and like if something truly i i remember thinking in my mind if something is like truly going to kill me or like i am at risk whether it's like physically my health like something like i knew i could look at you and you would like give me like a face or a glare or like something to kind of like yeah you know like and so it was like a feeling like we didn't have our you know for me like you don't have your

parents you don't have your coaches you don't have your significant others like you don't have any of that and so i think you were that person at least for me and i know a lot of other people and so the second you went it was just like oh my gosh like wait first of all like no that's my lifeline but also wait i know that he like you were like you did not want that you know at all and so it was no i was i was into it i i was i had a good i had a great day i had a great day all day and then all of a sudden sick of like out of the blue but but i think some of the reason i was i was an anchor for some people was piazza and scaramucci said oh we're glad you're here you're older than us i'm so glad

you're here and that was their that was their reason that that i that they were felt better but but um i i want to get back to the the um your feelings about getting so-called special treatment. I think I would have been of help to the group there because first of all, why do they give a shit? If you're taking an hour to do an exercise, that's more time for them to rest and take water. It was not an hour. Well, let's say it was,

I would have, I would have said, let's, let's take advantage of this for Christ's sake. Well, it's just, that's a period of time. They of time they're not abusing us. So fine, take as much time as she wants.

Literally, thank you. That was literally exactly what I was thinking. I'm like, we are sitting in the shade. Like, we have a little cover thing. We're sitting in the shade. Shade, that's a big deal. Shade was a big deal. Water, big deal.

Yeah, all big deals deals and you're looking into the ocean like just had to pee though for 10 years exactly gus could have peed right there if he wanted to there's no problem with that honestly we were soaking wet like from getting in the ocean like i guarantee i said why didn't he go in the water when he was in there? That's right. He could have peed in the water. So anyway, I thought that was – and you took it so personally. It really bothered me. I just thought, oh, man.

And I understand where the perfectionism and the team stuff, and I get where all that comes from, but it really troubled me that you did that to yourself. So I think that yes, like the integrity aspect, as I mentioned, like being raised with, you know, the importance of integrity or not even, not even just that, but to take it a level like further, basically, like I never wanted to win the Olympics or win any competition, just because like somebody else fell or somebody else messed up and had a bad day. You know, I always wanted everybody to essentially have the best day of their entire life. And like, when you know,

at the end of the day, when the results are named, like whoever's actually best comes out on top so that was like one aspect this though was really hard for me to grasp and understand because it wasn't a competition and i think like that was to be completely honest like one of the biggest reasons that i did sign up to do this because my whole life has been a competition you know know, it was like from the start of gosh, I think I was five years old and my first competition all the way through you know, my mid 20s and then even like other teeth like dancing with the stars like every single thing I've done has always been a competition. And so I thought wow, like, for the

first time like this will actually be amazing to do something for yourself to be on this journey for like strictly like for yourself and not anybody else. Like, you can't get kicked off, you can't get eliminated, like it's literally in your own hands. And so I think like, what nobody not even like the audience, but even our fellow recruits like they also didn't see when i went to you know each of like the directing staff to when it was my turn when i was like called on deck basically i was trying to leave like i was not trying to be convinced i was not trying to be convinced. I was not trying to stay. I was not trying to get help

or special treatment. I was like, out of full respect. Thank you so much. But I was like, I physically can't do this as my limit. Thank you. I'm out. I was trying to hand off my armband multiple times. And they all just were trying to convince me. And so that was what took so long because they were trying to convince me. And I was like, Nope, Nope. I I'm like stubborn, like as stubborn as it comes. And so Remy finally was like, listen, like, what if I get in the car with you? And I was like, think like, again, respect. I appreciate it, but that's not going to help me. Like, it's not like, I'm not afraid of water. I'm not afraid of like, this, I just like knew that I couldn't, you know, breathe or

hold my breath for that long. The interesting part obviously, of production is the stopwatch on the TV when they played it like I was not down there for 20 seconds. I remember Remy putting I think it was less than 10 seconds something on his Apple Watch. And he said as soon as it gets you know down to whatever from like 10 seconds, soon as times up like that's when you can go. Oh, I as soon as the car was submerged, I was out. So I think for me, like I didn't, yes, I, I did, I did go down in the car. Yes. He was with me, whatever. But like, I still didn't complete the task like everybody else.

Yeah. And I got special treat. Like there were so many things that just didn't feel right to me and then when i got back to like our the little tent that we were all sitting at and not a single person would look at me or say anything to me that's when i was like got it like i don't want to like this journey is hard enough i don't want to be here now as somebody that like no one wants to talk to no one wants to look at her people are annoyed with be terrible and then yeah Mel was just like

but you did like she was like super encouraging and I was just like yeah but I I didn't really like I I didn't really quite do it like everybody else but I just kind of like, checked out then because I knew this was now not the experience that I wanted to have this. These were now these relationships all of a sudden, like this, this wasn't it. And it makes it like, in the moment made me sad. But I also kind of knew like, I get it full respect, like integrity is important important and it is to me too and i felt like that was kind of at stake and that was being tested yeah i i totally get it and i i'm sorry that you're like you said it made you sad i saw my piazza tried to convince you susan wasn't overwhelmed with mike's persuasion yeah everybody tried to convince that walked away more than that like the hollywood side of it is always like it's in the back of your head it's

like how much is this hollywood how much is this real you want to like you stuck to your guns and said i'm i'm ready to go i don't and they wanted to keep women on obviously because they didn't want all the women to be gone in the first but it makes much more sense when she describes it this way you seal the call you really see what was going on in her that's why i want to do an unseen moments with this show because there's so much stuff like this we have we have many more things like this to talk about as we go on here um but it is it is you said something you know a few minutes ago you said uh You said, we weren't even talking about integrity. We were talking about, well, the integrity was in the mix. But in your competing career, you said, you fall, you fall.

If you fall, you fall, right? And in a way, that's kind of what happened to you. And it made me think, wow, you had one of the epic falls in gymnastics and, and people appreciated it. People liked that you'd had that happen to you because it made them, it made it that if you fall, you fall sort of axiom sort of come home for everybody. Yeah. And I mean, that was the end of literally that moment was the end of my career. And, uh, you know, in the moment, so I was trying to make my second Olympic team. And in the moment, I remember being so embarrassed, like my whole life and not because anybody ever taught me this. But for some reason, in my mind, I instilled to myself that, you know,

like people are only going to love you or support you or cheer you on if you're the best, if you win first place, if you have a good competition, if you're perfect. Yeah, literally, if you're perfect. And so the moment that I had there at the Olympic trials, now as the reigning Olympic all-around champion where you really should be perfect, was, you know, I literally fell flat on my face. And I remember laying there on that mat thinking like, Oh my God, like, I'm so mortified. I'm so embarrassed. I, you know, have disappointed. What I thought was like millions of people, people expected more. And then I remember like my dad, like the dad instinct came out and he was not my coach in that moment. And he was like, you can be done. Like, let's just, it's all good. And I was like, no, no, no, no.

Like you literally taught me ever since day one, that no matter what you do, you always have to finish what you've started. And so for me in that moment, I was like, this routine doesn't matter anymore. I am not making my second Olympic team, but I want it to end on my own terms. And so I got up, I finished my routine, landed on my feet, and for the very first time in my entire life and career, I had a standing ovation for the worst routine of my entire life and career.

I didn't know that part. That's fascinating. And so that moment, to me, when that happened, I started looking around the arena thinking like, who else just went and had an amazing routine and is you know, well on their way to making that only not a single person was going I was dead last like on that event. And I remember thinking like, but why people

shouldn't even be clapping or cheering for me. And then it took me some time to realize, but that was the moment that kind of made me realize like, we're never going to be defined by our accomplishments. We're never going to be defined by a gold medal, a placement, a job title, a salary, a relationship, like any of those, like those things and moments don't define who we are as humans. But up until then, I, I thought and lived as if they did. And so seeing like 20,000 people stand to their feet for the worst routine of my entire career. Like, I kid you not that I fell flat on my face like you guys can you caleb could show it it's it's an epic goal like my boyfriend before we met and started dating he

didn't realize that was me he used to like send the meme gif jif thingy like oh yeah oh my god and so like later on in our relationship and I told him and he was like, Oh my God, that's you. And I was like, Oh, Caleb, you're a player.

You just saw it. I can tell Caleb just saw it. No, I was reacting to the story about the boyfriend doing that. Wow. What a, what a move. He's in trouble now.

Jeez. But Drew, sorry, I can't actually, I can't play the video, but what I'll do is I'll, I'll find it and I'll embed it on the website after the show's over. Cause I can't. There's a great still that I'm just like flat Superman, like on my face, like on the mat. Yeah.

It was, um, quite a moment, but I think it also, it, that moment to me became the defining moment of my entire life and career because when i won the olympics nobody was standing on their feet like everybody was just like okay great congratulations that's great but like being the best is not relatable being the best is not what like someone wants to be part of i'm gonna push you push back a little bit and say that nobody imagines they could ever do what you do and so it's not as impressive to them but to live with integrity and spirit and not giving up all these things that we could all do that we should you become a model for that and it's inspiring and i think that's really what we're talking about here right yeah and i think it was on yeah exactly and i think like you're right like nobody can relate wow the

golden hour right now is just like really going well with my story we're're going to take a break in a second. You can put some shades up if you want. We'll take a little break. Or at least turn your ring light off. It was about everyone's going to have a moment where they fall on their face. Literally like I did figuratively. And it's about picking yourself up.

And how do I pick myself up? And how do I keep going? That's right. 1000%. 1000%. And that's where the inspiration, the integrity and all these kinds of these things come rushing in. All right. So here's the deal.

We're going to take a little break. We are going to then take some phone calls and then we're going to talk about some more unseen moments. And I want to talk a little bit about your maternal language, too. I think that's fascinating. I think you know that kind of fascinated me when we were talking about it in the desert or at the beach, wherever we were. All right. We'll be right back with Nastia Lukin after this. GenuCell has so many products that Susan and I love.

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and she goes, you guys wouldn't even know each other for this show, and yet we've become these really close friends. And Nastia was very nice, too, because she said, oh, I made these great friendships with all of you. And then she looked over at me and she said, and you're you're my friend now too, Susan. I felt so good inside. But, but what I noticed is that you guys are bonded like a band of brothers. It's like really strange to see. The women are different together than the men. I'm going to say that as well because I've've i've met in a group of each each one separately but the even though drew was only there for like 12 hours or whatever or maybe you guys knew each other during the quarantine it doesn't matter yeah he it's weird that he was he was changed forever and he's not he's he's a better person for it because he realizes he's a perfectionist too, like you are.

And he realizes that, you know, you can only do so much. And he's, he, he felt like a failure, but he never fails at anything, you know,

but he also learned that he has you guys still to keep, you know, this moment in life, I guess. I don't know how to explain it, but it's hard. It's hard to put words. He doesn't do WhatsApp with 12 people at the same time. He's not a WhatsApp group texter. Like you guys have been

like little girls. Like both of those things. I hate WhatsApp and I hate group texts. And the fact that like, we're, we're, we're all in it. Um, actually the WhatsApp to blame is because of Mel. I'm going to, I'm going to call her out there, but yeah. But, um, you know, like you, Susan, like you said, the best way that I can kind of put it into perspective, at least for me, cause I've thought so much about it. And like this group is, I am the only child. So, you know, I don't have brothers and sisters. My boyfriend is one of six.

So he has like, you know, brothers and sisters have brothers and sisters. My boyfriend is one of six. So he has like, you know, brothers and sisters and nieces and nephews like for days. So with me, I think the closest to like that feeling that I have felt besides this cast of our fellow recruits was my Olympic team. Having this bond, like I've never been able to relate it to anything else except for the five other girls that were on my Olympic team, because you go through something that you will remember for the rest of your life. You, you know, for so many including myself um it was a once in a lifetime opportunity experience and and nobody can fully understand all of it unless you are like there unless you are part of it and that bond that we have now like i I say this every single time I talk about my teammates,

like if one of them called me right now in the middle of this, my Olympic teammates or honestly, like fellow recruits, and they said, like, I need help. I need you. I need something. I would, you know, apologize and say, I'm so sorry, Dr. Drew. Like, I have to go. And there's not many people in the world that you will do that for. It's true.

And if you notice, Jamie Lynn said the same thing. Do you notice that at that little thing we did as promotion? She said she really doesn't have friends because of all the stuff in her life. And, and this is her friend. She feels like really connected to all of us, which is amazing. I've got some calls for you ilana go ahead here hi nastia um this is like ridiculously exciting for me so uh let me just stand stand girl for a second um but i wanted to let you know i was at that san jose meet in 2012

when you fell and i want you to know that i don't know if you realize that we were all, you know, part of this 20,000 or whatever it was, that we were all like so proud of you that you were doing this four years after winning the all around gold that it didn't really matter. I mean, the fact that you were there out there again, um, was so exciting that you were there, out there again, was so exciting that you got back, you know, four years after taking time off to doing that. And even though you fell, we all just wanted to cheer you on and tell you that we love you

and we are super proud of you. So in case you didn't know that, wanted to know that you are aware of that. But anyway, my question to you was you're very welcome. But just know that. It's such a big deal. That's why I'm

fangirling now. Apologize for that. But how did you think that gymnastics helped you with special forces? First of all, again, thank you times like a million. That was very, very special and sweet. And thank you for sharing.

Hang on a second, Nastia. I'm going to interrupt. Ilana is a friend and she is responsible for this bobblehead. Maybe we make a Nastia bobblehead too, Ilana is a friend and she is responsible for this bobblehead maybe we make a Nastia bobblehead too Ilana I want a Dr. Drew for one of the shelves here

in my studio oh my god that's too funny we'll send you one if you get me her address I'll send her one. How about making Nastia a bobblehead? That's what I'm more interested in.

What about that? I am all for doing that. If Nastia would like to do that, I'm quite happy to discuss with her off air. All right, Nastia. So you can tell Susan if you're interested in that. I think it would be fantastic. But anyway, so go ahead, Nastia. I'm sorry I interrupted you.

No, I'm glad you did because that was a very important story I needed to know. And I'm like, clearly I have plenty of little spaces still open and on the shelves for Dr. Um, so I think for me, I think it was the mental strength, the mental toughness, honestly. Um, I think what really like, and I touched on it earlier, but it was what didn't help me for sure was the lack, like not being prepared and not feeling prepared, not feeling ready. And, and like that caused anxiety for me because again, I just kept thinking like, you would never go into any gymnastics competition little like the Olympics, like Olympic trials, whatever it is, as unprepared as you are in this moment, but there was, I guess I could have certainly done more physical

activity and gotten stronger. But it also came about like so quickly, the whole show itself but then i think it was just the lack of like you know my dad always instilled in me like integrity is like that whole thing but also the importance of getting enough sleep the importance of like proper nutrition the importance of recovery and rest and, and, you know, all those things where like, we did not have any of that. It was, you prop your little feet up on your backpack. If you have two minutes, then like you get your two minutes of, you know, blood flow and rest and recovery and the nutrition aspect. I thought, you know, I was feeding my dog what I was eating most of the days.

And I understand, I understand the like, logic and all of that. But I think that part was hard for me. The part that helped me, I think was just like, locking it in. And also, you know, I've, I've had a coach my entire life, I've gone to training camps, I've gone to competitions where we have a head coach. And so for me, that was the directing staff, when you are lined up, you better book it to, you know, the parade square or to line up, you better, you know, look them in the eye and show respect and all that. And it's really funny because I think Dwight really struggled with that a little bit. Um, and yeah, we all, we all struggled therefore, because you know, when one person gets punished or in trouble,

we all do. And I think that was also something that was different for me with gymnastics being such an individual sport, you know, the team aspect to it was something I had to adjust. Yeah. Do you know, Danny said the same thing about coaching that you just said that he was, it was, it felt familiar to him. You know, maybe you don't know a part of my story. One of the reasons I got in such trouble with the fluids, they kept threatening to punish the group. If anybody didn't have their water topped off. My water was never topped off. And so whenever they'd ask me, I go, I'm fine. I'm full, full tank. That's it. I'm done. I didn't want them punishing everybody. And that's kind of, it's again, that's another sort of, it's strategic. You have to figure out how to manage that in such a way that you don't hurt yourself and you don't get your group punished.

Of course. And it's like that, you know, again, not being selfish by any means, but it's also like, have you, you know, I'm sure like, like Remy, like if you would go back into this, knowing what you know now, you would make sure to have your water, like you would do it completely different. I guarantee. would make sure to have your water like you would oh yeah oh yeah do it completely different i i guarantee and so you know lessons learned and you know there's so many amazing again i think we learned so much but i i have been not speaking on behalf of anybody else but i think the greatest thing that for me came out of this was truly you know 15 other brothers and sisters for the rest of my life yeah we all say

the same thing yeah we literally all say the same thing i'm gonna get some more people up here see if they have questions for you this is somebody that goes as perceptually enhanced uh there you you have to unmute yourself lower left hand corner therehand corner there like Caleb's animation showed us. There you are. There we are. There you are. Perfect. Hey.

Yeah. Yeah. My name is Tom. Thanks for taking my call. Dobry dzień, Nastia. Yes. This is absolutely what I wanted to get into next. So let's go have at it a little bit in Russian.

Yeah. Great segue. I'm actually i'm polish and so polish and russian kind of similar we have some similar words you know we say uh when we cheers similar in russian um and certainly so fantastic yeah thanks for taking my call um i was just talking about the show this weekend with a seal buddy of mine who's good friends with Remy. But I was kind of curious about some of your training earlier in life, I guess getting ready for the Olympics.

Were you involved or did you participate in any kind of blindfolded training? Dr. Drew, in the Ask Dr. Drew, I sent you a quick message with a couple screenshots from a paper. The paper says the following. This is just the title, and then we can get into it in a second. You can let me know what you think. Visual Sensory Deprivation, an Innovative Training Method for Proprioceptive-Specific Strength Enhancement. It makes sense, I guess. Well, let's see what nastia says

yeah yeah go ahead you know i think not to make light of it at all but like four inches the balance beam is only four inches wide so um being blindfolded would be extremely difficult i guess and um dangerous but i yeah i can't say I have any experience. Can you think of any deficiency from a coaching standpoint, Nastia, where that might be an intervention? You know, coaches always have odd, you know, interesting ways of, that maybe somebody's, I don't know. Communication would be an immediate one, Dr. Drew. Communication?

Yeah, there was a paper published a few years ago where they looked at blindfolding residents in the hospital. And they had a bunch of residents on the pediatric code team, and they blindfolded the leader. And they found that the commands that the leader gave were much clearer for the team. The communication between the team members and the leader of the team was greatly improved through removing vision. You know, in the message that I sent you, you know, one of the shots there is, you know, looks at the sequence elements that are involved in proprioception. And so, you know, balance, you've got input from three different sensory systems yeah vestibular somatosensory and visual those that's it you know so when you when you take away the vision you're forcing your other systems no i get it i get it i get what you're doing i i just i and it's a

fascinating idea i just i'm not sure that it's worth the risk of injury or where you would use that kind of thing. Because the reality is you are using your vision. It's like when you take a piano player and blindfold them. Well, maybe for specific goals in mind or something, but I don't know. I'm not sure it's worth the risk. And you're saying you don't think it would have helped you. And, you know, by the way, we were blindfolded in the desert a good deal of the time at the beginning and i don't know that did much for us yeah and uh again can only speak on behalf of like my own experiences i am such a visual learner

like i like whether it was gymnastics like dancing with the stars i remember my partner who was derrick huff it was incredible but he would with the Stars, I remember my partner, who was Derek Hough, it was incredible. But he would literally there were times where he would be like, dude, this is and I was like, like, that's what the word sounded like to me. And I was like, Can you show me once and then I literally will repeat it. And I think it was very similar. me, at least in gymnastics. We had huge monitors, TVs basically throughout the gym. And if your coach tells you a correction or mistake, there are times and moments where you don't quite feel like, not like you don't feel like you're doing that mistake or correction, but you don't feel like you're doing that mistake or correction, but you,

you don't understand. Or when you see yourself doing it, then you're like, okay, I now know how to fix it. So that's what I mean, I guess, by like a visual kind of learner. So for me, yeah, fully understand, fully respect. But yeah, I, I was kind of the opposite, I guess. Yeah. I I'm kind of that that way i have lots of weird visual and auditory learning things that are i think kind of i get and everyone has their own stuff i was remiss by the way i have not i've not mentioned the show is wednesdays at nine o'clock on fox fox network um now let's go back to your it's your russian is your maternal language right so it's so interesting because i always like struggle with like so i was born there we moved um both my parents um you know grew up there we moved when i was about two and a half

so because two and a half the age two and a half was so and maybe you guys can tell me as parents, but like, I don't remember how much of a vocabulary I mean, I guess Yeah, you're speaking. But because we moved to the United States so early on, I, you know, quickly adapt, like, English is much, much easier for me, I would now consider it you know my like go-to i have to sum if i'm speaking russian to my grandparents or or whatever there are certain words that i have like i have to pause and think what is that word or i never know i get it i get it basically in russia but i'm guessing i'm. But I'm guessing your parents continued to speak it in the home, and so you probably understand it a lot better than you can produce it.

A hundred percent. Yeah, and that's kind of the way languages are unless you're immersed in it, unless you have to speak it. That's kind of the way it works. And you were sort of, two and a half, you definitely, probably your accent is good and and you were sort of yeah two and a half you you definitely kept you'd probably your accent is good and probably your sort of um ease with the basics is you know sort of locked in and then then that's it but back to stories you told me a crazy story about waitresses talking shit about you at a at a restaurant in russian or something remember the story yeah so it cracked me up so we were for the sochi olympics i was there with mbc and i just was i was filming this segment and you know our pretty like

we were all just nobody else spoke russian and it was kind of just my like side note like, oh, by the way, I actually can, you know, speak, I think everybody was used to people not speaking, you know, any Russian basically, while you know, people were there for the Olympics. And so yeah, we were ordering and I, I really like to blend in, like no matter where i am not just like in different countries or whatever i i don't like to you know cause a scene i don't clearly as you can tell in the show i'm like i'm out i don't want special treatment but i think so i just was like okay there's a group of us it you know it'd be just just do what everybody else is doing, kind of. And I should have just

done the opposite from the beginning, because they basically got pretty annoyed with us not being able to speak Russian or like the group, basically. And yeah, they just like started talking about us and our entire group. And I was like i i didn't say anything back to what they were saying i just like made sure the next time that they came over to the table to speak russian and they were like oh okay got it oh yeah it's so funny it does like it one of my best friends growing up my um my dad's business partner who uh he was is a coach at like my second dad essentially uh he has a daughter as well and we would just like you know we both grew up like she's a year older than me and so we would always speak english

because it was like more of the cool thing to do because when you speak a different language different culture when you're young not cool um i appreciate it but then it was like you know but then all of a sudden we just randomly start talking russian to just annoy like this is what you do when you're like you know a child and literally doing like childish things but we thought it was like the funniest craziest thing that no one could understand us and here we are just like talking not even about anybody just like talking about like what we want to eat or like something stupid you know yeah but you know what i everybody can appreciate kind of the little thrill of having a secret language with a good friend you know and if you're young you're a young kid yeah you're a young kid and of course you're

gonna do stuff like that it's like it's like it's like a magic power it's kind of it's kind of kind of maybe that's why i'm fascinated by it for you but but just to flesh out that story what were the waitresses saying you didn't tell me in the desert now now you're going to tell me what they actually were saying well to be honest i think it was i don't remember fully the story but i know that they were annoyed with like us you know the americans basically not speaking russian and not understanding or not doing something not right but essentially you know to it was a lot i mean no matter what country you're in like it's a lot to come in, no matter what country you're in, like, it's a lot to come into, like, basically a country where you don't speak the language on both parts. And so yeah, I,

I remember that being like, Oh, do I do I like, say something now? Like, then what do you say? Like, I'm gonna stop you right there before you really shit talk on us, because I actually understand everything you're saying right now or do i pretend like this whole time i don't know and then i was like oh god this is my perfectionism in my head of like what's the right thing to do there there's not a right thing to you just like i think you play i think you played it pretty good you played it pretty well like that's pretty maximum humor too which is good yeah and so but let's let's go back to the show in the remaining time and talk a bit more about the the sort of unseen stuff that you wanted to bring forward for people you mentioned uh before the cameras heated up that the the order was a little kind of weird and it's made it look like you and mel left like five minutes apart and there were sort

of elements like that. There's so much happening those first few days. I mean, constantly stuff going on that you just didn't see. The fact to like, I think the one, the first thing right off the bat, that little,

that little run that we did right when we got there was not a little run. I hate running. I hate running. Like, and I was like, Of course, like this is literally what we have to do first. And not to mention not only was it just a run, we were doing bear crawls and push ups and squats and holding squats and keeping up with people and getting yelled at not to be lost. And I remember thinking like, Oh my god, this yelled at not to be last. And I remember thinking like, oh my God,

this is literally going to last hours. And it looked like in the episode, we did like a little, a hop, skip and a jump away, whatever. And it was like, we were there. And I'm like, like literally I remember watching being so like, no, no, no, no. Can everyone just pause and be proud of me for a second? Because I ran at least two miles plus did stuff in between

and we were dying. So anyways, that was like the first. We were dying, yeah. Yeah, and there was a lot of stuff like that that when you just saw a few seconds of it and it went on a lot longer. I was getting like completely like butt naked, changing in front of each other

like right from the beginning like that was a lot that was craziness yeah so so that that that moment i feel like that whole experience in the parade area is what stripped us literally we were stripped down people literally you look like we were just sort of changing clothes no no we were stripped down. Literally, you look like we were just sort of changing clothes. No, no, we were stripped. We were then yelled at, then we were instructed to do more things. And then we were back in the water and then we're in the sand, they were back in the water. And, uh, and, and people, if you remember the part, the part that kind of bothered me that they didn't show was when we all jumped in the water, we were in there a couple of times people were jumping on top of each other and that that like really concerned me right and then people

couldn't get out there was a number of people that couldn't get out so i remember of course me being like competitive and like you know again like you have to be like the first to everything whether it's lunch or a meal whatever so like So like, in my mind, that instinct, like immediately took over, which I thought was really interesting, because I have not been in a situation like that, and well over 10 years. And so it just it just like a flip switch. And I like just like was like, you have to, like, go first or else like you're gonna get in trouble and so i

jumped right away and all of a sudden like people were jumping on top of me and i'm like yes again if you know like none of this was shown but it's like i can't hold my breath very well and so right i was i start panicking as i feel weight and i just keep getting like pushed under and you don't realize how deep that tank is. I forget. I didn't know what the, I never got to the bottom. I don't think I ever got to the bottom. It's at least eight feet deep, maybe 10 feet deep. I think I heard it was between 10 and 12. I might be wrong, but that makes sense. Yeah. So that was already. And the other part is it was not a pool it was like a sack and so you couldn't get traction on the plastic on the side and the lip was about three and a half

feet and luckily for me the only thing i think that helped me was like the flexibility i literally just swung my leg over the side like like i was like in a full like scale like kind of thing yeah and just somehow like push myself up like and also by the way we have our boots on which you don't i don't know if any of any of the listeners and viewers today but like when those boots are wet that it feels like you have ankle, like try doing anything with like five, 10 ankle pound weights on. So yeah, it was. Yep. And other clothes too. Yeah. And in something that I know what I did is, you know, I grabbed the tube. If you grab the lip of the tube, you can throw yourself up or you can just secure yourself there.

And I was always mystified when other people didn't do that because i would just i just grabbed the tube and held on for a minute then i tried to help other people as i got out i know well that well and i think that was the thing too right from the beginning you none of us really knew for me i remember thinking like you you brought up you just brought up like this memory in my mind because you said like, then you would help other people. And it's like, immediately in my mind, I'm like, okay, do I help? Like people are struggling. I don't want to leave them behind, but am I going to get in trouble for not just like worrying about myself and getting to that?

Cause it's like, that was day one. We didn't know what to do and so then you're like okay do i just say like screw it like like who cares if i get in trouble i need to help my already teammates and friends but then it was it was like us then they were screaming like hurry up and get there and i'm just like yeah it was a lot yeah no no uh i don't think anybody had any um resentments or notes for anybody because we were all just trying to figure it out and then they started yelling us to help people other people out so i was like okay but even then if you didn't do it fast enough they'd start yelling at you so it was it was very weird weird yeah well then that's sort of what they were going for but what did we know it then i do you remember at lunch on day one when Kate looked up and went, guys, look at us, they've, they've changed us already. Do you remember her saying that? Yeah. It was a moment for me when

she said that. Cause I was just like, wow, she's right. We're four hours in and we are like changed already. It's so interesting because I think the moments i was gonna say cafeteria but like it wasn't even that it was like you know that a little tent where we ate basically but the moments in there for some reason i think we all felt a little bit more like at ease and at peace because we thought that they couldn't like we were all like we have to at least eat something and so we kind of thought like we at least have five or ten minutes where we while we were like in our actual tent with like our cots and everything we could have gotten called at any moment when we were eating it was like our sacred moment of okay we're we at least have a few moments so i think everyone just like everyone's blood

pressure kind of went down for a second and we actually yeah there were some really like like interesting moments in there where everyone just kind of like paused and took a breath yeah yeah and some of the stuff we saw with you and Mel was in there, wasn't it? Yeah. Yeah. And even, um, I believe Jamie, maybe Jamie and Mel and also you were all, so everyone was a team leader or not everybody, but like you were assigned a team leader. Um, Jamie Lynn was day one, like, and she set the bar like so high for everyone, not knowing what we were even like, what is that role? What? And she did like such a good job. I remember talking to Mel and Mel was like, I've been watching her like, like, I am just like, not like shocked, but like, I can't like like make sure you're writing this down make sure you're writing down what Jamie Lynn is doing because we're all going to be leaders one one of these

days and Mel was the team leader I think the next day and she like Jamie Lynn made sure everyone ate everyone like every it was like a very um like obviously like as as a mom too like and and that was one of the things that her and i talked about she was like i feel like such a bad mom right now because i'm not home with my kids and i was like no no try to flip it and think like your kids are gonna watch you do like insanely incredible things and in that at the same time like seeing her treat all of us like i was like okay i've never seen you around your kids yet but i can already tell how incredible you are because of like yeah you're in a situation that's miserable and you're still being incredible to us yeah and she she i want a t-shirt says jamie lynn spears saved my life because

this stuff towards the toward no i'm not kidding because towards the end i don't you're not yeah i was getting i was i had no idea either i was so i was trying to hide it from everybody i was getting confused i was like i was out of it i saw that i saw you really trying to like because obviously we all like, are you okay? Are you, you know, and it's like at a certain point, you don't know what's, you know, you never want to be like the annoying one that's kind of like asking a million times and you're like, I'm fine or whatever. Clearly you actually were not fine. But like in that moment, nobody knows, you know, what the right thing to do is. And I think knowing that like Jamie Lynn obviously just took control and like, thank,

thank God she did because she probably saved your life. I don't know. I could have, I could have just passed out right there in the bed and you guys would have thought I was asleep or something. It could have easily happened. And so, and I didn't know I was, I was so out of it, but anyway, so enough about me. Um, we're on our closing moments here. Uh, it's interesting to me how when any of us talk about our experiences, we get, we get sort of PTSD spot on the exact same thing. Yeah. It happens to every one of us as we talk about it and and i think i and i kind of like it i like that we that it's intense for us because that helps sort of communicate how you know how much this meant to us and how extraordinary and how extraordinary lucky to have these experiences that that were you know challenging

and life-changing and so let me ask you just the last sort of last few minutes um the helicopter any thoughts about diving out of the helicopter was that a good experience intense experience were you freaking out about that at all or so these are the moments that I wish like were show or like at least if they're not on TV I wish we could have like a highlight reel of like like individually because i remember i think i'm like again i wish i would have been able to have a piece of like you know a journal or something because i don't remember exactly i think it was billy but when i first first of all the run to just get to the first stop of the helicopter that was like i i got lost i

ended up down in the wash i went down into the wash and got lost. So yeah, it was a bit, it was 110 degrees. Yeah. Yeah. And I'm like, which way do I go? And they're like, just go. And I'm like, okay. And, um, yeah, I remember getting there and I remember like just standing there, like

at attention, like not speaking, not trying to like, you know, do anything. And I, I believe it was Billy, I don't quite remember. But one of the directing staff said, like, are you ready? And I was like, Yes, staff. And they said, Well, you know, like without saying it, but they said, like, without mentioning, basically, I was, they knew I was a gymnast, but they were like, you should be good at this flipping aspect, right? And I somehow like, I was like, I was like, Yes, stuff. they knew i was a gymnast but they were like you should be good at this flipping aspect right and i somehow like i was like i was like yes staff but i'm used to landing on my feet and like

and he because that's the first thing you do like you learn as an as a gymnast no matter what like curl up in a ball like pike down down, do whatever it is, but like land on your feet, do not land on your head. And so for 20 plus years of my life, my muscle memory was just pipe laying on your feet. And so I was like, Oh my God, I'm going to fail the first task. I am not afraid of heights. I am not afraid to flip. I'm not afraid of water, but like, I'm afraid my muscle memory is going to take over right now. And I'm just going to like, you know, try to land on my feet. So he, he like tries so hard not to laugh because it's like, you know, it's our first task. You're trying to be serious. And he's like, and then he looks back at me and he goes, but I'm sure you managed to land on your head at least once or twice. Right. And I was like, so you can do or twice. Right. And I was like, Oh my God, so you can do it again. Right. And I was like, yes, staff, I'm ready. And that was it.

Oh, it's so funny. Your jump was good too. I remember it. And, and it, the hardest part for me was not the jump, but the getting, I, we, the taller folks like me had to go down to the second rung on the thing. And that was really hard because you're still, you're flying over the red sea, you know, Israel, one side and Saudi Arabia on the other. And you're trying to be Tom cruise and mission impossible. And then by the time I got down there, I thought, well, now I can handle it. Yeah, I know. So the other thing was like, none of the, um, none of the harnesses fit everything was too big first of all problems i know but it was really scary for me because we didn't know what was ahead and so i

remember being like i'm afraid and our safety girl was amazing but she was like i'm gonna put you can have a life jacket if you want i was like no no i can swim and she was like i know but because we don't have a smaller harness and i was like okay oh did you wear a life jacket i did for the helicopter one because i didn't know what we were doing no one had gone yet so tell me no idea one of the things one of the things i wonder was did the life jacket make things more restrictive and difficult like for you know for like montel and kate who really didn't swim and they and it seemed to i don't know it seemed to get in their way a little bit did it get in your way

not on the like actual flip part i think because i was so comfortable like going backwards it was like it was the like up until like no one could fully tell me what the harness was for and I think that's why I was panicking because I was like if I'm gonna be dangling by the harness like yeah I like yes I want a life jacket just in case like I can swim but yeah no the light but honestly it was it was a lot hard because when they kept saying like when you had to swim to like the shore essentially that it was like pulling me back yeah it was keeping me afloat but it was pulling me back like i have no idea but yeah i was um i didn't i had no idea like we don't know anything so it was like the harness is too big sure i will take a life jacket right this is the this is the key

thing that i that people have to get is that we we were always off balance we never knew it was coming even as simple as run to the helicopter they wouldn't tell us where to go or how to get they just go and you figure it out and you're always off balance and so all that conversation was in the helicopter with billy no it was right before like the helicopters like flying into land so like you know the wind is picking up and i'm like yeah i'm using my head yeah that's the other guy right that's that was uh foxy that that was on the ground so billy was in the helicopter when he got in there i think they kind of like switched back and forth but yeah they were all okay yeah it was it was amazing well hopefully we'll get to

do some sort of reunion something with those guys and get to see them again but nastia i i appreciate you coming on so much it's so fun to talk to you as always and uh i know i there was a lot of excitement from people in our world that you were going to come in here i got emails and uh everyone wanted to hear what you have to say and and it's and it's it's i'm so glad you had a chance to talk about what happened with the uh car submersion because i knew there was a lot of information missing there and i and i and it upset me because i didn't understand i didn't you're now to be clear everyone's good with everybody and so no one harbors any resentments or anything on any on any any part, but it hurt me to see the people kind of shining you a little bit than what you did yourself. And I was like, eh, that something's

wrong. Something's missing. So it makes more sense when you tell the whole story. Yeah. And thank you for giving me, you know, the opportunity to do so. So we're, we're all family. And I think as I mentioned, the greatest thing that came out of the show was all of us, you know, coming into each other's lives. I agree, my friend, nastialucan.com is where you go and i will no doubt see you very soon thank you dr drew thanks nastia and for the rest of you as i said uh we've got probably calls coming tomorrow we'll talk there was a lot of on the restream a lot of chatter about uh what's going on with the Twitter files and the vaccines and whatnot. I also know that there's going to be a Pfizer executive on one of the Twitter spaces soon to defend some of the decisions, and I'm fascinated to get that.

And then, as you see, Hatfield on Wednesday with Kelly Victory. And we appreciate Nastia coming in here, and we appreciate you all for stopping by. Special Forces is 9 o'clock on Fox, whatever that number is in your particular area fox network and i guess it's probably eight o'clock central i'm guessing but um it says eight seven central uh eight that was i think the original i think that was the first episode i think the subsequent ones are nine eight central uh oh pretty sure okay well i'll update I'll update that if they changed it. Yeah. Check your listings if I'm wrong.

All right, everybody. We'll see you tomorrow at 3 o'clock. Ask Dr. Drew is produced by Caleb Nation and Susan Pinsky. As a reminder, the discussions here are not a substitute for medical care, diagnosis, or treatment. This show is intended for educational and informational purposes only. I am a licensed physician, but I am not a replacement for your personal doctor, and I am not practicing medicine here. Always remember that our understanding of medicine and science is constantly evolving.

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