“The aim of the interrogation is to push the recruit’s limits to see where their breaking point is.” – Dusty
“Capture” is the Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test Season 2 finale, and it’s really the second half of a two-parter that covers the final task of “selection” for the celebrity recruits that at this late stage only comprise five of the original fourteen (Olympic Alpine skier Bode Miller bowed out during the previous episode, “Grit”).
The recruits left as “Capture” kicks off: Tom Sandoval (Tom of TomTom and Shwartz & Sandie’s and S.U.R. and Vanderpump Rules fame and #Scandoval infamy made it this far, people!), recording artist Jojo Siwa, Olympic speedskater Erin Jackson, and The Bachelor/Bachelorette alums Tyler Cameron, and Nick Viall.
As the finale begins, both Team Alpha (Sandoval, Siwa, Jackson) and Team Beta (Cameron, Viall) made it to the “extraction point” (with Team Alpha surprisingly getting their first), but by design both teams then get “captured” by the creepy “enemy hunter force.”
The recruits “will now face up to 12 hours of military grade interrogation,” Narrator Guy tells us. And then an interstitial title card reads: “Resistance to Interrogation is a key stage of Special Forces selection. It prepares recruits for enemy capture by subjecting them to techniques not permitted by the Geneva Conventions.”
Pretty heavy, right? At this point, I’m wondering how far the show will go with its celebrity recruits at this point.
The DS (directing service) has brought in “a specialist team of interrogators” for this bit, who 1,000% look legit and pretty scary as they get out of a pair of vehicles. It’s also smart that Billy, Dusty, Q, and Rudy of the DS were not used for this part of the task. Instead, that gang is set up to watch everything play out via video feed.
The team of interrogators is led by an unidentified guy who won’t show his full face on camera for some reason, so we can only hear his heavy Scottish accent. He’s referred to as The Umpire, which I find chilling in a weirdly funny way. However, we soon learn that his role is to actually protect the safety of the recruits under the “high risk” conditions that the interrogation produces.
“The aim of the interrogation is to push the recruit’s limits to see where their breaking point is,” Dusty tells the camera. “You have to survive by making people think you’re worth keeping alive,” he adds.
The interrogation starts out with the hood recruits made to stand in the parade ground. When somebody would to something as innocuous as rub their hands together in the cold night air, one of the imposing interrogators would walk over and say in a low, sinister voice, “You rub your hands together again and I’ll shove them up your ass.”
When I learn that the recruits have not eaten or slept for a day prior to this phase of the final task, I feel slightly bad for teasing Tom Sandoval for attempting to eat some trail mix while on the run from the “hunter force” in the previous episode.
Next, the recruits are hooded again with what looks like pilot’s helmets, and they’re told to hold onto wire mesh inside a wooden cabin. Then really chaotic and awful screeching and other dissonant sounds (like babies crying!) are played through the helmet-like devices. The they’re standing in the room reminds me a bit of the final scene of The Blair Witch Project, so if you’re familiar with this you know how freaky things are getting already.
As the recruits are then moved to a separate room one by one for questioning, The Umpire explains that he’s looking for signs that the recruits are trying to “build rapport” with their captors as a means to stave off what in the real world would be the imminent threat of death or other bodily harm.
“The key to interacting with an interrogator is to make them like you. Be a human, be yourself,” Dusty notes. And Jojo Siwa seems like a natural at this, telling her interrogator that his scar is “bad ass” and taking on a friendly, casual tone.
The Umpire gives Jojo praise while watching the scene unfold with the DS, saying that Jojo’s presentation of herself as a celebrity who is “good friends with Elton John” would translate in the real world that hurting her would have “big” implications. “That is a sharp operator,” he concludes.
Tyler Cameron goes the other way with his female interrogator, coming across as “arrogant and cocky” in his attempt to charm her. This leads directly to his being brought outside into the cold to have his head dunked in a barrel of water.
Speaking of cold, the rest of the recruits are stuck in the Blair Witch Project room, which is itself freezing. Sandoval starts shivering so violently that a doctor is brought in to give him “the once over for hypothermia.”
When the doc checks him out though, he doesn’t seem that bad off, and this gives Rudy the opportunity to chime in with his fellow staff that “he’s been overdramatic the entire course.”
Fact check: more than 10 seasons of Vanderpump Rules prove this out to be very much on the money.
As Tom’s interrogation begins, the DS and the interrogation team monitoring what’s going on are just teeing off on him now. “He’s just not endearing himself at all,” the female interrogator who ordered Tyler Cameron for a dunking, says.
When Tom semi-mumbles answers to the initial questions he’s asked – such as about “the varnish on your nails” – The Umpire goes further, saying, “You demand a slap… or worse.”
To be fair, Sandoval does seem dazed and fairly inarticulate based on his not having eaten or slept for a lengthy period of time in addition to the freezing temperature.
“That’s a poor performance across the board,” The Umpire concludes.
The Umpire then personally delivers to Tom Sandoval the news that “your participation in this phase has been terminated.”
In other words, Sandoval has been scrubbed with approximately 10 hours to go. That’s not a lot in our normie time, but if you’re getting interrogated by pretend “hunter force” interrogators, it’s not that little, either.
The Umpire is nice enough to tell him that in the real special forces selection, only a “miniscule” number of recruits even make it as far as Sandoval has.
Now alone, Tom softly says, “Damn.”
This is also the first time in the season that a recruit has been “withdrawn” in a way that’s not voluntary, medical, or based on a recruit’s unwillingness to carry out a specific task.
So with that, we’re down to recruits left: Jojo Siwa, Erin Jackson, Nick Viall, and Tyler Cameron.
The next thing we see are the remaining recruits forced to sit in “stress positions” in the Blair Witch room, where the noise attack is ongoing. Jojo Siwa announces that she wants to see The Umpire, which is code for bailing out of the task and asking for a voluntary withdrawal.
It’s “easy” to sit at home and say something to the effect of she’s made it so far, why can’t she just wait it out to the end? I put “easy” in quotes of course because in real life, doing what these otherwise celebrities and even athletes are being pushed to their very physical and mental limits.
Which is all to say, I personally would not make it very far at all at anything going on with Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test.
That being said, Siwa seems far more perky and coherent versus Sandoval – and she did handle the first round of “questioning” extremely well – so it is disappointing to not see her go just a bit further.
“Gutted,” The Umpire says of Siwa leaving in his raspy Scottish accent.
Just three recruits left now suddenly: Jackson, Viall, Cameron.
In the second round of questioning, the “cover story” that the recruits were told to memorize 24 hours earlier: they are to maintain that they’re on a conservation trip focused on the kākāpō bird native to New Zealand. Dusty then reminds us that a cover story can help extend the time in which special forces personnel are being help so that a rescue mission can be put together.
So each of the recruits tells their interrogators that they were “out at night” for the reason of seeking out this rare nocturnal bird.
The Umpire’s take on the three recruits during this round:
- Tyler Cameron – you can tell he doesn’t like authority
- Erin Jackson – her serene demeanor breaks a bit under questioning
- Nick Viall – the best at building a rapport with the interrogator as he’s “compliant”
Viall explains in a separate interview that his background in software sales makes him nimble at solving problems on his feet.
As the interrogation “ramps up,” we see Cameron get a wet bag of sand poured on his head and Viall get a cup of water splashed in his face during questioning. When Jackson blocks her interrogation from throwing a cup of water in her face, the consequences are more severe.
She’s made to believe that she’ll be dunked in a barrel of water outdoors, but at the last moment she asks to speak with the interrogator’s “boss” and then admits that she’s been “working with the special forces in New Zealand.”
I thought perhaps she’d be scrubbed for doing that and not enduring the next phase of “punishment,” but instead she’s returned inside while The Umpire and Foxy give her lots of credit for knowing exactly when the right time to “admit defeat” and tell one’s captors the truth about the mission.
This leads to a scene with two hours to go in the task that’s out of a movie to civilians such as myself: Erin Jackson is unhooded in front of a steak dinner and “publicly” thanked by her interrogator for telling the truth while an unhooded Cameron and Viall are forced to look on and under what’s really happening.
After the two reality stars are doused with freezing cold water under continued questioning, they finally “break cover” and also admit that they are training with the special forces. Foxy and The Umpire separately praise this decision as they explain that when your life is in danger as a captor, you must “give up something” or risk getting killed (which equates to getting “withdrawn” under this selection task scenario).
This finally ends the interrogation after 12 long hours.
However, the final selection decision remains with the DS.
When staff meets back at their base office, Tyler Cameron is called out yet again for being “arrogant” but he’s also praised for being strong and performing steadily better over the course of the training. On Erin Jackson, Foxy says, “Great character, great approach to everything.”
However, her leadership skills are called into question, and we see footage of her failing some of the tasks the recruits were asked to execute.
And as for Viall, Billy notes that he’s managed to stay “in the middle of the pack” for the most part, though “there have been times when he’s stepped up.”
“He’s the epitome of an operator in many ways,” he adds.
The DS then gathers the three remaining recruits and discuss how the final decision on selection is made based on “who could stand beside us in battle,” and that’s the question and the part of Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test that elevates this from the rando pack of reality TV competition shows to something more special and engaging.
The DS are absolutely serious about the work that they do to find the best of the best, and that’s what makes the show rather compelling, especially after it weeds out the likes of Tara Reid and a few other recruits early on who were not cut out to make it for the long haul.
Finally, the decision is announced: Erin Jackson, Tyler Cameron, and Nick Viall all pass selection, and get a well-earned congratulations from the DS.
It’s honestly kind of awesome and shocking to watch the likes of Rudy, Q, Dusty, and Billy actually smiling and laughing with the selected recruits.
I’ve greatly enjoyed recapping this season of Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test, and even found it to be an inspiring experience.
Some stats and info about Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test
TV SHOW – Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test
SEASON/EPISODE – Season 2, Episode 8
AIRED ON – November 27th, 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