Couple Things with Shawn and Andrew - special forces episode 1 debrief | behind the scenes + our reaction

Episode Date: September 25, 2026

special forces is BACK and we’re officially debriefing every episode 👀 as former contestants, we’re breaking down episode 1 from a completely different perspective - what surprised us, what looked painfully familiar, what you don’t fully see on tv, and what was probably going through the recruits’ heads during those first challenges. we’re talking first impressions, the toughest moments of the episode, who stood out, and all of the little details that brought us right back to our own special forces experience. if you watched episode 1, come recap it with us and let us know what moment you want us to talk about next week! We're so excited! Love you guys! Shawn & Andrew Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What's up, everybody? Welcome back to a couple things. With Sean and Andrew. Special Forces Episode 1. Let's go. The premiere. I'm so excited about this. How did you feel about this?

First of all, I love this show. I love the show. It is beautiful to watch. I feel like the cinematography is A plus. It really is. And then it's like pretty high stakes in the sense that it's intense stuff they're doing, but there's nothing, I don't know. It's just like an easy watch in a lot of senses, right?

Yeah. I just love every aspect. Is it an easy watch? It's like an action thriller where you're seeing people be tortured and you're like, oh, this is nice. But it's an easy watch in the sense that like 12 people will do the same challenge. Yeah. You get the wow of the first craziness of the challenge and then you kind of settle into it.

And then I feel like I learned something from the show. Big fan. I will say there is this odd emotional disconnection that you have as a viewer because having experienced this, you're in so much pain. and there is so much anxiety and there is so much fear. I don't know how they create an experience that feels so real, but when you're in it, you feel like you are in the middle of a war.

I mean, bad comparison, right? Because you're obviously not. But watching it, you're like, why are they freaking out? I do have a gripe. What's your gripe? It opens with this mansion that they're staying at. Well, you didn't get that. And I'm like, this is, they're doing the limbo or something like that.

Oh, no, actually. that's them getting captured. But it looks like they're having drinks at the bar, swimming in the pool, kicking it nice and easy. We had a nice hotel, but it was not some party scene, you know? I am curious. And I am curious. And we will bring someone in to talk through this.

But the way that it worked for us was the morning of the start of the show, right? So you've done all the production. They've gone through all their interviews. We kind of knew that the. start of it was coming. At some point, someone's going to knock on the door and it's going to be time to get on a bus, right? There's a feeling. The cameras were like a little more established. You can kind of see people getting in position. People stopped talking to you. It's almost like impending doom. Yeah. So it makes me wonder as they're standing here in this mansion, they already

have their mics on. So if you look closely, the mics are these like black necklaces that they wear. You have to wear them 24-7. Yeah. Okay. So they're already miced up. They're in like their non-branded clothes. So I feel like they had to have known something was happening, but they, but again, you have no idea what's happening. I have never seen a beginning like this. Someone got pushed at the pool. I loved it. At some point, you got to think these Diaz secretly loves this. 100%. And it is, it is all a game. It is all a show. And there is like an awareness about that, but that doesn't make it any less painful. You know what I'm saying? Or any less crazy that grown adults are just pushing each other in pools and you can't retaliate

in any sense. And anyway. Also, I don't know if you caught it, but if you didn't, please go back. It was just this tiny little moment where I was like, is that Candace Cameron Rearay being dragged by her feet? Her feet are like two foot off the ground. Her arms are in front of her and She's being dragged across the floor by one of the DS. And I was like, oh, that's a little more. We were thrown onto the, like, gravel, but not dragged across the floor to be bagged. And they are very rough with handling you. So you'll see they lifted up someone's head, like, pretty aggressively.

That's an uncomfortable. I think it was Oliver Hudson or David. Yeah. And you're like, oh, my gosh, this is, that's so aggressive. And this is a show. I think something that they do beautifully and kind of building this anxiousness that you feel and like the just stepping on egg

or walking on eggshells, you know, is it's such an abrupt start no matter how you're starting in whatever season. If you go back and watch every premiere, they start it very abruptly. Even though you know it's coming, it's still abrupt. And even though you kind of know it's fake

to a certain extent, right? They're not actually getting captured by bad guys. Yeah. Yeah. even though you know that it's so loud it's so abrupt they're screaming they're serious and they don't break character that all of a sudden you're switching flipping a switch and you're like oh oh my gosh yeah this is they just shoved me into a pool they're not helping me out i also feel like they did such a good job casting they really this season where there is a wide range of personalities of backgrounds of stories

And one of the other things I love about this show is the character development where Oliver Hudson is a guy that I had never really heard of before, right? But then you understand and you piece together. Oh, yeah, he's Kate Hudson's brother. Goldie Hans's mom. Interesting to hear how his life has panned out. And I don't know, it just makes you appreciate everyone's got a story, you know? And I'm so curious to see how that prepares them into walking into something like this. I love watching this show with such detail now

because now that we know that everybody has a story, there's so much redemption behind this show and the DS want there to be redemption. One of my favorite things you're going to see from Oliver Hudson in this episode or that you did see was he was talking about his background, right? He's like, you obviously know I come from, he alludes to like the Goldie Hawn.

And he mentions a quote along the lines of, I just want to do something that they're proud of, And it's wild to me that you can take these people who have accomplished so much and to strip them down on a show like this where you are forced to really look inside yourself and to face fears and insecurities. And to see that someone with so much success still feels like they have something to prove, I think is why the show is written. Yeah.

And I'm really excited personally. He's one of the ones that I picked up on where I'm like, I'm really excited to see his journey, his emotional journey, because you can tell he has something to prove and he wants to prove it, but right at the beginning, when they're ripping all the bags off their heads and they're introducing, he gives a little sass. Oliver? He gave sass back to Billy. Remember when he was mocking the way he was, like, talking?

Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. I also think it seems like they went about this season a little differently in the sense that they're more openly acknowledging that they've done background research on these people. Because I think that was an illusion from Rudy. They also, when they sat down with George later in the interview room, came with all these, you know, documents and files, which with our season,

it was more of a, they went in with not knowing anything about us. And they would act like they didn't care. Right. This one, they very quickly like open up a book and they're like, I know about you. And even though I know about you, I don't care. Or there are some things we need to address and let's fix it and redeem it. Or if you can't redeem yourself from it, let's move on. Right.

Okay. So they rush into this party. They start throwing people into the pools. You start hearing people scream, which I still think is funny. Even if you know it's coming, why are you screaming? But then they put bags and zip ties on everyone's hands and they make them shuffle. I'm assuming they probably put them into cars and drove them to some. some middle of the jungle, Andrew.

Which you are, you have zip tied hands. Yeah. And you are zip tied with a bag of your head in this car and no one's talking to you. So just imagine, even though it's for a show. Yeah. It is overwhelming where you're like, what is, I'm so confused. I thought this was a show. Like in your mind, you're like, this is for a show.

Why are we doing this? Something they don't explain in these episodes is these recruits. are experiencing these moments spaced out. So like you see them being shoved into the pool, bagged and zipped-tied-odd party. Then I bet they were in a car with a bag over their head for over an hour at least. Probably, yeah.

Being driven to some location. It doesn't mean the show turns off. The show is still very much happening. Right. But they're just experiencing long periods of time of discomfort that you'll never see. And then they'll sit there because, It is with cameras and everything, you have to set it up.

And so there'll be, you know, a half hour where the car's parked after a 45-hour drive with a bag of your head and your hand zip tied that you're waiting in this parked car for the cameras to get set up. And like, you know that's happening. But then imagine not knowing how long you'll be sitting there. And then all of a sudden you get pulled out and you're throwing into something crazy. Is it going to be two minutes? It's going to be two hours. Yeah.

There were moments on our season where you would have a bag for. 10 hours at the time. Anyways, you kind of move to the next scene. They're all lined up in front of the DS, bags over the heads. And this is where one by one we get to, we get introduced to personalities. They start taking the bags off and saying,

who are you, what's your name? And there are some telling things in this part. I'm really excited for human redemption. I love a long journey of someone becoming, you know better. But I saw a couple of egos. Oliver Hudson, Billy really started giving him some sass back, which is what they do at the beginning.

They have to establish their authority and their dominance. But Oliver's little, I bet you did research on me. I was like, oh, Billy's not going like that. It's a weird interaction to have. It is. Because like probably these contestants have watched at least one episode and they're familiar with the DS. And they know that it's just like, what are the dynamics?

What's the right way to approach this? Do you act like super serious? Or do you try to show personality or you're, you know, these people are in the show business and their whole thing is making people feel seen? And now you're trying to just like, what does that look like in the situation? And I do think you're being met with so many different personalities.

So you have the four DS who are meeting all these people, for the first time and trying to gauge their, where are they? Are they really dominant? Are they meek? They're trying to pull stuff out of them. And for me, like when I get uncomfortable, I just smile and I giggle, which is just like, what I do. And I mean, stone cold, I think it was Billy who was looking at me.

He was like, wipe that smile off your face. And I like, went to giggle again. He goes, if you don't wipe it off your face. Yeah. And I'm like, oh, okay. And then you were like, well, I was with Nick who did something in our group. And then we all had to pay for what he was joking around with. And so then you realize I don't want to joke around.

Like I just, I'm okay with doing push-ups myself, but I don't want to make everybody else roll through the mud, even though you're probably going to roll through the mud anyway. Yeah, they're setting the tone very quickly. So we're going one by one. Then you get to Brandy. Brandy makes some flirtatious comment to Billy.

You have most beautiful eyes. Which is a nice compliment. It's a compliment. It is. And I kind of thought it was a compliment too, but also kind of awkward and like not the time. timer place for it. You're in a military serious setting.

Like, we could have saved that for later. One thing that I'm glad we didn't experience was they showed the overhead shots of the jungle as they're going through this. And okay, so the seasons have been filmed in Jordan, which is desert heat. Yep. New Zealand, which was freezing cold. Whales, which was kind of like wet and damp. But also cold.

Morocco, which was hot heat. Yeah. And then now it's in the jungle, which I've never done. And I'm just glad we didn't do this one. I am so glad. It just looks miserable. Okay, last first impression from the scene before we go trekking through the woods. Okay.

Shady. Yeah. I respect his titles. I respect the elite athleticism. But he came with the most sass. And all I kept thinking is D.S. are coming for you, buddy. Well, okay. So you have a lot of accolades rolling into this situation.

I'm curious. what's your mindset when they pull the bag off your head? My mindset was this, okay? So you've voluntarily thrown yourself into a military simulation, okay? Simulation being the strong word there, where you have four actual retired military special ops guys who have sacrificed their life for their countries and actually been in war and seen the worst of the worst.

They are the most elite, right? and to respect them in a simulation for a bag to be taken off of your head and you say, greatest football player at all the time. I was like, I mean, let's like humble ourselves like a little bit, you know? So my,

my approach was, what's your name, Sean? What do you do? I was a gymnast, period. I don't need to be propping myself up. The whole point of the show is to not prop yourself up, right?

If someone asks, how do I know you? So let's just remove ourselves from the show. You get approached. You're familiar. How do I know you? What's your response? And why?

I'm like, I was like a gymnast back in the day. Maybe. Okay. So it's not a put-all out there. No. Even if it is true, I'm a four-time Olympic medalist.

That's the last thing I would say. Why? No, I'm curious. Why? Because I don't think my personal opinion is saying that comes with a tone of I am better than you. Whether it's true or not, right? I'm not true that I'm better than you,

but like true that I'm the Olympic medalist or not. There's no need to offer up extra information that's not been asked. They didn't ask what my title was. They asked how I knew you. Well, I was a gymnast. Did you watch gymnastics back in the day? Oh, yeah, I did. Were you in the Olympics?

I actually was. How did you do? I won medals. I don't need to serve that up on a platter and be like, well, I'm an Olympic medalist. You should know that. In the air of which that comes from, that Shady delivered it of like,

I'm the greatest football player of all time. I was like... I think he said he was a top 10 highest paid running back. He didn't say that. He said that? He didn't. He said... Well, your humility is one of the...

One of the greatest football players of all the time. Okay, gotcha. Well, you wrote... We did write no. I wrote notes, but your humility, I think, is an incredible trait about you. So that's why I'm drilling down on this. I'm also curious, we haven't really talked about this. Is he one of the greatest football players of all time?

Absolutely. But is this the exact tone in time to serve that up on a platter? Probably not. Okay, so is it partially an identity thing for you, too? Like finding identity and the accolades of I'm finding importance or clout and this? Yes, which is what this show is about. And you would rather have importance in clout and the gymnastics back. You'll own that, but not the outcome.

You'll own what you did, but not how it ended for you. It's not that I don't own that. I just like, my identity is not in a metal. I can associate myself to being a gymnast to help a connection with something. It's like a, what's your job? I'm a CEO. Great. you don't start out by saying I'm the highest paid CEO of, you know, I just think the humility

there is a respectful trait. And I think coming from the character development that the DS are wanting to see in people, my only note was they're going to remember that one from Shady. And it's probably not to his benefit. Yeah. So it's bad on multiple accounts. It's not inaccurate, right? Because he is one of the greatest football players all time. I just think, in the forecasting of the season, I just want to be like, shady. You're just asking for more pain.

To get special treatment in a bad way. Yes. I think he put a flag on himself early on for no reason. Which, okay, no, I'm going to continue talking about this. I'm fascinated. Okay. putting a flag on yourself when you're in a different context can be helpful. It can be a, oh, hey, I get a free meal or I get a special table service.

Absolutely not. No, I'm not saying that's what we do. But it can, when people know your accolades, you can benefit from it. You can, but I don't think you should be serving up your accolades to get preferential treatment. So you view it as like a... I did not go win the Olympics so I could get a free table. Right? So I shouldn't use it that way.

Yeah. I went and won the Olympics because I worked so hard to master a craft. That's why I did it. But you're also, it's so fascinating to me, I've loved this since day one of knowing you. And now we're 13 years in. You're also not playing this. coy game of trying to like it's like this dishonesty of oh how do I know you I'm just a wife

and a mother I just I just you know I just love my family it's you know I'm saying there's some people that who totally avoid yeah the thing and trying to pretend like whatever experience they had or accomplishment that had didn't exist so like it's not false humility in that sense you just you just slow you slow you slow you slow you slowly reveal. It's like a game of, I don't know, scratch off where you're like, well, it's gymnastics. I love your style. I have seen this exact style ego on this show play out to be wonderful, right?

It develops into a character that you're like, oh, it works. There is a humility, a humor, an approach, a humanized vibe that comes off with it. that can work. In this context, all I'm saying is, I don't think that was the right move. It's more helpful to just blend in. Don't bring any extra attention to yourself. You don't want attention right now in this show.

I don't want to be special in any way. I just want to show up and do what I'm told really well. That's the best thing you can do. Okay. I like that. This was a helpful conversation. Thank you. Thank you.

There was a moment in our season where I do think you put a flag on my back early on too. I did? Yes. Oh, the tight rope walk? I did it a couple times maybe. Probably. It was like the very first day when we were stuck on the mountain all day and it cuts, I didn't know this was happening, but it cuts to a conversation you and Q were happening where Q is like, you think your wife's still here. I doubt she is and you're like, no, she is. And he's like, how would you know this? And you just kept, which I'm flattered. I am flattered. And I loved it. And I was like, that's my mind sticking up for me. But the way you're like, she's a beast.

And then you know who freaking comes after me the whole season? Cute. That's true. I never thought about that. You know who locks it on me? No, hold on. Q. Okay.

So in my strategy and a confrontation like that is to be as short as possible with what my response is. I don't want to be some long-winded thing where he's rolling his eyes. I agree. Nobody needs long ones. So then it's like a yes or no. Do you think your wife still here? Yeah, I do.

Yes. And then he gets all smug. I doubt it. No, she is. But I also, I also just know you. And so I wasn't going to, you want me to say, no, I don't think she's here. And then, and then he's like, well, why don't you believe in your wife? I don't want to be in that situation.

I'm not saying that either. But I do think it, I see what you're saying. I see what you're saying. You have to be confident. Is it a lose-lose in that situation? Probably. Man. But I did think it was funny when I went back and saw that and I was like, that's why

freaking Q was after me the whole time. I never put that together. That's funny. Okay, so we move on off of the bags We went through the whole cast In our introduction episode That we posted a couple days ago Yes

So if you want to know who else Is in the show You can listen to that Or you can just watch the episode Yeah We move on to the first exercise The first challenge Which they ripped this band-aid off

So quickly This is like a All-in way to throw the cast Into the show It's doing this backwards dive We did a backwards dive What do they call it? Backwards Flip

Hold on. No, back on. Before we skip over this, because they stripped down into their undies and put uniforms on, we were watching it with Jet and our kids because I think there's actually some cool things to learn from the show. He's asking, why are they all wearing the same thing? It's like a uniform. They all have to wear a uniform.

You're like, well, why do they wear a uniform? It's like, well, they all have to be a part of this thing. A uniform indicates that you're a part of a team, you're a part of a group, and, it also helps to your point earlier not isolate anybody good or bad you're not everyone just wearing the same thing and visually it's the same but the strip down sequence is it's like yeah some people are straight up naked naked and depending on what they're wearing under there there was a girl wearing a thong again in the show and I'm like guys do your research you know you're going to strip down at some point in the show don't be

be wearing your skivis. Man. The first challenge. I will say there was a dynamic already painted early on within like the first five minutes of a lot of the cast being shocked that George Santos is on the show. A lot of cast taking positions of like I don't like him. I do like him. One of my favorite experiences on the show is when you strip down and you all put on the same

uniform and you all put on a number, the entire identity of the show and the idea is you get rid of everything you are outside of that world. and you rebuild it. And you see people for who they are in their core. And you can have redemption. You'll hear it in the tone of what the DS say. And it made me a little bit frustrated, a little bit sad to hear people to be like,

I don't even want to be friends. I don't even want to give him a time of day. Like humans deserve at least human acknowledgement, right? Yeah. And I'm excited to see how the DS kind of forced that back into the recruits early on. Yeah. I love so much just this so wide a range of backgrounds of drama, of controversy, whatever.

Then you show up and maybe these other people know about it. Maybe they don't. But like Billy says later on in the episode, it's a blank slate. Yes. And he said he, I think had some trouble as a young gun and then joined the military. Yeah, Billy did.

And that changes life. And honestly, I'm like, ah, I just love that. It is such a beautiful form. format to say, look, we're all wearing the same uniform and I know I made mistakes and maybe you have to, but let's just show up together and do this thing. And I'll encourage you and let's help each other. And I think in like a less potent version, we all kind of have that opportunity every day to say, I'm going to be honest with my flaws today. I'm going to confront and try to

improve on them a little bit today. And this show is a beautiful, like really heavy shape. of giving people the opportunity to that. But I think I have positively been changed since we did the show of trying to say, okay, how can I have awareness about what I need to change? I would add this too. That does not in any way to reform say like we condone people's mistakes or like agree with them. I just love how emphatic the DSR about on day one, everyone's wiped clean and their true

character will come out and then you get to choose. basically of like we will get to see based off of the testing of their character in situations like that if they are willing to redeem themselves. Yeah.

Which is very eye-opening. Okay, so we go on to... First challenge. Yeah, yeah. They get in a helicopter, which if you're anything like me, this is freaking hype because I've never been in a helicopter before. Now you're sitting on here

and you feel like you're in the military. You're sitting on this metal floor. Yeah. This is my first. I'm doing it. You got this headset on. It's like a cool environment to be in. And you're also fully aware of the fact that you're about to jump out of this. And Q goes out there and shows them what they're about to do. And so you're like, okay, I want to be pumped about the helicopter ride. But I also know that I got to kind of get game mode and prepare for what's needed to be done,

you know? So the first challenge they give them is basically they have to stand on the edge of a helicopter as it's hovering 20 feet over the water, they have to cross their arms above, over their chest, fall backwards, keeping their body very rigid. And if they enter the water on their head upside down, it's quote unquote, a pass.

If they break form or don't follow instruction, it's a fail. Now, to give you a little bit of context, they have probably been briefed on this a total of 60 seconds. while a chopper is going, while people are screaming at them, and their job is to lock in, watch the DS do it once, and do it exactly as told.

Which means they're facing fears of heights, potentially, of helicopters, of water, of swimming, of landing on their head, all of these things, the anxiety and fear that just comes with the show, and can they perform under pressure? So the first to go up is George Santos. which they've already said, and they've depicted the character as like, they don't believe in him pretty much.

Yeah. So he's first to go up, and he does it well. Yeah, which this, you don't ever do a fault like this? It's bonkers. One, it's terrifying.

You're standing on the skid of a helicopter, which it's like a round piece of metal that's slick. And it was my first time on a helicopter, and you got the wind up there and the noise and then the cameras, And the guy, the yes, is telling you, he's yelling at you. To me, it was like, I don't know what to do. And I failed the helicopter one, but the backwards fall is like.

I hated the backwards fall. It's insane. And then you have to land in your head. What are we doing? People got wrecked on this one. Wrecked. So this one's actually really dangerous. We did the backwards fall off of a platform, not a helicopter.

And then we repelled out of a helicopter. And Andrew passed the backwards fall. No. No? Failed. Oh, I failed it too. But I over rotated it and face planted and thought I shattered my face. Like, think about face flopping or belly flopping from 20 feet.

I think this is 25, 30 feet, it looks like, just based off of like the height of the people versus the helicopter off the water. Pretty steep. So one by one they go. Most people do well. There are quite a few fails. It shows George Santos, which is the first. visible show of like the physical need for special forces. He has a hard time swimming and getting out of the water.

That was the first pain moment for me to watch. It's just seeing someone struggle like that. I had a really hard time watching. That's interesting. Human, like, I don't care what a human has done. The empathy behind that moment, I was like, I feel embarrassed for him. Oh, it's interesting.

It's a humbling moment. This is the beauty of the show. Yeah. I feel like it walks. the fine line of, look, they give you a mission. Here's what you have to do. Backflip off a helicopter. Swim X amount of feet.

Get up on this platform, which they're probably looking at this. The DS, when they constructed this, they're all freak athletes. Like Foxy does marathons on cross-country skis. In the Antarctic. Rudy is like a world-class wrestler and many different practices.

And Billy's just a G. And they're probably looking at the platform and it's not even a consideration. to get up off of that. But they say you got to get up and stand up and then we'll debrief is what they do is they walk to you face to face and they say you pass or failed,

this is why. And I just, there's something beautiful about the black or white nature of can you do it or can you not. And if you can't, why? Okay, well, you're not physically ready. So what are you going to do about it? Yeah.

And it's like so simple that I, that's what makes it inspiring to me where it's like so clear. The feedback of how you can improve is right there in front of you. And I agree it's painful to watch. But I look at a guy like George, I don't know how old he is. I think he's in his 30s. And you're like, hey, I think there's an opportunity here. Like I don't think we're probably overly index in the fitness area. We probably, you know, are above average and our focus on it. Yeah. But there's something to be said of taking care of all aspects of your life.

For sure. I've been steward physically, relationally, emotionally, emotionally, financially, whatever. And like, maybe this is an area, maybe. So that to me, I know the embarrassment and the man that's hard to watch, but also it's like, hey, what's he going to do with this?

For sure. I agree. It's just one of those where, like, it showed a raw vulnerable moment. And it was hard for me to watch. Fast forward. we go a little further brandy you see her go a bunch people pass and they do great but brandy glanville's the next one to mention she's afraid of water she's afraid of height she's afraid of everything i it brought

me chills to hear her story of saying she's been sick for the past three years she had silicon silicone poisoning and if you have followed her journey which i had it's been really hard for her like really hard and she said she let fear rule her for the past three years. Just leaving her house has been really difficult. And now she wants to jump back into life, which I thought was like super inspiring. You go from not being able to leave your home

to joining special forces. Yeah. I just had major respect for those two polar, like polar opposite comments. That takes a lot of bravery and courage to do. It's like a stark contrast of how she's been living versus how she wants to live. Yeah.

So you see this background. She goes up. She does face flop, which brought pain back to my soul, because that's exactly what I did. And you guys, I literally, I almost hyper-violated in the water because it hurts so bad. But you see she's in physical distress. She's having a hard time swimming. They're telling her to swim more, and she's like, my sternum hurts. And then it ends up cutting to Ruby Rose, which we can go to in a second.

but Brandy ultimately needs a medic and has to get de-kewed. Chow was like, dang. Yeah. She was so distraught that she was the first person off. Happened early. We had, that was an earlier exit than what we had because Brittany.

Yep. Made it through the first challenge. Yep. So we're talking, they're a couple hours into this thing. Yeah, and she's already gone. Which is crazy. But there's a, Brandy got wrecked. and then two or three other people hit their face.

I know. Hannah's talking, hit her face. belly flop, but your face flopping. That's brutal. I don't even have to imagine it, baby. Oh, man. Ruby Rose goes,

we get some background on her about how she broke her neck, doing her own stunts. And I think we're going to hear more about her journey later, but it's been four years since that. I like that the DS gave her props and respect for you.

even attempting the helicopter thing, having known that background. This is when after we are now introduced to the jungle, we see them trekking, which in the show, you don't see a lot of your trekking or your runs or your hikes that you see because it takes so much time, but you will run with your backpacks on and stuff. Miles. Three, five miles at a time, trekking, and what they're trekking through looks miserable. And the DS do it intentionally. they'll deviate off path to go through this mud pile and you're like just to make you more uncomfortable

what the freak why are we doing this but you'll go miles and do they have their backpacks on not yet okay so when they get back to camp then you'll see them carrying these bergans as they'll call them which i failed to do on the show several times you got penalized for it but those are they make you make them a certain weight so they'll give you a Ziploc bag that if your bag weighs under 50 pounds You have to fill it up with sand or rocks and have your bag weigh exactly that. And then they'll do weigh-ins at least once a day to make sure that you're there. And if it's underneath or I think it can be heavier. It can be heavier.

It can be under. Yeah. But everyone has the same pack amount. Yes. Whether you're Sean or Candice Cameron or George Santos. You all carry 45 pounds. Tall, short. Yeah.

45 or 35? I think that's 40. I don't know. I thought it was 50. But yeah. for hours and miles and it's brutal. And it makes the hikes so much worse. They're hiking through the jungle though

and you see the snakes and the bugs. You see their barracks for the first time. So in the barracks, something that you don't get to see as vividly is everybody sleeps on a cot. Everybody is issued two sets of clothes. So like two pants, two shirts, two socks. We as women were allowed to bring like two bras and two underwear.

You guys got to bring like two boxers. And then next to your bed, you have like a little wooden box. And in your little wooden box, you have like a toothbrush, toothpaste, maybe a deodorant, and like this tiny toddler-sized pillow that you can sleep with. And there's a med kit box too separate that maybe has some extra band-aids or whatever. In the med kit that is universal, it's provided by the show, right? But everybody shares it. And that's like the only thing you get.

There's like tape, blister band-aids, probably one bug spray, one sunscreen. But it's not, there's no like, there's no bathroom. There's one shower that's outside. And one of my favorite things to tell people, because I've had a lot of people ask is the showering situation. They're like, can you shower? I'm like, yes. However, wrap your heads around this.

There is no schedule. You are not told we will be back in an hour to come. get you for the next challenge. Or we're going to do five challenges today. You don't know when lunches. You don't know when breakfast is. You don't know when you're done for the day. You don't know when you're starting the day. If at or at any point they can call recruits. They can yell recruits. And you have. I'm sweating just now. 30 seconds to 60 seconds to get dressed, put your backpack on and get out on the square. Oh, it's terrible. So you can technically shower whenever you want. You can technically change whenever you want.

You can technically take your clothes off and go wash them in the community basin whenever you want. But God forbid, you are caught in that shower, mid-shower, soap on your body and they call recruits. It's a terrible experience. So Sean and I's strategy was one, to hang out in the barracks as much as possible. And two, we honestly slept. Fully clothed. So that if any point we got, and we had our boots there. we would always untie them fully with like right there so we could just rotate to slip them in because

you're wearing these full length boots full height boots and you know to slip in there sometimes it's hard we barely showered not to be disgusting but like to me the anxiety of showering was not worth it i think they gave us three minutes you had three minutes to get out there it was two is two or three minutes to report not enough time correct oh it gives me anxiety i know johnny vanzel in our season was literally like midwash, almost butt naked and got called. Oh man. Brutal. George Santos got caught. George Santos. Unchanged. And then... This was a rough episode for George Santos. We dive heavily into his background. You see the recruits talking about it. You see him talking about it. You see quite a few moments of him discontent with...

the living situation. He says like diva down and he deserves to be treated like a human being because they, the DS called him and they're like yelling at him to go faster. He calls it unsanitary. And I think what he's voicing out loud is what everyone's kind of feeling to a certain extent, which is like just getting used to. And why am I doing this?

Yes. And what his strategy when he got called was just kind of, Take his time. Still rolling his own pace. I had anxiety watching. Which was stressing me out. And yeah, there is this concept of, yeah, you don't need to do it. But my thought is you came here, signed up for it.

Let's play the game, you know. And when he's, they show the scene of him, he's the camp head. What do they call it? Duty recruit. Dude to recruit. Yeah. And that's like, it's an important role because you are the liaison between the D.E. who will call the dude to recruit up, report certain notes of, hey, do you all need any supplies,

more band-aids or whatever. Or they'll even say, duty recruit, you have to run out to the square and they'll be like, tell everybody lunch is ready. Or they'll say, tell everybody that they have three minutes to get X, Y, and Z in their bag, and we're going, you know, like we're leaving camp here, meet here. And so you're kind of like the team captain, but you also have responsibilities like prepping the food. and he was spraying down the tables,

which that was a very kind act of his, to be honest. No one, I think, sprayed our tables, but good for him. Good for him. It was a test of character, and as Billy has said before, of, like, weeding people out. He definitely had a target on his back from the beginning,

and they don't hold back on him. They pull him in for his interview or his interrogation, which is usually where they bring up, like, why are you here? What are you trying to get from this? For him, they went straight for the throat. And they said, we know everything you've done. What are you going to do about it?

And they did that for a few of the people in our season. Just bringing up, like, harsh backgrounds, right? And talking about Billy's concept of when you get here, you get to wipe the slate clean. Something that the DS respect more than anything is for someone to be able to admit fair and square, they're wrongdoing.

I wonder about this, though, because there's a lot of moving pieces. I fortunately have never been in the situation. I know. But if you have been in a situation like George has, there's legal ramifications, you know what I'm saying? Of we've done X, Y, and Z in court,

and this is, you know what I'm saying? We have to adhere to what we've said in court, there's a broader, like, even though you are in this short, intense moment of the show, how's it going to get picked up in headlines? And I don't know, it's like, I'm glad that I've never had to deal with something like that. But they did go, they dive right into it. I just think the hard part from me watching is I always want to give people the benefit of the doubt, especially at the beginning of these shows where you're wiping the slate clean.

He had every chance, though, in his interrogation with Billy and Q. to say, you know what, I did a really bad thing. And I'm here to build myself back up. But on more occasions than one, he would try to storytell his way into an excuse as to why, right? Which is not with a DS-Bant. No excuses, yeah.

And it was interesting watching that. Mike, one of my coaches along the way, I used to give long-winded answers, you know, and ultimately it would kind of be an excuse. It's, in my mind, I would rationalize it as I'm explaining. Yeah. But it comes off as an excuse. And so I think just saying, like starting with taking full accountability, full ownership, and then if they ask a follow up, like, why were you late?

say I wasn't ready. Like it's, it's on you. It doesn't matter. As long as your answer points back to you taking full ownership, I think that's the right way. Yeah. If you're like, oh, well, X, Y, Z happen, and whatever, it can come off as an excuse.

I think the human side of the George Santos story of episode one is he wants a fresh start, right? He wants people to believe him. He wants to be redeemed. but unfortunately his narrative of the words he chooses to explain himself

are not redemptive. They are um opaque. Opeak, vague. They're very like... Let me ask you this though. I don't know.

Yeah, I do know. But the things that you have to cope with in your life, things that haven't paned out your way, mistakes you've made, trauma you've experienced. how do you how do you cope with that part of it is the stories you tell yourself and if if i have made a bad mistake which we all have like at some point you have to put it in the past and not you can't be

a sad dog you know you can't just continue to mope or like what's the balance you know what's the balance, you know what I'm saying? I agree. You can't mope into your narratives and your stories. That was part of the thing that I had to address with the DS on my season, on our season, was I had all of these like stories I would tell myself about I don't want to be seen as a weak person. I want to overcome the things people would say to me back in the day and how authority powers would abuse their authority power and all these things. And they're like, it's literally a decision you can make right now. Why do you keep telling yourself that? but I think the difference of the narrative that we saw on episode one with George was he never

flipped that switch in episode one and said you're right I'm wrong I want to start today fresh and I want to build it up it was always this narrative of but this is why and but this is why and but this is why and so it is kind of meandering in the past or and I think it's a really hard habit to break and I'm hoping that maybe they can break that habit for him to start a new lifestyle and to wipe his slate

truly clean, right? But if he's not willing to break that habit and just make excuses for himself, it won't work in this setting. And it probably won't work outside of life either. The scene of Rudy and him in the courtyard and him holding the pushup position. Yeah, it's kind of hard to watch, but you're like, okay, it did seem like he was trying to come up with some way to get out of the pushup position, which is fine.

My back hurts. I need medication. Yeah. It's excuses. What's your strategy in that situation if your back's hurting? Because you were injured on the show. You still did things. I think the whole concept of the show is testing your mental strength of how much can you endure and push through.

And I think in life we get so comfortable with saying, I don't need to do this. Why would I do this? But you never actually test yourself to see, am I able to change all of the comfort out of my life and actually work through something? and seeing Rudy be so direct with him and be like, you can give me more. I know you can. But you've got this narrative in your mind saying,

oh, I hurt too much. I do this. I think it's just a test of how can we push you to be a better person for yourself? They went through their first beasting, which is at night. You know, we talked about there's no schedule. You don't know what's coming.

they were all laying down in bed and then they get called to the courtyard and they had to army crawl roll through mud and it's all this nonsense and any given thing by itself is not crazy difficult but then you're out there and you're doing it for five minutes and then you're doing it for 10 minutes and lap after lap you're doing it for 15 minutes and you don't know how long it's going to be and then so you throttle back your pace and then they say you're not working hard enough but you're trying to pace yourself because you don't know what's coming. By the way, Alicia Baumgartner is a beast. She did a great job on the back.

So is Candace. Beast. It shows her grinding through everything. Yeah. It's so fun. But yeah, you're like, it's a hard thing to roll into. And they're not showing the rocks on the ground. They're not showing.

We had shredded glass during our army crawls. It's just like, yeah, you're just crawling through. And I'm sure they have. had certain stipulations, like you got to keep your head down in the mud or do X, Y, and Z. And it's like, it hurts your ego, it hurts your body. It's just painful. The hardest part of the show, I think, for anybody to grasp is you never know when the next thing is coming. You never know if it's going to be two minutes to sleep or five hours or seven hours. And you're just always on edge. And so it never allows your body to actually relax. And if you can't find comfort with that early on,

or peace with it, you don't last for the show. And you can already see it shows a weak point with Ruby Rose where at the very end she can't get the bag above her head and they call her out for it. And you see it kind of lingering in her face of, there's so many times you're going to get knocked down every single day through the whole 12 days. And it is agony.

It is. No matter how you cut it. How much can you keep enduring before you quit? Yeah. Ruby was interesting. They mentioned this when she was doing it. her backflip that she had a neck injury. Yep.

Which I'm excited to hear more about that story. But, you know, they do expect everyone to do the same thing. They'll make few and rare exceptions, which I think boxing was the only exception that we had on our season. Two people couldn't box or one? Two. One person couldn't get punched in the face and another couldn't box at all. But Ruby couldn't do the backflip because of her neck situation. So they are considerate and they're not like crazy reckless in that sense where if you have a limitation, they'll honor that.

But I'm curious if there's other limitations that people on the season have, how they'll adjust to that. I'm curious how Ruby's story pans out and how having a neck issue and you're sleeping on a cot and then I'll like it's, I don't know. We'll see how it pans out. I'm really shocked. Did anybody else leave? Just one. This one. Brandy.

I will say this. After episode one, I was really shocked that George didn't go home. Good for George. I was, yeah, I'm pleasantly surprised. I'm really curious to see how long he'll last. And then two, Billy makes one statement close to the end, and he says, if you disrespect the course, you disrespect us.

And I remember that being said multiple times in our season. Yeah. where the whole concept is, it's their blood, sweat, and tears. This all represents what they went through. These guys, background, we've never said this. These guys served in the special forces in the military of whatever country they're coming from.

Not a super high-paying job. They all have families at home. They all are maybe retired from special forces now. And this is their job, is to put this show and course on. and so they take it very seriously. They want to perform well. As they should.

They can essentially get rotated in and out and they don't want to lose their job. So they are very diligently trying to put together the best, most accurate representation of what they actually went to as soldiers. And like they want to keep their job on the show. And so it's like a serious thing for them. And they're also recreating what they went through. And in order to get the full benefit of the show, you have to have to. to respect the ideology of what it means to be in the military. And if you don't adapt to the world that they create, you are basically slapping them in the face because it's what they've

created to better you for. And if you can't get that concept in your mind early on, it's not going to work how well. Forecasting into episode two, things move very quickly. And this is a very intense season. You've already seen the first half. I've seen the first half. We do get special access to watch ahead of time so that we can make these episodes. But one thing we didn't see in episode one that we had on our first day was like really grueling physical challenge. They had more of a skill-based challenge with the backflip.

But curious what happens on day two and how that pans out. And I'm curious what you thought of this debrief. brief. If you watch the episode, let us know. If you had different takeaways than we did, let us know. Excited to try the series out. And again, if you're looking for a fun show to watch, check out Special Force on Fox. Thank you Fox for letting us do this. It's fun. And that's all I got. It's all I got. Get ready to see who drops like a, in the first three minutes next episode. Until next time. I'm Andrew. I'm Sean. Out.