Couple Things with Shawn and Andrew - Surviving Special Forces with Brianna LaPaglia: Our Story

Episode Date: February 19, 2026

In this episode, we sit down with Brianna LaPaglia (Brianna Chickenfry) for one of her most honest conversations yet. She opens up about her life, the relationships that shaped her, and what it was really like to face the grueling challenges of Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test. Brianna shares moments the cameras didn’t capture, the obstacles that pushed her to her limits, and the lessons she took away from an experience that changed her forever. On top of that, we dive into our unexpected friendship, how it started, and the bond that grew out of shared experiences. Laughs, raw honesty, and real-life stories make this conversation one you won’t want to miss!! Whether you’re a fan of reality TV, curious about the life of Brianna Chickenfry, or just love real, unfiltered conversations about life, love, and resilience, this episode has something for you. We love you Brianna!! 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, interviews. With Sean and Andrew. Today we have one of our favorites, Brianna LaPaglia, who you guys might know as Rihanna Chicken Fry. That's right. But we know her from Special Forces where we very quickly got thrown into Navy SEAL training and got to know the most vulnerable sides of each other. And she just punched my face in.

Yeah, we didn't know her nine months ago. And then our first 10 days together were really intense. And so I feel like we know each other pretty well now. And we've got to see her in New York City and Los Angeles and a couple different times over the past nine months. It's been a real treat. So we wanted to sit down to interview her. This is kind of still part of the special forces series where we interview Gia and Teresa Jude Ice and several other recruits on the show. But this one's full of giggles, laughs.

I think some really good moments on this interview as well. hope you enjoy it. And if you want to find out more about Brianna and what she's up to, we'll link her information down below. Thank you for the time, Bree, and hope you enjoy this one with Brianna La Pagria. Brie, how was your last episode? Wait, what do you mean? Yesterday. You filmed your last episode? Oh, my God. Yeah, I did. I was like, what are you talking about?

Because I've been doing so many podcasts. It was, I cried. We did a six-hour live stream. And- What? Yeah. It was guys, I didn't go to bed until, so I was up that morning at six. I came home at like two in the morning. We did a six-hour live stream. Why was it so long? We couldn't say goodbye.

You were emotional? Yeah, I cried a lot. What made you so sad as just like an end of an era? Yeah, I guess I didn't really comprehend. It was always on the calendar. This is when it ends. But then we watched like our producers made a video for like the last five years. And man, a good video, a montage gets me.

Oh, yeah. I'm a sucker for a good montage. I'm glad you got your flowers. That was so sweet, Sean. Oh, my God. I literally almost cried. I will say the worst part of the last episode and people kept asking me about it was, wow.

I say this lately. Why did Brie quit 10 minutes before the finish line? I'm like, do you think we knew that? I know. Literally every interview, the one I just had, they were like, so would you have quit knowing that it was only five minutes before it was over? I'm like, obviously not. Part of me wonders that they were just waiting for two people to be.

left. I know, right? So I think they just finished it because two people were left. Yeah. I mean, I want to tell myself that. Or no, because then I'm like, oh, I kind of made it. Oh my gosh, wait, let me turn this brick and you can hear that beep. You're fine. Megan, could you text in our family group chat or remove me from the group chat? Just remove me from it. You live with your sister? I'm like a little cousin. That's her roommate? Yeah. I kind of forced her to move here because she was working in pathology. She was a little bit miserable in her job. And I'm like, sorry, Megan, I'm talking about you.

I was like, she needs the push to get out. She was still living in Boston. All of our family and friends, like, still live there and have them left. And I knew she wanted to leave. And, like, we grew up kind of like sisters. And I was like, you know what? Quit this job. Go to grad school.

Just come live with me. You don't need to pay rent. I'll help you out. And she's in grad school. She just got, it took her a year to find a job in New York City. She finally got one. And here we are. It's awesome.

That's amazing. Who gave you the push, Bree? I left home when I was for college and I never returned. I just always knew I wanted to like go be a nomad. I've been everywhere. What did you not like, Sean and I go to Boston? This is one of our favorite cities we ever go to. What made you want to get out of there?

I know. And that's the thing. love Boston so much and I also love the people so much. But for what I wanted to do, I just feel like there was nothing for me there career-wise. So I felt like I had to get out. How'd you end up here? I'm curious, Bree. What'd your life look like five years ago? And how did you get there? Oh, my gosh. Like, it's crazy, guys. I actually, so I wound it up going to school, a small school college in Cleveland, Ohio. I know. What the hell? Who the hell does that? Me? Let me leave Boston and go to Cleveland.

This is a theme that I do. I love to torture myself. I went to Cleveland and I was a pre-med student, but my minor was screenwriting, filmmaking. That's like what I always wanted to do, but my dad was like,

there's no money in that, so that can't be a major. And then I started making videos my junior year, I believe, and they took off and then Barstool reached out to me. And I was doing full-time school, full-time barstool employee. And I was like, what makes me happy?

Because I'm not giving 100% either. I'm doing 50-50. And I like to commit full to something that I do. So I dropped out of school senior year. I packed up a U-Haul by myself and I moved to New York City by myself. Dang. And this all. Dropping out with one year left, huh?

I know. But it was COVID. So I was like, I can always go back because all my classes were online. It was also miserable. my parents weren't too happy that it was one year left, but sometimes you got to take a gamble. Did you want to do pre-med? Do you want to be in medicine? Yeah, I think. I mean, I just thought that that was the way to, like, if you're going to go to college, like, be a lawyer, be a doctor, do something like that. I always did enjoy helping people,

and I thought that would be the best way to do it and make money. But no, I was never really fully enthralled by it. I didn't really necessarily want to be there. So I'm glad that my life switched up. Wow. We were talking at dinner the other night that you are pursuing a book in screenwriting now. Yeah. Do you see that as another career transition? Are you trying to do both again?

Yeah, I do. It's crazy, like in our world now. I feel like if you don't have a social media presence, no one's going to see your stuff. It's just so good for promoting it or just getting eyes on it. So I feel lucky in the sense that I built this. platform knowing I wanted to always transition into writing and like film. And now it's like, okay, I have this foundation. I've built my network. And it's kind of going to be a smooth transition, I feel. So you mentioned you started making videos. What were those initial videos

about that popped off? I always feel like you guys are going to be like mad at me. There were a lot of like party videos. I like, I don't like to vape in front of Sean Andrew. It's like, call you out. I'm like, get rid of that. No, literally, every time I hit my vape, I hear their voice in the back of my head. And I'm like, oh, I need to quit. I need to quit. But my original videos were I was very much, I would party at school. And then I would wake up the next morning and do like my hangover diaries, essentially.

And I would just get on there and I would sit on my roof in college and like lay in the snow, face down in the snow and just talk about my night before. And people ate it up. People loved it. So it was awesome. And then I kind of became like the hangover queen. And then that's how I transitioned to like my party girl era and did all the college tours. And it was a long, it was a long three years of partying.

Are you still in your party girl era? Oh, I'm a retired party girl, guys. I can still party. Don't get me wrong. I was going to say, I still follow you, Bray. You can party. I can't. You party harder.

You party harder now than I have ever. Yeah. And like, that's why you won special forces and I didn't. Like, there's the difference. You won. That's close. I was this close. No, I think I'm like, New York City is crazy because, like you just said, like my retired party girl here is probably more than people party party party.

Ever. Like, New York is just a crazy city. It doesn't, it really doesn't sleep. I would be nervous to see what actual your party girl era looked like. You would be nervous, Sean. I would be nervous. You would be. Yeah.

Well, you two would be like, Brie. we're having an intervention. Literally. I'm having an intervention now. I can't imagine back then. I would have say you somewhere. I feel like Bree is so dynamic though. Like how many people do you know that do pre-med in college?

And then they have a minor and screenwriter, which is like total right left brain collision. And she's party girl, but she's also like writing a book. It's like so. And you're disciplined enough to like finish special forces, but you're party hard enough to do that. My lore is crazy. And then I was diving in college.

I was also a cheerleader in college. Oh, yeah. You were a diver. I know. So lame. I remember that the diving challenge, you're like, you have no idea how bad this sucks. When you get hurt diving, you get hurt diving. I mean, I'm sure you know when you land wrong in gymnastics, it's like death.

But the water, man, it hurts. I will never forget. I wish there was some sort of evidence, but you and I having black and blue bodies after face planning from a third story dive. From our shins to our chest. We were purple. Dude. It was awful.

It was so bad. I was like, oh my gosh. At least someone else slammed the way that I did. Okay, special forces. Why did you do it? I don't know. I always, like I keep getting asked this question. I think why, I mean, initially why I did sign up is because I'm so stubborn.

And my manager brought it to me. And he was like, I'm assuming you're going to pass. And I was like, I'm offended. Why would you say that? I'm up right now. And the closer it got, the more I started watching like clips and I started watching the season. And I was like, oh, wow, this is legit. This is serious.

And then I was kind of just up for the challenge. I always say I'll try everything once. Besides like, you know, I'm not going to do math. But I'll try everything within reason once. I mean, this is the best opportunity. and I'm so glad that I did it. Why? I think it changed the way that I view not only myself, but just a lot, just like a lot of

day-to-day things. Like, I used to be such a, I can't do this. I mean, you guys witnessed it on the show. Every day, I'm like, I can't do this. I can't. I can't. And even like through meeting people like you guys and your like positive affirmations and just telling me you can, you can, I realized how.

much I do negative talk myself or how like self-doubting I am and how much of a waste of time it is and how capable I actually am and without I think watching my annoying self on the show just always being like I can't I can't I wouldn't have realized how much I do it and if anything I got a lot out of the show but I think that's the most important and kind of something that I'll take with me forever how did the show change your perspective on on vaping oh my God I mean it did though Because my training for the show was I did, I ran half a mile the week before. And I couldn't breathe. I literally couldn't breathe.

And of course, I had to quit vaping on the show. And then I did, I quit vaping for a month total. And I was running after. I was running like the most miles I'd ever ran in my life. And I know it was because I quit vaping. So I know the positives of it. Sean was so pumped. She was falling in your stories.

And she was like, breeze like, do you know, these jogs. She's like, just documenting it and vlogging it. I feel like she's doing so well. You got to wait vest. And I was like, okay. I see in New York, you just freaking hitting the stick, dude. I know, guys. I was doing so well.

And then, like, I got wrapped up and work and travel. Oh, my God, stop. Bree, turn it off. You remove me from everything. Go to the top right with a little control center. Okay, control turn on. Do not disturb. You're freaking Jin Zier.

You should know this stuff. I literally, every time I do it on my Zoom, it's when no one has texted me all day. And then when I get on a Zoom, it's I'm getting blown up. Okay, it's on. Do you see the Do Not Disturb? Okay.

I'm sorry, guys. Let me get on a soapbox real quick. Because here's. Because we love you. Here's what's cool about to show. And then I'll transition to you specifically, Bree. I roll in there and I don't know any of these reality TV stars. I don't know you.

You show up and meet these people and you're just getting to know them based off how they are approaching these challenges and treating the other people there. And it's so cool because you can't reference your phone. You can't Google anybody. you can't see what controversies they've been cut up in or whatever their personal brand is or pictures they post on Instagram. It's just like, who is this person that I see right here today? And I'm freaking looking at Bree. And I'm seeing how, you said this on the show, you so eloquently dealt with difficult relationships. Like a couple, a couple like teammates you had. The feedback you gave,

Honestly, it was like so, I learned so much from you because you would be so honest. But in such a gentle. I think like very gracefully. It wasn't aggressive. It was like earnestly and eagerly. So there's that part of it, which I'd never seen. You also have this crazy ability to compartmentalize or like, you know, let the water go into the bridge. You did the workout thing at the end of day six or seven.

And you were like crying. Crucified. Yeah. Getting yelled at, getting crushed out there. then you walk into the barracks and like you're pretty much laughing you're like well that was the worst thing i've ever done in my life and it's just like i wouldn't i would need like five hours to like emotionally work through that and it's like boom you're done and then also you're freaking crushing these challenges and i get i'm confused when i talk to you brey because i see an incredibly

talented gifted strong woman and and then there's some things that you say that are not in line with that image that I have of you, that I also feel like you displayed to everybody else. I'm like, what is she missing? What, or what am I missing? I'm confused. I do have a question about this. That was a beautiful sitbox, babe. We talk about this all the time.

But we heard your letters and we got to see them live on TV. Yes, you wrote one to your mother. I did. I did. Mom, if you're listening. But it seems like you had a wonderful upbringing. You have a wonderful relationship with your parents. Was this negative self-taxie?

talk and doubt. Did it creep in from society from previous relationships? Is this kind of how you've always been? Is this like a new thing? That's a good question. I think I really do think that it happened throughout my traumatic like relationship that I went through. I think I've always been very confident. And I've always had self-doubt. But I think as we all have, I think if you don't have self-doubt, you're probably not going in the right direction. And I mean, mine got to an extreme point where I think I was just always very negative and didn't believe in myself. But the last past year, being with like a narcissist or just in an abusive relationship, it breaks down any confidence that you had. It made me hate all of the things that I used to love about myself. And I'm trying to

work back to getting there. It's really hard. It's like a psychological warfare. It really does change. I I mean, it's proven to change your, like your brain chemistry and like the makeup, your, your chemical makeup in your head. So I think this is something that's kind of new for me. And it is, it was really sad to honestly watch it back because I wasn't ever really like that. I was always so sure. And I think kind of what to Andrew just said, he's like, how can you be these two things

at once? It's like, I don't know. I never was. I always was so sure. And I knew like who I was when I walked in a room. And that didn't change necessarily who I am, but the way that I view myself to change. So now it's kind of like I'm this split thing where I am this strong independent girl that can do it all. But at the same time, I'm like so negative towards myself.

So it was sad but also nice to watch it because now I feel like I can work on it more. And like words from you guys and just everyone on the show, it helps. On the show, the DS, I feel like caught on to it pretty quickly. You had a hard time opening up. I remember that with the group and with the DS. You didn't want to share that story. But then you did, which I think was really beneficial. I really believe Billy saw you as a daughter.

He took you under his wing. Yeah. Do you feel like they helped start that healing process? Because there were times where Rudy would just get in your face and be like, you need to be more fit. Yeah. Yeah. Because I think he was truly seeing in you. like a capability of how to kind of push through this. But did they, did they help in the

healing process or did that kind of like make you think about it and ruminate on it more? I think, I think in the beginning, I was just so angry at them because I honestly kind of felt like a little PTSD or just like, I don't know. I didn't know how I was going to land with them. But like you said, Billy, I think without him, I wouldn't have gotten as far as I did. And there's also something that wasn't shown on the show after my interrogation, which it wasn't day three. I think it was like day seven or eight. Like I was later or did we call that interrogation when they took?

Whenever they took me back. The mirror mirror. The interview or whatever. Yeah. When I went back to that after we had to like run out immediately to a challenge. And I was like, I was just, you guys watched that. I couldn't even breathe. I was hyperventilating that.

And Rudy came up to me as we were like, oh, going to the cars and he's like, your ex was military. And I was like, yeah, why are you saying this? Yeah, like, I don't want to talk about it. And he, like, grabbed me by the shoulders and was like, I just want you to know, like, we're not all bad. I want to change that opinion for you. And like, he looked at me and grabbed my head and he was like, get in the car.

And in the beginning, when he said, I was mad, I was angry. I was like, just stop bringing this up, stop talking about it. But I think if I think I suppress a lot of things and don't talk about them. And I don't want to face them because I know the emotions. that are going to come out. So that, I hated Rudy in the moment for it, but I'm really glad he said it. It is such a rare thing to have people speak so bluntly and honestly.

Right. And it does, it feels like cheesy or unnecessary or frustrating in the moment, but like some of the things I said, I think about still and it's like, man, I'm really grateful to be in that format like that. But I'm also, I also, that that happened to you, Bree, because I just think that there's great things in your future. And

I'm pumped to to see you close that chapter and move on to the next. And, you know, Sean and I are here to root you on in whatever way we can. I know we've only known you for like five, five months, but it's crazy. It feels so, I literally feel like I know I've known twice forever. Yeah, forever. Let me also just submit this that the party crew that you're spending time with. I don't know who the individuals are in that. But like it might not be contributing to the growth out of that phase. And I'm also curious, this is more of a question. How do you feel like the internet feeds into your image of yourself?

Like is it more positive, is it negative? Do you ride on the comments or how is your relationship in that? that realm as you're trying to regain this. Yeah, for sure. I've always been super like good at being able to separate reality from I guess the internet. I've never put much much weight in the negative comments. I've never put much weight in the positive comments. I've never really held much weight in people's opinions of me that don't know me or haven't met me. And I think that's just how I was brought up. I think that's just like kind of how my family raised me. It's like the people that know you and love you know who you are and none of the noise matters. So I really don't

think the internet or people's opinions have ever affected me too much because if they did, I would have been ran off from this career a long time ago. Yeah. Do you feel like you make good decisions? Andrew. I do. I do. I think I do. I think I did. I do. I think I did. I do. I make honest decisions and sometimes I might not make the decision that I would have made five years like in the future looking back on it but I think I make the decisions based off of you know everything I can and what I know in that moment and what I'm going through so I think I make relatively good decisions I'm not dead yet I haven't gotten anyone do you have mentors uh I don't know this industry is weird I

you think you have a lot of people in your corner or that you can count on or you can trust. And then they kind of fizzle out or if they're transactional and no, I don't think I have many mentors. I'm really just close with my friends from home and my family. I've had this same group of friends since I was in fifth grade and they're still my best friends. I think Andrew's about to self-appoint himself. So get ready. You're ready for like daily text messages. It's just interesting because like the kind of.

The comments she made of I make the best decisions pretty much with the information that I have. So I don't know if I would have the same one five years from now. But like a mentor can help cover that blind spy in a lot of ways or at least give you a longer term perspective. And I'm like, I don't know. Just something to think about. I mean, I would hire you guys as mentors. You're stuck with us for life. You need another job.

You guys are doing a million things all the time and have a million kids. You freaking are. You're traveling going to Chicago and Miami to party bars. You're in, what were you in? Iceland? And then Ireland and then Scotland? I know. I know.

I'm all over the place. But for once, I'm like in New York for, I think a week and a half straight. This is major. It's been a long time coming. I haven't been in one place in a long time. If you saw how many suitcases are still packed at my door right now, you would scream at me. Okay. Going back to Special Forces.

Yes. Give me the worst challenge for you. And why? I have so many. Every day was the worst day. Like, I'm trying to think of the one that really, because in my head it goes the chain one or the tunnel one. Because the tunnel one, I like, I think that was the first time I'd ever truly had a panic attack.

Like, I was hyperventilating. shaking but then the chain one i mean i just i don't know which one was worse i don't think i could say which one was worse both of them were my breaking points for sure i think the tunnel one mentally i've never been in a spot like that in my life and then physically never been in a spot like the chain one in my life they were those were the two of the hardest days of my life i think that's interesting that you pick out those two i think those are the only two where all of the ds rather than trying to get someone to pull a number, they were actually trying to get us all through. Yeah, right?

Because what they didn't show in the tunnel one is Bree cussing out the DS, screaming out. Which I don't remember. Ripping her helmet off. Yeah. Ripping her helmet off and throwing it out. I'm like handing it to him and be like, you hold this. And then them truly just like helping you get through it, which is amazing. Yeah, I know.

And then they were so helpful. Go ahead. I just, I looked back on it and like we could say all. we want if they were so mean they were so horrible but you can see how much like they believe in you in the times where they don't let you quit because there were I mean they let Johnny quit like they probably felt that he was probably checked out and didn't want to be there yeah I feel like they saw how much I wanted to be there even while they were saying they didn't because they would have let me just walk off the show and they didn't a lot of times yeah I loved how many times

people tried to quit and they would like put the arm band back on you and be like not not today especially with nick and oh gosh so funny he took his arm band off so many times and they literally just put it on and said keep going i mean the entertainment value that nick and ravi brought was phenomenal yeah the tunnels was really interesting i don't know i've never had a like freak out moment i don't know if panic attack is the right word but as soon as i found out we were in a dead end i literally almost just like naturally convulsed to try to freaking shove myself up out of the boards that were on top of me. And I've never had that out of control feeling like I did in that moment. It was weird. Which is crazy. And Andrew doesn't give himself enough credit. That, I mean, we saw it in the show. He did that episode. He led the team. It wouldn't take credit for it. He was so, you just said that you wanted to full body convulse and you wanted to die. I was freaking out. You were like so calmly collected. And then he gets done with it.

He's just like good job to everyone else. No one's even being like, Andrew, that was badass. And he just goes to Sean, make sure she's okay. No, no, I was in tears and throwing up. I don't know why they didn't show that. I was literally crying and throwing up, which by the way, my favorite crying scene of the whole of the whole show was Bree's. Single tier. With Q in her face, the one single tier rolling down to cheek.

That was so dope. I don't know how you pulled that off. I know. I was like, don't let it fall. Don't let it fall in. I have to bring up the epic slow-mo shot of murderball. We're deleting this part of the interview. When Andrew comes full speed straight from the side and just body, you ducked, you dipped his shoulder.

He wanted to tell me. It was a clean hit. It was a clean hit. It was a great hit. But I was like, you can't do that. I want to clear something up. Because I know it was fair game. I know it was fair game.

But I thought because there were rules where they had two rules. They were like, you can't protect. Like if you're not called, you can't protect the end zone. So I thought Mr. Frickin East was just coming out of the woodwork and coming to attack me without being called because they didn't hear his number being called because I was too focused on freaking Cody Brown in my face. But I was like,

you can't do that. I meant like cheat, I thought essentially. But it was all fair game. And you had to do. you had to do what you had to do. I mean, obviously, as we saw, I don't think very well on my feet, like, quickly. She wouldn't know. She hasn't seen it yet.

Oh, yeah, that's right. Just wait until you watched the last episode. But I see you running up the sideline and there's nobody else. And then I hear 11. And I was like, oh, no. So I just immediately. I would have done so many things differently. But I saw red.

Just I would like to use this opportunity to apologize. Guys, everyone left me. He texted me. I can't even count this amount of time. Throughout the rest of the show, every single second we made Icon back. I'm so sorry. He's like, I'm so sorry. He was so worried.

He's like, they're going to put that in the show. And I'm going to look like I'm a bad guy, but I'm not. And I'm like, Andrew, everyone in the world knows that you are. Like, I was talking to after we went out to dinner or like after we did press, I was talking to my cousin Megan. And I'm like, this couple makes me have faith. I'm like, there are good couples out there and there are men that are good because of you. So I'm like, don't worry about tackling me.

It's okay. I appreciate that. I have never seen him hit such a low point in like his self, just like probably self-worth for a little bit. You had just opened up to all of us. We had started to hear your story, which we didn't know. Yeah. And then Andrew was like, I am no better. I am this man

This is And he was in such a low point He's like I should go to prison I was like oh boy Foxy came up to me Right after that he was like Put his hand on my shoulder He was laughing

He was like that was fun wasn't it I was like no that was terrible I feel do you know Bree's backstory And I'm freaking just feet right into it And no Andrew No I would be offended if you didn't tackle me

I'd be like come on I can handle it See that's That's how I feel about the boxing. I would have been offended if he didn't take my face off. Exactly. Exactly. But tell me you have faith that there are good guys out there. I don't.

I seriously, you have changed my mind. Like you, Randall, this show is also something positive that came out of this. I was like, oh, there are good guys out there. It'll take me a little bit. And I'll find faith. But I'm like, Sean, where did you find this guy? I'm like, how do I go find a just nice guy? I don't even know.

trust me it's not going to be freaking downtown new york city at 4 a.m okay you guys are acting like i am i haven't been out in so long like the times that you see on my instagram that i'm out that's technically work which is killing me i will say this though brie i'm not that much older than you but having been married now to this man i also did not believe there were good people out there. Okay. This is good. Before meeting him. Okay. And I even told Andrew, I pushed him away for nine months forever agreed to go on a second date.

Because in my head, I was like, it's too good to be true. There's malintent. This is a manipulation. He's just trying to like win me over to take advantage of me. Like I just truly didn't believe it. And then every day that like we ended up going out after the nine months, I was like, there's no way. he's actually like, this isn't real. Yeah, yeah. And it took a long time, but I even said it on the show. Like, you healed that part of me, which is crazy. And I believe that for you.

And I'm trying to set you up on a blind date. But because that guy is also a really phenomenal human, vastly different lifestyle. I'm going to have to work now. It could work. It could work. Vastly different. Very different lifestyle. However, he's a phenomenal human.

And you should just meet a phenomenal guy to restore faith. You're right. You're right. Like just once. You're right. Bree, I didn't know you were so well known for your writing and your poetry. How long have you been doing that? Yeah.

I mean, I honestly, I get, it's the one thing that I have close to my heart that I don't share too much. You know when you're so proud of something or you care about something so much, you're scared of critiquing it? Like, I don't care what people have to say about my stupid videos online. But the things that I do share, people love. I've been doing it since like I can remember. I was like in the magazine in high school, the creative writing. Like I took a bunch of classes in college. It's always been my favorite thing to do.

And I started sharing it probably like 2021. And yeah, people love it when I do share it. So maybe today I'll share something on my Instagram. You need to share more. What's Bree's creative process? You're going to hate this. Um, my creative process is I literally only write like I'll be dozing off trying to go to sleep. And I like to like start movies in my head.

It's such a weird thing. And you know how like people start dreams? I'll like start movies in my head of like things I want to write. And then I'll get this like surgeons and I'll just write all throughout the night. And then I'll be up until 7 a.m. But then I have to. Really? Yeah.

It's always in the nighttime. Like if you were. to be like right now where you go write something it would be ass it has to be in there wow that's super interesting also you also have a future in comedy you're one of the funniest you're one of the funniest people i've ever met your wittiness is like the best it kept me through the whole the whole show i know i tried to keep a little i didn't even realize i did it but i'm like all right i was at least making some i was making some people crack up as long as i was getting the smiles that's my currency is laughs and giggles and you two you're an easy crowd to be honest

we are we are we are juvenile I love it yeah I know we just talked about this on Tuesday but Bree's letter the day they had us write letters as if we were going away to battle and might not ever return which by the way they didn't show all the setup for that where Billy tells this story oh my gosh they didn't didn't show any of the personal stories from the guys. I, like, probably for a good reason.

Yeah. They make you feel like you're really not going to see this person again. And so you better cement your last words. Yeah. And we really have to do it. I know. Which, by the way,

I recommend everybody do. Like, write a letter to the one or two closest people in your life as if it's the last thing they'll ever read and might be the thing that they hang on to forever. Yeah. Anyway, you were the, were you the first?

or second person to read your letter? Second. Cody was first. Cody. Okay. Bree wrote this letter to her dad, one of the letters she wrote. And it was so beautiful. That's when we first started crying because I was just thinking about

my daughter, you know? And you were thinking about your dad. And I was thinking about my dad, but you were talking about all these small moments that are kind of mundane and not impressive or not like these highlight moments of life. One of them was eating donuts at a truck stop.

watching the stars. And I just was so, the way you wrote it was so beautiful. I hope that you're able to recreate that to some capacity. I'm so bummed. I never, I didn't get it back because I would love to give that to my dad. I remember writing like the one thing in it that made me cry. It was, and it is the small moments. It's the little things. Like me and my dad used to go to the movies together every single week. And my favorite candy's bunch of crunch and he would open the bunch of crunch for me. And I remember. What's a bunch of crunch? It's like, you guys, the Nestle Crunch, the Bunch of Crunch.

You've never seen those? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's like a movie theater special. They only have them at the movie. But I remember, like, there was this one, I wrote about a letter. There was just one time he went to the movies and he went to, like, put his hand out and be like, I'll open the bunch of crunch for you because I never knew how to open it. And I was like, no, I did it myself.

And he looked at me with tears in his eyes. And he's like, you don't need me anymore. And I was like, I'm always going to need you. And I let him open my bunch of my bunch of things. she crunch forever and I think that's probably what got ain't that don't oh my god he's going to start probably but it's like those small things that really matter and it i i didn't know how much it was going to mean to like other dads I knew my dad it would matter so that I don't know that was beautiful to me that it touched you so much he's crying drew turned six a couple weeks ago

our oldest who's a girl and I was in tears okay so you know I'm curious for you to describe Sean at some point. Like what about Sean do you know after spending two weeks in this environment with her? But anyway, this is not about me. So I'm in tears the whole day because I'm like, I can't believe our oldest, my daughters and kindergarten now. And we got to go eat lunch with her and just to watch her like get the milk out of the, like get her little milk carton out of the freezer and then get her lunch tray and sit down with her friends. You just see this person that you've been with every day and who you. used to not be able to walk or talk or do anything without you is now like it's so crazy.

You win like you created it. It's why. Anyway, shot. Do you see like Sean in her? Like does she remind you of Sean or? Her personality I think is is very much like Sean. Yeah. The boys probably got a little more of my rambunctiousness.

Oh yeah. But but I was thinking I was crying. I was super emotional. Sean meanwhile is like. looking at me and she would she asked me what's wrong but it wasn't like oh babe what's wrong it it was like a what the freak is wrong with you get it together which is pretty in line with how things go well imagine imagine this you guys wouldn't work if you are both always crying all the time yeah no you need someone to be like okay but what i think Sean I think it just goes back to

obviously being an Olympian and you talked about this on the show of how you're just train like emotion is not a good thing it's its weakness don't show emotion that don't let her fool you this girl's heart is the biggest heart i've like the biggest heart in the world she's definitely very hard on the outside she's a badass which is what is so cool about you it's like you can get anything that you need done this is superwoman yeah and she's going to look like a badass doing it and you shouldn't be scared of her but like in reality no you couldn't because he's a little songs on the inside. Like she's, she is the sweetest woman I've ever met. Dude. Yeah. That's funny. Well said. Okay. So, so what's this book? Can you talk about your book or now?

Well, not really necessarily because there are like two things in the works of which one I'm going to choose because there's different routes that I want to go. But I think the route that I'm going to go first instead of like I'm so sick of talking about me and like talking about like who cares so I'm going to go the fiction route where because I love creative writing and there's like a lot of my personality and my experiences throughout it but it's also fiction and it's also crazy so it's a really good way to express myself and I was talking to you guys about this it takes a while and it's not just like because I'm actually writing it but yeah I'm excited for it and I feel like I can finally really start saying me.

things. Yeah. What else are you excited about? God. I'm getting a brain scan tomorrow and I feel like you guys kind of inspired me a little bit too to take care of my health. I'm doing like one of those full body scans tomorrow. Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I'm excited about that but I'm also nervous because what if they're like your lungs are going to fall out from vaping. Yeah. Then you're going to fix it. I know. That's a friend. I will say. I will say, though, it was wild. It was the first time I, it was like an aha moment talking to you and Gia at dinner. You guys were like, yeah, I kind of had like an anxiety panic attack and called 911, but that happens like weekly and I don't sleep and I do that.

And I was like, this is the first time I've really noticed the difference between like athlete mindsets where I'm so hyper obsessed and aware of my body that like if there's any little thing, I'm going to like tweak it and fix it. And with you guys, I was like, I'm going to get you an aura. We've got to get you a doctor. We're going to get you on some supplements. Yeah. Like, we got to fix this. Guys, I wanted to get my leg amputated last year. I, and.

What? I got, I don't know where the hell I was, but I got, I had gotten bitten by something. I think I was in Louisiana. And my leg was killing. I know. My leg was killing me for so long. And then this like lump started to form. And I'm like, I can't walk.

But I'm just keeping, I keep thinking like, it's going to go away. It's going to go away. And then like this ball started forming. And there was like, it was gross. I'm like, all right, let me, let me go check it out. I go to the doctor. They're like, you have Mercer. Like your blood is infected. So like, line around me. And they were like, all right, we'll see what it looks like tomorrow. I wake up. Obviously, the red has spread throughout my whole leg. We had to go in, get my whole leg drained. I was on crutches. I couldn't walk. They were like, if you waited literally 20 more minutes, you would have, you could have died or your leg needed to be gone.

Oh my God. And I was just like, ah, I'll get to it tomorrow. So I'm not going to do that. I'm excited for your scan. And I, there are supplements in the mail headed to your house right now. So that'll hopefully help you with your sleep. Yeah. I know.

I need to figure it out. What are Breeze hobbies? Oh, gosh. I really think I always want a cool answer for this question. I don't have one. It's riding or like taking my dog to the park. Oh, your dog is so cute. I love your dog.

But I feel like I don't have time. That's a lame excuse, but I feel like I don't have time for hobbies. What's a hobby you guys would recommend for me? Well, let me add, is all the work that you're doing worth it? Do you feel like? Are you like? I don't know. I feel like maybe no.

And that's why we ended BFFs because my heart wasn't in it. I don't think Josh's was anymore. We were kind of just like doing it to do it. And listen, we talked about this. We could have done it for another two years and made plenty of money doing it, but it just didn't feel right. So I think I'm phasing out of all the things that don't serve me anymore. And maybe I need some time for some new hobbies.

That would you make me happier? I like it. What are three goals you have in life for yourself? By the way, none of these are questions that Sean and I came prepared to ask you. all about the weird stuff of special forces, but this is, why just wanting to know you? This is fun. Okay. Three goals.

I think, like by the end of my life, I really just want to have, like, directed a film of some sorts. That's, like, a really big film of mine. Two, I really want to be a mom. I always have wanted to be a mom. But, like, in my head right now, I want to be a single mom. I don't want to be, hopefully that changes. You just have to restore your faith.

And guys, which will happen. You're very right. It will happen. And three, what's another goal? Maybe not. Maybe to just be in a, like a better place mentally. And that's not in a sad way. I just like I want to really have under control like all of this self-doubt.

And I really want to heal from what I went through last year. And I know that that's doable. I know it's going to take time and also effort for me. But that's a goal of mine for sure. It's also still so fresh. Yeah. Yeah, people don't realize. It's literally only been not even a year.

And I didn't have time to do anything privately. It was all public. I was just, I didn't even have time to sit in it or grieve anything that I went through. So give me some freaking great. Do you, do you have a therapist for that? Yeah, I do have a therapist. I haven't seen her in a little bit, but I should probably. me get back. Let's do that. Let's start there. That's a goal. That's a year goal. I'm going to send you a list of

things to do to help with your health. Yeah, yeah, for sure. What was the most shocking thing for you? And what was your favorite moment on the show? Okay. Most shocking thing? Most shocking thing. Like, isn't it crazy? Like, I feel so desensitized to all of it now. I'm like, it just, it is what it was. But in the moment, it did, everything did feel so crazy. I think maybe one of the most shocking things. To be honest, looking back on it, and it wasn't even in, it didn't even make the season.

But when we scaled down that mountain, and we weren't attached to anything, and there was a line of us. And if one of us made the wrong move and fell, then the whole line of us would have literally died. That was something to me. In my favorite moment, gosh, what would be my favorite moment? I genuinely, I guess this is kind of like moment.

but kind of my favorite part of the show was either when we were back in the barracks, like in the room or when we were all eating and we kind of just got to smile and debrief. It was really cool, like just getting to know everyone. And back to what Andrew said at the beginning of the pod, we didn't know, we didn't have any preconceived notions of people. Like, we didn't know what anyone was known for. We just had the person in front of us. So that was really cool.

It was kind of like a social experiment in that sense. It was. Yeah. So fascinating. Nominate three people to be on the next season. Okay. This is hard. I think you guys might not know the people.

Do you guys know who Jake Shane is? No. No. He's like an influencer. I would literally die to see him on it. So funny. Okay. Who else would I like to see on it? I would like, can we just go anyone?

like even people that are unrealistic. Yes, please. Adam Sandler would be so funny. Amazing. That would be. Is that your favorite comedian? Yeah. I've been in love with Adam Sandler before this whole Adam Sandler trend of like everyone

being obsessed with him and dressing like him. I loved him. So Adam Sandler, Jake Shane. And I would love to see like, like, oh, Kylie Kelsey. Interesting. would crush. Yeah, she would be like a Sean. Like she would just be like, I'm there and I'm.

Yeah. Yeah, I get those vibes from her too. Imagine her and Jason on it. Oh my God. Man. That'd be awesome. I just want to close by saying thank you for your time. And I also,

let me remind you that the only breed that I know and that Sean knows is, the Brie that we got to know on the show who is very strong great writer all of these things and I know the world's best teammate great teammate really funny but it's interesting because I feel like there's a little bit of

just hearing you talk it's like you almost expect people to know all of the backstory just because obviously it's so close Yeah. It's impacted you so much. But like we don't.

You know what I'm saying? Like that's not how we see you is not in that lens or through that lens. Yeah. So I don't know. I guess just like as you move forward and continue to crush life, just like realize that that is a... It's a part of you, but it's not you. Yeah. Hopefully that chapter is closed and not continuing in the same way that.

it was obviously you still have some healing to do and please continue to go through that process but like that's not the Bree that we know and uh and i'm just pumped to know you and excited to see what you tackle next because i know it's going to be big things so keep it up breathe i love you guys thank you so much for having me you're like two of my favorite humans i'm if anything i got from special forces i got these two and they're going to help you do so thank god and you're stuck with us forever Brie appreciate the time. All right. Bye.

I love you guys.