Couple Things with Shawn and Andrew - 330 | special forces is BACK… and we have thoughts

Episode Date: September 24, 2026

we’re back in the world of special forces… thankfully from our couch this time 😂 every week, we’re breaking down the newest episode of special forces from the perspective of two people who have actually been through it. we’re talking about the moments that made us cringe, behind-the-scenes insight to each show, what’s even harder than it looks on tv, what brought back some VERY specific memories, and all the things we noticed that you might not catch unless you’ve been there. plus, we’ll be making our predictions for what happens next so if you’re watching along this season, come debrief with us every week 👀 → Get 50% off and free shipping on your first box PLUS free dessert for life with Home Chef! Head to HomeChef.com/EASTFAM (https://www.homechef.com/EASTFAM). → Find egglife wraps chillin’ in the fridge at Aldi, Whole Foods, Kroger, Target, Walmart & more! Visit egglifefoods.com (https://www.egglifefoods.com/) to find a retailer near you. → Head to https://davidprotein.com/EASTFAM. Buy four cartons and get the fifth free! → Check out Timeline’s skincare at https://www.timeline.com/skincare/shop (00:00) SPECIAL FORCES IS BACK!(03:50) what Special Forces does differently(10:14) what this new series will look like(12:11) our experience on season 4(18:10) what you don’t see + how you win(24:06) what we learned from Special Forces(26:55) what to expect this season(34:05) the different team dynamics(35:42) this season’s Special Forces cast(48:00) our predictions for this season Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

They strip you of your name. They strip you of any titles, of any headlines, of any scandals. They strip you down to nothing but a number. So we will try to shine a lot of light onto how it actually operates behind the scenes. Who do you think is the strongest on paper? What's up, everybody? Welcome back to a couple things. With Sean and Andrew.

We are so excited to be announcing a new series. Oh my gosh. We're back, baby. And we are back with special forces. Fox. I love this show that we have created in a couple of things because pretty much it's just whatever Sean and Andrew get into. And yes, we've talked about many things marriage, many things parenting, had some

amazing interviews. But one series that y'all loved was last fall. We did week by week summaries. And I would say bonus episodes for the TV show that we were on called Special Forces, which aired on Fox last fall. We recorded it last May or June in Morocco. And we had a blast and y'all seemed to love it. I feel like it added a lot of color to what was being seen on TV.

We shared some things that you didn't see on TV. And literally since the finale of that episode, we have been talking with Fox about how we could do more with this show because we love this show. Why do we love this show? Why do we love it? We thought it was such a phenomenal experience. Yes, we got tortured.

Yes, it's probably the hardest thing we've ever done. If you have not seen the show, we highly recommend you go watch it. It's actually premiering the new season tomorrow on Fox. Okay? Thursday, September 24th, 9 p.m. Eastern Time. Season 5. That's right. But the premise of the show is this.

You have four retired special operatives, Navy SEALs, Recon Marines. And what they do is they, these four, design a course is what they call it basically a 10 to 14 it depends on the location day event where you get dropped in a foreign location in these four special ops guys put you through military training and military boot camp they simulate capture and kidnap and psychological warfare and there is no aspect to it that is truly produced. You arrive to your location two days early to film anything that may be produced. And then when the course starts, I always say it's an experience that happens to be filmed. It is not a show that is, you know, experienced by the cast members.

Yeah, which is pretty cool. And honestly, I never really wanted to do a reality TV show. Special Forces is a reality TV show. But as Sean and I kind of considered the opportunity when it was presented to us and watched the show, one thing that we fell in love with is what makes it so unique, I think, and that the DS and the whole show really is striving to paint the characters and the cast, these celebrities, in a positive light. And there's something redemptive about how the show approaches. what they're what they're producing and it was really exciting for us I feel like most reality TV

shows that you watch are all about gossip or drama or polarizing controversial yeah provocative trying to hit headlines and I feel like if special forces is trying to hit headlines it's oh my gosh this person totally did something awesome or they conquered this fear and they've been pretty successful in that something that they do very very well on the show that you might not get to see on the screen as well as we got to experience firsthand is you're taking a cast of 16 to 20 people and what these DS or the former military guys do we call them DS on the show short for directing staff yes is they strip you of your name they strip you of any titles of any headlines of any um scandals they strip you down to nothing but a number you're given

an arm band and a number, and that becomes your identity. And when you're thrown into all at once, this environment where you all have to fight together as a team to succeed, it bonds you in a way that is just so beautiful. And what the DS are wanting is whether you come from trauma or headlines or scandals or backgrounds, they're allowing you to be stripped to nothing and build yourself back up. conquer fears, conquer, you know, skeletons in the closet, everything. They truly want the best for you. And something we realized so well on what we fell in love with when we were doing it was

they are so good at what they do. They've all been in very, very high up military positions where they've been instructors. And you could tell their ability to read people also, little insider information. They get so much background information on people. There's a psychiatrist. There's all these screening interviews, all these personality tests you take that are all handed over. And so when you come in,

they are looking for your weakness, your insecurity. They're trying to exploit it, build it up and get you to overcome it. Which I think is an important differentiation, how the show is different. They're not trying to exploit it just to air out all your dirty laundry to the world.

They are trying to exploit it and say, hey, this is a flaw that you have, whether it's a physical weakness, a mental weakness, a relational weakness. This is a flaw that you have. And are you going to be honest and confront it and then do what is needed to change? Or are you going to continue embracing this weakness that you have? And I think that's what makes this such a powerful show. We had the opportunity to do it, like I said.

and we have many friends who have also done the show. And honestly, it's a life-changing experience. And it's like, it's not fake. People have changed their diets, their fitness routine. They've changed their relationships. They've gotten tattoos, done all the things. Because it was such a meaningful and life-changing experience for them. There's something unique about being an adult and voluntarily walking into the situation

where people are yelling at you. You're forced to do things that you, you know, never dream. that you would do, never a dream that you would have to do. And you're voluntarily doing this and kind of deputizing someone else to say, I'm here, do with me what you will. And it's a humbling process. It's an exposing process. It's uncomfortable.

For our marriage, it was super good. But there's something powerful in doing that. And I think what gets us so excited about this show and being able to continue our work that we're doing with Fox, which shout out to Fox for allowing us to do this. There's a lot that goes into allowing us to create this podcast along with the show. So thanks to everyone who has put in the work to make this happen. But we're really excited to capture the stories of those transformations, kind of bring light and color to maybe some of the things that people are experiencing and what's going through their minds since we've gone through it ourselves. I do think

that it's important to realize the show has been a lot of things. We do not intend for this to become some celebrity gossip show. We will be commenting on celebrities and the reality TV show. Our goal is to do that in a tactful way. So.

Though we won't hold back about what has been shared on the show. I think we had the fortune of being on a cast and being on a season where there were a lot of, quote, unquote controversial characters and cast members who in the Hollywood world or just in the day to day life

have made a lot of enemies. And when we were with them and you got to see them on such a human level and see how they process fear and how they bond and how they relate and how they help teammates, it gives you a different perspective to mistakes and the polarizing political landscape of the world. So I do think we'll be able to bring a different perspective to some of the things that you will see, something you'll see on the first episode even. We'll have a big conversation about. But it is a really, we want it to be redemptive, which is what I think the intention of the entire show is.

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Free dessert for life. Go to homechef.com forward slash EastFam. That's homechef.com slash Eastfam for 50% off your first box and free dessert for life. Must be an active subscriber to receive free dessert. A couple other things that we're really excited for for this season. theories on our channel is we will have the fortune of interviewing a lot of the cast members and the DS, which I'm really excited about. They have a lot of interesting insights.

We'll hear their backgrounds. We'll hear how they got into it. We'll also hear from the cast members, their personal experiences, some of the more raw behind-the-scenes moments. That's right. And this will be the introduction episode where we'll talk about, you know, what our experience was and what we could maybe expect. to see in this season and then Friday will be episode one debrief.

We're considering doing this for some other shows as well, which could be fun. So let us know if you like this format. But I think it's worth saying that we get the benefit of experiencing a bunch of ridiculous things. Like we had the benefit of being on this show and we know what it looks like on television. We also know what it feels like when the cameras don't tell the whole story. And so our goal with this is not to say, oh, hey, we know, like look at us. we've done all this. It's really to to shed light on some of the things that you don't see. And then also hopefully parlay that into encouragement for you listening of, okay, this was a

really positive, powerful takeaway that this cast member experienced on the show. Where can you get feedback like this in your own life, whether it's through a brother that you close with or a friend or a men's group or whatever? And how can we kind of distill these extreme situations of reality TV down into what your day-to-day life could look like and benefit from. For us, the feedback from these DS was so black and white and direct. You're like, man, I've been living my last 15 years of life and no one said that to me ever. And I wish they had because I don't want to be like this. So anyway, just we'll try to have some tangible takeaways as well.

Okay. As we go into this, let's take it back, Andrew. Let's tell them and give them a small, If you are new here to our experience on season four of special forces, we were dropped into the Sahara Desert. Yeah. In Morocco, Africa. And our season was scalding hot. We had professional athletes.

We had Johnny Mansell, Eric Decker, Randall Cobb. We had... Christy Rampone. Jesse James Decker, who is a singer. We had Brianna La Paglia. We had Mark Estes. The Jude Isses. It was a wild season.

How it works, and you'll see this within the first episode coming out again tomorrow, is you basically get the royal treatment as a celebrity, flying to your foreign location. This season will be in Malaysia in the jungle, which I cannot even fathom doing. I am so glad we got the desert. but you get the royal treatment. You fly first class.

You get all these fancy meals. You go through the production treatment. You're like, man, this is great. This is showbiz, baby. We're in Hollywood, man. You are pandered to. It is incredible. And then they give you one last final briefing whenever it is.

Ours, for ours, it was right before you went to bed. And they give you your final briefing. They say you need to dress in a casual outfit. And you'll get a knock on the. the door. And for us, in that morning, when we got the knock on the door, you're put onto a bus, and as we're bused out into the middle of the desert, it gets shot at, it gets taken over. We get bagged and zipped tied and thrown on the gravel and dragged into random cars and driven through the desert, all to be put through wild workouts and screamed at and stripped down to our

underwear and told we're literally nothing and here's our chance to prove ourselves. Yeah, quite the experience. We, yeah, we were in the desert, thank goodness, looking at the previews of this season with the bugs and the creatures and the mud and the, I mean, the desert was horrible, but it was like maybe more manageable. Yeah, we had some people get heat strokes. We had some people get like desert lung, where'd they call it? Desert call.

They basically got pneumonia. Yeah, it's crazy. A lot of broken ribs. of broken noses and concussions. But you do this 10-day experience, and it's 24-7 as you're living it. There's no, like, cameras are off. Let's go back to the hotel. You're living in bunkers.

But then the problem is they put this whole experience into 45-minute episodes. And so there's a lot that doesn't make the cut. And thus, this is our inspiration for this discussion that we're going to have. In Morocco, Andrew, give people a glimpse. What was the hardest challenge for you to do? And what was it? So hard looked so different. Yeah.

Because I thought of immediately when you said that, like the first challenge was hard because you go from not knowing what to expect to then, oh my gosh, this is going to stink. What was your first challenge? This is going to be so brutal. It was just like that workout in the mud. You know what I'm saying? And it was, you're just going, jumping right into it cold. As athletes were used to warming up, my body was just shook.

And then we did the workout in the mud right into the challenge of the real. relay race and I was, I thought I was going to pass out. Johnny's over there like heaving and nobody was ready for it. It was such a rude awakening. So that was hard in that sense. Then you had hard in the sense of fears. There's like the water submersion. We had a simulated airplane crash into water and just this experience of not, you know, when you're in a pool and you can control your breath and the timing of it, that's one thing. But when you're doing this crash simulation and you don't know when be submerged or really how long and you have to think about the sequence of getting out of there. That was like a really unique hard where you're trying to battle mental toughness with like

conquering fear. And then there was like, I'm going to categorize this different scary, scary challenges. Like the tunnel was panicky. And that's a different category than fear where I was like, oh my gosh. What is happening? On our season, they recreated. it's like splunking. It's this tiny, tiny tunnel underground

that you had to maneuver through that Andrew could barely fit through. Like every part of his body is touching the top and sides and bottom. And you're like literally on like a snake trying to army crawl your way through until at one point in our challenge, you got pinned. You're going through water, you're going through cages,

but you get pinned so tight. tightly underground that you have to figure out how to back your way back out of the whole thing. And it was, that was my hardest. We were in tears. Yeah, I was crying. And then there was just the heart, the difficulty of being so physically fatiged from the heat, from the constant workout from inconsistent sleep. They'd wake you up at 1 a.m. And you'd have to go do this workout in the courtyard.

They call a beesting, B-E-A-S-T-I-N-G, beasting. Oh. And then you're like. Is that what it is? Did you think it was a B-sting? Wait, B-E-A. Beasting, you got beasted. Like you're a beast.

You're getting beasted. Yeah. Yeah. I thought you just, for some reason, I thought you spelled B-Sting. No, no, no, B-E-A, sting. So that was difficult. And then the last part is all, like, psychological. You're getting yelled at.

That was, I mean, that was- We'll get there, guys. From an inadequacy of not having any clue what to do, that was hard. Along this journey, as you guys are with us with the recouts, we will try our best to explain the complexities of what you're actually watching. Like Andrews said, each episode is 45 minutes, but these recruits, as they call them, are cast members, are experiencing 24 hours a day of intense exercises, most of which doesn't even make air.

For us, in 45 minutes, you'll see an episode and we'll do two exercises or experiences or challenges, whereas in reality, we did more like four to seven a day. There is no schedule. You don't know when the next one's coming. You don't know if you're going to get dragged out of bed or if you're going to get kidnapped or an explosion's going to go off. And it's just the anxiety of anticipation. So we will try to shine a lot of light onto how it actually operates behind the scenes.

Yeah. And there's a couple of things already from the first episode, which I want to spoil now, where you can't really understand the dynamic. It's a great first episode, guys. It is. I was locked. You don't really understand what's happening because in person, like you'll stand in the courtyard for an hour on end having to do, you know, hold something above your head as they're

telling you instructions about how the, how the bunk etiquette will work or how this system of going to the bathroom with the buddy has to work. And so there's all these things that we'll try to provide color to. But a lot happens. And there is such a physical toll that is taken. The only way you can get off this show is if you, if you, voluntarily withdraw or on the show you'll hear someone say vW I want to VW which is me saying I'm done I don't want to do this I'm too scared or whatever or you get medically withdrawn or they

or in some cases which you will see they will pull your arm band or they will say you are not fit for this challenge I'm taking it from you however that's so rare it's very rare however on the show just to lay it all out there You start with 16 recruits this season. All 16 can technically cross the finish line and quote unquote win. That's right. Okay. And that's what they're wanting.

They're wanting to better you over the course of 10 to 14 days and get all 16 across the finish line. That would be success from the DS's side. Now, you could technically fail almost every single challenge and still across the finish line. It just means you don't choose to quit. Now, I will just say, the more you fail, the more you're punished. Yeah. So if you can endure and withstand for the entirety of the show, the failure, consequence is punishment.

You could technically make it across the finish line, having not passed really any of the challenges. but there are consequences to that. But ultimately, the four veterans are looking for people that they would go to battle with. So they will hand-select. Like, yes, you are fit. At the very end, if say all 16 are standing there and they've endured it, you know, the full entirety of the show,

the four DS will stand there and say, I hand-select you, one, two, four, seven, 17, to stand next to me, to earn that spot of being given the title of, you're not even given a title. Let's just talk about that. There is no prize for crossing the finish line, you guys. You don't get paid to cross the finish line.

You don't get a trophy. You don't get a title. There's no like, you're the winner. You're like, it's just a pat on the bat. Yeah. You made it through. Yeah. And there's something.

I wanted to cry. There's something wonderful about that. I still don't know if it would be good to give an award or not. Like part of me wants you to have received an award, but also I know it's really the heart of the show is to simulate what these veterans have to go through in selection. And so they don't really get some celebration at the end of their selection. So on that side of things, I'm like, no award is necessary. But also you're like, this was freaking whack. I will say, I do believe you should have crossed the finish line and gotten this.

But in the moment, I didn't need a trophy. The fact that I spent 12 days being cussed out, screamed at, and almost to a certain extent looked down upon by the DS to then have them all of a sudden all flip into smiles and hug me and say, good job. So confusing. Proud of you. I was like, uh-huh. Thanks. Like, yeah, like, do you mean that? Like, actually, for real? That, that was enough. This episode is sponsored by Egg Life. School lunches have taught me that there is a huge difference between food that looks good when you pack it and food that still looks good when the lunchbox opens four hours later. Especially when a regular sandwich has been sitting next to an ice pack and comes home looking like a science experiment. That is one reason why Egg Life, egg white wraps are so.

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Okay, so a couple other tactical things in case you didn't hear our debrief from last season. We did this 10-day experience. Over that 10 days, I lost 17 pounds, cracked a rib, had multiple bloody noses. Yes. Sean. Got my face beat in. Got a concussion. Doing murder, tackle football with no.

Murder ball. I had an Olympic soccer player. kicked me in the head. That's right. Yeah. And my left with a little PTSD, though we can't compare ourselves in any capacity to what they actually experienced. We had multiple people who literally reported that they couldn't fall asleep

because they would wake up in the middle of night with night tears. And so at the end of it, Sean passed. I made it all the way to right before the finish line. And what a wonderful challenge that was. And honestly, it took about two weeks for us to decompress. and about six weeks for us to feel normal again, I feel like. And yeah, it was a wild ride. So overall, I learned so much about the show.

I learned about show biz. I learned about what makes the show different than show biz. One of the things that was not shown in any capacity is how best, Bad the food is. How bad the food is. I mean, it's terrible, but it's not like that bad. The bathrooms that you're on, literally it was a wood board with a hole cut out of it. And you're pooping into this.

Metal tin. Metal tin. With really no water in there. No, it's zero. You know, like a porta party will have the blue fluid. This had none. Something else you don't see is around your living quarters and around each challenge. You're not interacting with anybody who's actually.

making the show. So in the living quarter area, everything is shot by security cameras, almost like gopros taped into the corners and everybody's wearing a mic 24-7. Even when someone from the show side has to come in to switch a battery pack out or something, they're not allowed to talk to you. You can't ask them questions. They're actually in military uniform as well to kind of not break that wall. But everybody keeps a very big disdain. There's no comfort of home. You have radio silence to home. You don't get cell phones.

You don't get technology. You don't get personal items. Nothing. Yeah. And I still say that I would pay to do this experience because it was so unique and positively transforming. And I feel spoiled that we got to do it. But shall we roll into talking about what we have to look forward to with this season,

specifically with the cast. and you mentioned the location, maybe some of the challenges we could talk about. Yes. Let's also put an asterisk here for you all. Anybody listening, please put down in the comment section below, any questions you have that you want us to tackle.

Even if we don't know the answer, we'll go find them. We'll bring in the DS. We'll bring in the cast members. What would you like us to explain our cover more? We've thought about interviewing the psychiatrist, like a reality TV star psychiatrist, who put you through this.

We had to do this. It took an hour to go through about 330 questions of a psych eval, and then you do a live interview as well with them. And oh my gosh, it's crazy. Yes. Some of the questions that they ask you are like, this is nuts. So we might bring that on, but we'd love to hear what you all would love to hear from this show as we go through it.

Okay. So the location of season five has been announced. It is in Malaysia. It is in the rainforest slash john. jungle. And all we really, we have not been to Malaysia, but we have seen what these cast members are experiencing, these recruits. And it is swamp, mud, bugs. You'll get clips here and there during even the promos where you're going to see people's faces that have been eaten alive by bugs, you guys. There are snakes. It's humid. It's damp. It's hot. It's also cold.

I will never forget, we had DSQ on our podcast after last season, and he was forecasting this season to us and telling us that he was headed to Malaysia to kind of scout and start planning the challenges and start safety checking a lot of them. And even just seeing and hearing his tone of like, the jungle sucks. Like nothing, there's nothing like the jungle. And someone got, one of the camera guys got a snake bit or the local liaisons. Not from this season, but from a previous season in the jungle. Someone got bit by a poisonous snake.

So you may be skeptical thinking, okay, this is for the cameras. Like Sean said, there's got to be people around. Surely they're interacting. There's no interaction. Maybe you're thinking, okay, it can't be that dangerous. This is for a show. They wouldn't let you actually get hurt. That is not the case.

Not the case. They put you through very quick tutorials. So like we jumped out of a helicopter and they had to give a tutorial on how to put on a harness and how to connect because they don't want you to be fumbling with the carabiner in like a fall from a ledge kind of way. But they don't really walk you through how to do it well or how to repel. They'll just say, here's how to put your harness on, go and do it. And literally they're instructed not to overshare how to execute these missions well.

So they put you in really dangerous situations with really authentic background experience. So if you've never put on a harness before as you're repellent, then they'll like they don't really help you out with that um that's that's shown and then the danger of it is very real so you are out in the elements there was uh nick got what was it hypothermia yeah nick vial got hypothermia um there have been multiple people who have passed out blocked out broken noses broken ribs had many concussions broken yeah illnesses and in that situation they don't they don't really step in. They'll wait for you to go see the doctor.

And if you choose to go see the doctor, then it's up to the doctor to say, hey, you were medically withdrawn or not. You can go through and say, well, I just got punched in the nose. I think it's broken, but I'm not going to go see the doctor. You also don't have the doctor at your beck and call.

So the doctor is not a luxury. It's a last line before quitting the show, if that makes sense. So if I have a headache, yeah, I could technically go ask, but it's not encouraged. And because remember as a viewer when you're watching this, we are trying and they are trying to simulate what it's like to be in the special forces.

You don't have luxury. You don't have comfort. You don't have the basic necessities. And so with all these cast members, a really fascinating thing to kind of key into and play into and watch for is the safest way to make it through this show is to respond. is to respect at the highest level authority and to trust 1,000% in the authority. That is very uncomfortable for a lot of people, especially a lot of people of status and title.

And you will see over and over again in every season, people who have a hard time shutting their mouth and respecting and listening to authority either end up getting injured or failing their challenges because kind of like Andrew said, they're not listening close enough to authority to say, oh, now I know exactly what he said.

If the DS Billy is only going to give me 10 seconds of instruction, and he's only going to say it once, I better listen. But a lot of people challenge or have a very hard time with that, with egos and that's what they're looking for specifically to break. And it's just fascinating. You are in their world playing by their rules. We had a lot of people on our season who had a very, very hard time with authority. And they butt heads.

And a lot of times they would put themselves in very scary situations where we had almost someone who drowned. That wasn't an authority issue. That was just like a fear-based issue. We had people who didn't want to put their harnesses on right. A lot of the safety guys behind the scenes that are putting harnesses on are former military. They're the best in the world. But if you don't respect them enough to listen, that's on you, Bill. This episode is sponsored by David.

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locate coordinates. And then in each of these situations, they'll put you in different team dynamics. You might do it solo. You might do it with one other person. You might do it with a group. Maybe they'll select the leader. Maybe they'll have the group select a leader. But all of these things are kind of not to expose drama, but to see, oh, this, Sean's been super quiet. And let's put her in a leadership role to see how she does. Does she step up and live up to it? Does she crumble in the pressure? And it's just like back to the exploiting different things in a way that helps you realize oh man, I do need to step up when I get my number called in a different way. It's pretty cool how I do that.

They will switch up teams quite often and intentionally put people with people that they don't agree with. We had some interesting dynamics on our season. They would constantly shuffle people around trying to put them together in uncomfortable situations. They're trying to make you uncomfortable. And I think in this season we will see a lot of those dynamics of people who don't get along and don't agree. and how they handle each other, which will be quite fascinating. And it's people with all different backgrounds. So on this season, we have athletes, actors, public figures, politicians.

There's a family pair there. And maybe we should go through who's on this cast. Let's do it. To start, we have Matt Barnes, NBA champion and podcaster. He's known for a 14-season NBA streak, UCLA alum, 2017 NBA champion with Golden State. He's become a prominent media voice and co-host of all the smoke

with Stefan, Stefan or Stephen Jackson? Stephen. There you go. Yeah, yeah. This guy won an NBA championship. Beast. And 14 seasons doing anything is a lot. And one could say, if you're in the NBA,

you know how to grind, you know how to work, you know how to, we don't have any forecasting here, guys. So, yes, we've seen the first two episodes, But we have no forecasting. So no spoilers here. Don't worry. I am very excited to see how he does. I will say that going through this list,

I think as far as physical preparation, athletes obviously have an edge. I do think that as far as like the psychological stuff they put you through, actors are almost better suit. Yeah. Yes. But actors struggle in the sense that,

I don't know, athletes have a coach who reprimands them or corrects them or gives them constructive feedback. It's kind of what the DSS. are doing. Actors have that in a different way. They like when they get yelled at, it's not this, you know,

let me snap into place. They can put on a. Yeah. So Matt Barnes is athlete number one. Alicia Baumgarter. Yes. World champion boxer. Andrew.

In every season, you guys, there is at least one challenge where you are physically fighting each other. That's terrifying. Physically fighting. This is when I got my face. Speedin by Brianna La Paglia. Bree, I love you.

Terri. Could you imagine? With. If your number got called to go up against Alicia. She was the featherweight champion, super featherweight champion, 21, 2021 to 2025. That is scary. So scary. Also, I'm so excited to see how she does.

That's a force of a human. Yeah. Right? That's someone who I'm excited to see how she. Fares. Pomped. Next up, Candice Cameron Burey.

She is best known as DJ Tanner on Full House and Fuller House, longtime Hallmark star before moving to Great American Family. Also one of the most

publicly faith forward mainstream actresses. That's right. Excited. Seems very light, joyful. you're wondering how that will pair with that.

I'm really curious to see how that pairs with very forceful, violent, physical challenge. It's not really an environment where you want to be just smile in 24-7. The DS would view that maybe it's disrespectful. Yeah, the amount of times I was told to wipe that smile off my face. Tiny Tampa. Tony Temple. Okay. Football player, Lashon Shady McCoy. I remember watching this guy

It was an absolute dog of a running back He played let's see He was a second round draft pick Played with the Eagles And then he played a bunch of seasons In the NFL I think he mentioned That he was one of the top 10

Highest Paid running backs And NFL history He was Two-time Super Bowl champion Six-time Pro Bowler That is impressive it's impressive. I'm just going to say this up front.

NFL guys, I would say, are a very hard line 50-50 on this show. I would say if you're an NFL superstar, like Lashon McCoy, that's almost a tough position to be in than if you're just like a NFL, you know, kind of normal roster guy.

I mean, obviously has the physical ability. Yeah. Obviously mentally tough to be, that high elite of an athlete. But when you mix such a prominent, dominant male with the dynamics of the show, it doesn't always go over well. Oh, what, you think that these NFL superstars

are like the male dominant type figures? I would say, yeah. Interesting. I think you kind of have to be. Yeah. That makes me want to value my own masculinity, but it's interesting now. Yeah, it's good.

I think when you are put on a team with that many guys and you win over and over and over again and you're playing and managing dynamics of teams, I think you have to be a dominant leader to a certain extent. Oh, so you get a couple alphas in a room who knows what happens? I'm just saying. Okay. Up next, David Charvey, entrepreneur and actor best known for Baywatch, Melrose Place. He's 54.

So okay. Yeah. Who's the oldest on our season? Who? What? Oh, Cody. Cody. Cody.

Cody Brown was on our season. He was 57. Yeah. Not that age is a limiting factor, but because it is such a physically grueling, long process, age obviously always helps. Yep.

Another one, Brandy Glanville. She's TV personality, former model, breakout cast member on the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. She's known for being very blunt. She doesn't shy away from conflict and saying what other cast members won't. I actually did The Apprentice with Brandy Landville. I thought she was so kind. She has had a long string of unfortunate health issues the past three years,

and this is her first time back into the spotlight. So really curious to see. how she does. One thing I'm really excited about is just for you to continue to share your background experience with reality TV. Sean, like she said, did Celebrity Apprentice Season 7. This was when Donald Trump was still doing the show. And she was on the show with several people who have done special horses.

Several, yes. Brandy Glanville being one of them. Brandy was very, very sweet with me. So, yeah. And she's 53. Wow. Okay. So multiple.

Yeah. Another one we have is Colin Gosselin, former TV personality, best known for Kate Gosselin's son. Kate Gosselin, I also did Celebrity Apprentice with the same season. Kate Gosselin has been on Special Forces before, and she was one of the first recruits to leave the show. So I know Colin's coming back with some, like, vengeance to, see if he can last longer than his mom. He's 22. I feel like physically he's also in a good

spot. But you never know what the background is of people like how how prepare they are coming into this. You do maybe get a couple weeks heads up before doing the show, maybe at month, at most five weeks in advance. At most. Yeah. And so you could do some amount of training to prepare you. Some people take that more seriously than others. And, you know, when you're when you're physically capable, that allows you to be more mentally available. I feel like we have another athlete, Maxim Nowmoth, who is a figure skater. He represented the U.S. in the 2026 Winter Olympics. Aaron Jackson was a previous skater. She was a, what do you call that? Speed skater. And she advanced to the finals of the show, made it pass.

selection. Curious to see how Maxime does. We have a lot to get through you guys. Each week, the show does a really good job of doing a lot of character development behind at least one, if not two characters to give their true background. A lot of these cast members have some very weighty backgrounds that we need to divulge and really talk about. But right now we'll skim through them.

A few others on the show. We have Oliver Hudson known for a lot of, um, actor roles, rules of engagement, Nashville, Scream Queen's son of Goldie Hawn. Brother of Kate Hudson, yes. There's also Ruby Rose, who is an actress and model. She's basically known as like the actress of all of the super high action movies, like John Wicks, basically. That's right.

So it'd be interesting to see her in this role, but like for real life. She did Resident Evil as well. That was a huge deal. And she also had a crazy injury that you'll hear about on the show. You have Hannah Stocking, who's a digital creator and comedian. You have the well-known breed Tisi from selling Sunset, so another TV personality. You have George Santos, who's a former U.S. congressman, who has also been in prison. A very fascinating first for the show.

And last but not least, you have Alexia Umanski and her dad, Maricio Umanski. And we were on the first season with duos like this. And some people viewed it as an advantage. Some people viewed it as a disadvantage. There's kind of like some dynamics that go on that, well, Teresa tapped out of the show because she didn't want to watch her daughter box. And then Jesse went home because Eric got injured. I feel like you and I push each other in a good way. We do.

Yeah. So it's- The dynamics are hard though Because for us, right when we got on the show, they separated us immediately. We were on different sides, different teams. I didn't know where Andrew was for almost 24 hours. They are constantly using you against one another

To a certain extent to see if they can show, they can break your strength by putting your loved one in a uncomfortable place. So seeing a father-daughter relationship, I actually think will be harder. Mother daughter has been on the show, husband and wife has been on the show, but to see a father daughter, that's already like a soft spot.

And I do believe from TV that they're very close. I think I would want to do this show with my son. I don't know if I could do with my daughter. It's like a totally different relationship. Like my dad, quote unquote, hated, you know, in the loving sense, watching this show and watching me in pain.

I can't imagine him he was side by side with me. I know. Yeah. Yeah. Interesting. So I feel like maybe now that we've gone to the cast, let's give some quick season predictions. Okay.

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the link. Who do you think is the strongest on paper? Alicia Baumgartner. I agree. Let's do a top three. Alicia Baumgarner. Yep. I'm going to say Ruby Rose. I don't know, just because her aura. I feel like the shows that she's done. Like, it's all been action movies. So this feels like right up her alley. I would say Maricio and Alexia. You think so? They're known to be edgy,

kind of like Teresa and Gia Judice. Yeah. Shocked me so much. They, we've already talked about this. Like sometimes TV, reality TV people have like an edge to them. They can, they can endure anything. Yeah. And if they've already willingly signed up to be,

on something like this together. I would say they're a force to be reckoned with. Okay, so that's four. We got Alicia, I put in Ruby Rose, and then the Umanskis. Yeah. All right. What about most likely to be underestimated?

I'm going to say Candice Cameron Bray. You know her as a friend. Yep. And she definitely has an edge to her. As far as like a toughness. She married a Russian hockey player. There's an edge there. There's an edge.

Who's the most natural leader of the group? I mean, I would say you're shady, Shady McCoy. Shady McCoy. Shady McCoy. Just because of his background and his success. Or, I mean. I will say football players, like, so we have Matt Barnes, the basketball player. We have Shady McCoy, the football player. Football players do have a different presence about him.

Like, I don't know why. Maybe it's the, you know, head injuries that they experience. or just like the there's so much more impact than like a basketball player that I feel like the training is totally different and I do think that on paper the most natural leader

would be Lashon McCoy because of his football background best potential teammate how about this is hard best potential teammate I would put as I don't know I'll give it to the Olympic skater

Maxine no I'd say Matt Barnes, NBA. Yeah. You really got to lean on each other in basketball. Okay, I like it. Most intriguing emotional journey? Wow, these are, this is a lot.

Most intriguing emotional journey, I love you, Brandy, but I'd say Brandy. Just because what she's been through? She has been through Hellenbach for three years. And to go straight from that into something like this, I'm really curious to see how she does. Great. Okay.

That's all I have. for this episode. That's all I have. I would say first off, but we know that. Do you want to do that? No, because we already know it. There's no, there's no way to fake that. Yeah, that's fair.

You guys, this season's going to be fun. Someone's going to be brutal. Dare I say maybe the worst. Man. I would love to know from a DS which season they thought was the worst or had it the worst. Yeah. I'm excited to try this format too.

This show has been a lot of things, like I said, but I feel like this fits so well in our series and what this show is about because the show has always kind of been about what we've lived and experienced. And even though this is kind of commentary about other things, Special Forces has become such a consequential part of our life and our marriage in a positive way.

So I feel like us doing this allows us to keep discussing these relational dynamics, us reflecting on some fun memories that we had on the show while also learning from other people's stories. And hopefully we can share some helpful behind the scenes about how it could be a guide for people watching the show rather than like a judge. Yeah. As you get ready for the premiere tomorrow, please don't miss it, you guys. get ready for a rough start injuries already, a lot of tears, a lot of just cracking the whip on egos and a lot of discomfort.

I'm excited. Stay tuned, watch the episodes on Fox and then come see us to get the debrief. We're excited. Thank you all for listening. That's all we got. I'm Andrew. I'm Sean. Until next time.