“Ignore the pain… We do what it takes to accomplish the mission.” – Rudy
Four full days in and at the start of the fifth episode of the second season of Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test, exactly half of the starting 14 celebrity “recruits” remain: Jack Osbourne, Tom Sandoval, Jojo Siwa, Bode Miller, Erin Jackson, Tyler Cameron, and Nick Viall.
We’ve reached the halfway point of “selection.”
On the morning of Day 5, we learn that the DS (directing service) “staff” have so infiltrated Jack Osbourne’s head that he spent the night dreaming about Billy yelling things like “Get the f— down!” at him.
As the staff assembles for their morning meeting, they assess that with half the recruits flushed, they’re right on schedule for where they want to be with selection.
Soon, multiple helicopters descend on the assembly area to pick up the recruits, and Narrator Guy tells us that they’re being taken to “the most challenging terrain on the course,” located in a mountain range 4,600 feet above sea level.
The recruits are headed for “the most demanding task so far.”
The task? The “commando cliff crawl.”
“Using a single rope, they must move across a deadly ravine.”
And indeed, as this is the South Island of New Zealand, it looks like some treacherous making their way into Mordor-type stuff going on right here.
Or, to put it in a simpler way: it looks legitimately frightening in addition to being an extremely difficult thing to accomplish.
“Ignore the pain…” Rudy tells the recruits. “We do what it takes to accomplish the mission.”
First up is Bode Miller, who arguably has it the “easiest” of the recruits based on his background as an Olympic champion at Alpine skiing.
Miller starts off pretty well but has a difficult time doing this section in the middle where recruits are suppose to hang off the extended rope using only their hands and then climb back on top of the rope on command.
It’s funny in a way when Billy screams, “Just do what you’re told, it’s simple!” I say “funny” here because I know I would not take kindly to being told that in such a clearly harrowing situation.
While Miller struggles quite a bit in the middle section, he eventually gets a “messy pass” from staff.
It’s become a familiar pattern with Jack Osbourne, where he talks about all of his extensive tactical training and the pro tips he’s picked up along the way, followed by a quick fail… and such is the case with the commando cliff crawl.
Jojo Siwa starts off quite impressively but ends up failing in the same way that Tyler Cameron, Nick Viall, and Olympic speedskater Erin Jackson do – with an inability to get back on top of the rope after holding on just using one’s hand strength.
Tom Sandoval of Vanderpump Rules fame/infamy arguably does even better than Bode Miller and gets a flat out “pass” without other editorial commentary from staff. I must say that his performance overall, as a non-athlete reality star, has been legitimately impressive all season.
Jovon a.k.a. Q addresses the recruits after the task: “You guys sucked.”
The recruits are then dropped off a mile from base, with the idea that those who failed the test need a little bit of a punishment exercise: they are tasked with carrying the two (Bode Miller and Tom Sandoval) who passed the commando cliff crawl successfully, in addition to their heavy Bergen’s.
Tyler Cameron ably carries Miller while Nick Viall struggles mightily while carrying Sandoval. Impressively, Jojo Siwa – who is a pretty small woman – ends up carrying Sandoval herself back to base.
Nick Viall is in seriously rough shape back at the barracks from exhaustion and exposure to the cold conditions. Osbourne speculates as to whether he’s “hyperthermic,” and this was the first moment during Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test when I asked myself where the medic on the crew is in all of this.
“I think he’s in a jar of shadows,” Osbourne says of Viall a little while later, rather provocatively. However, Nick seems much better once warmed up.
Staff meets again, and Foxy talks about not being able to figure out Bode Miller’s whole deal in that he “doesn’t look you in the eye” and “he looks at you like he kind of hates you.”
This is really interesting if only from the standpoint that the special forces staff are real human beings as opposed to robots and take an interest in things like that.
And of Viall: “He just seems empty. He’s running on fumes almost.”
And therefore, Viall is the next to get himself summoned for “tactical questioning.”
Foxy is pretty hard on Viall, trying to break through his quiet demeanor, and soon tells him essentially that he’s an empty suit, that the lights are on but no one’s home. Eventually, Foxy softens up and says he sees potential for Nick to get to the end of the selection, but that he’s got to step up his game and his focus.
After Viall leaves, the DS discuss their assessed “mediocrity” of the recruits at this stage of selection. And I suppose for guys who are used to seeing “real” special forces training recruits in action, their opinion is valid.
“I’m gonna take their soul today,” Q concludes.
This leads to a “classic” wake up of the recruits in the early AM. And not just a waking up – they’re forced to leap from their beds, head outside, and begin a “grueling circuit drill” that begins with jumping through a series of containers filled with what’s surely super cold water at a breakneck pace. Other military-style training exercises are on tap from there.
The already sore and beaten-up celebrity recruits leap into the fray rather impressively, and certainly from my standpoint it’s admirable that they’ve made it this far without completely melting down and quitting.
Bode Miller has looked increasingly unhappy in his stoic way over the last few tasks, and I thought he might be the one to go “voluntary withdrawal” during this sequence, but eventually all the recruits are allowed to return to their spartan barracks.
Therefore, it’s no surprise that Miller is next up for tactical questioning. He’s quickly called out as someone who doesn’t take well to authority. When Bode says that the staff’s methods don’t seem “fair,” Billy explains that often conditions for special forces are not “fair” in the field, and that’s why they train recruits in a way that constantly pushes them and makes them uncomfortable.
Foxy ends by telling Miller that he’s doing well – quick a compliment! – but that he must keep his attitude in check.
Back in the barracks, Jack Osbourne says of staff, “They’re so mean,” and then giggles.
More notes on Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test, “Pressure”
- We learn that Nick Viall is soon going to be a dad, and he hopes that the experience on the show will “toughen him up.”
- It’s hilarious when Foxy calls Tom Sandoval “pretty nails.”
- Not quite as funny, more amusing: when Foxy yells at Nick Viall during the commando cliff crawl task: “You’re like a cobra wrapped around a turd!”
- It’s still odd that every time that recruits head for “tactical questioning,” they must put a hood over their head for what’s obviously the short walk to what’s essentially the staff’s office.
Some stats and info about Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test
TV SHOW – Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test
SEASON/EPISODE – Season 2, Episode 5
AIRED ON – October 23rd, 2023
NETWORK/STREAMING SERVICE – FOX/TubiTV
GENRE – Reality TV, Competition Show
CAST – Mark Billingham, Jason Fox, Rudy Reyes, Shaun Dooley, Jovon Quarles, Savannah Chrisley, Jack Osbourne, Tom Sandoval, Tara Reid, Robert Horry, Brian Austin Greene, Jojo Siwa, Angela White, Dez Bryant, Bode Miller, Erin Jackson, Kelly Rizzo, Tyler Cameron, Nick Viall