“I’m more scared of the water than I am of the DS.” – Robyn Wieber
As the third episode of Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test Season 3 begins, three celebrity “recruits” have been sent home – two via VWs (“voluntary withdrawals”), Stephen Baldwin and Denise Richards, and one via medical withdrawal, Ali Manno.
Which means of the original 16, we enter the episode on the dawn of Day 3 with 13 remaining: Golden Tate, Cam Newton, Brody Jenner, Christy Carlson Romano, Jordyn Wieber, Marion Jones Thompson, Landon Donovan, Carey Hart, Nathan Adrian, Alana Blanchard, Trista Sutter, Kayla Nicole, and Kyla Pratt.
“Who will survive the day?” Narrator Guy says.
We all know the classic bit where the Drill Sargent will wake Basic Training recruits up by banging a trash can lid against a garbage can. But this is special forces selection, so instead Rudy enters the recruit’s living quarters nice and early and tosses some flash bangs (or something of the like) into a trash can for a super loud wakey wakey alarm for one and all.
The recruits have 15 minutes to get dressed, equipped, and eat breakfast. Some of the group are clearly dragging at this point, which Billy notes via interview is part of the relentless nature of the process: a small number will thrive while most others will “fall by the wayside.”
We also learn that Olympic track and field champion Marion Jones Thompson went to prison for six months after winning a gold and two bronze medals at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney due to “admitting to lying to federal investigators about her use of performance-enhancing drugs” (via Wikipedia).
“The hardest days of my life during that time,” Thompson says.
Speaking of dropping by the wayside, Bachelor/Bachelorette alum Trista Sutter gives Rudy her armband before the day’s tasks begin, moving the remaining recruits number down to 12.
Rudy tells the assembled recruits that the pace and the pressure of the course is about to pick up. The goal? To induce terror.
The recruits are taken to a working harbor, and in one of the vehicles we hear Olympic gymnast Jordyn Wieber say, “If we’re going in the water, I can’t do it.” While understandable, it’s important to note once again that the celebrities would have known some water would be involved in an elite special forces selection course focused on the theme of ocean warfare.
“I’m more scared of the water than I am of the DS,” Wieber says.
The next task, Dusty explains, involves stimulating getting off a vessel once its been hit or damaged in some way by the enemy. But getting off isn’t enough – a “black box” must also be retrieved as part of successfully completing the task.
“I don’t think I could lose anymore hair,” Landon Donovan tells a fellow recruit. “It’s gonna be all gone at the end of this.”
As Jovon “Q” demonstrates the task for the recruits, it reminds me of one of those freaky “magic tricks” where it looks like the magician (or illusionist, or whatever they call themselves these days) is in a glass cage underwater and it looks like they’re drowning up to the point (in theory!) when they’re able to untie the chains that bind them and miraculously make it back to safety.
In this case, the recruit is lowered inside of a vessel until it’s submerged in freezing cold North Wales water. An air pocket above the recruit will “collapse,” above the recruit, prompting them to dive underwater within the sunken vessel and then untie the black box before figuring out an escape route before finally being able to come to the surface of the water and safety.
Staying calm is key, Dusty tells them, adding in that the “fish won’t go hungry” if they don’t.
First up for the task is “influencer” Kayla Nicole, who we learned in the last episode is the ex-girlfriend of Travis Kelce, who is not only famous for being one of the best players (that’d be the Kansas City Chiefs) on a Super Bowl dynasty who also happens to be dating one of the most famous people on the entire planet in Taylor Swift.
When the water level rises, it’s easy to figure out that it takes a combination of ability, skill, and confidence to take a deep breath and then flip and dive underwater within the confined space. Kayla hesitates for too long, then realizes that she doesn’t have the ability to maneuver and get out from under the vessel (let alone grab the black box) and starts to panic. Billy, realizing this, opens a top hatch quickly to allow her to come out to safety.
“The only thing that stopped you from doing that was your emotion,” Dusty tells her.
We then see a montage in which recruits try out a variety of techniques, and surprisingly the pass rate is quite high – including ex-NFL stars Cam Newton and Golden Tate.
Jordyn Wieber is the second to last to get called and emotionally tells Billy that she just can’t do it, that it’s too much for her to handle. Billy is at his most supportive and encouraging her here, telling her that the task will be “over in seconds,” but Wieber persists and turns over her armband and verbally relaying that she’s a VW.
Which brings the remaining recruits all the way down to 11 from a starting point of 16 from just the morning before based on the timeline of the selection course.
Marion Jones Thompson manages to complete the task with the black box in hand, but is failed because somehow she ripped part of the black box apart in the process. I would have given her a pass there, but then again, I’m about as opposite from being DS in the special forces as it gets.
Back at base, Thompson is called in by staff for tactical questioning. Thompson tells Dusty and Rudy about the doping scandal that she was caught up in, and that her mistake was “telling fabrications to federal prosecutors” about being given performance enhancing drugs. She gets emotional when saying that the split-second decision to lie ended up having drastic consequences for her and her family.
When Dusty asks her if she’s taking part in selection to “wipe the slate clean,” Thompson says that she believes that that’s not possible, but that she’s “come here to se an example for my kiddos.”
“Courage is stepping up when you don’t want to,” she adds. I must add my editorial commentary here and say that I really like that definition.
Dusty gets real with Thompson next and tells the person who at one time was considered the fastest woman on the planet, “I think you are someone who does things in the moment that you think are right when actually they’re not. And it’s that detail that you need to pay attention to.”
Later, it’s really fun and cool to see a lighter moment when Golden Tate demonstrates some of his more elaborate touchdown dances from his wide receiver in the NFL days, and he even takes the opportunity to show off QB Cam Newton’s “Super Cam” Superman “uniform reveal” move as well.
Soon enough, the recruits are back on the road and off to the next task, which we learn will be “one of the most terrifying tasks of selection.” It takes place at a cool looking, super old castle in a misty part area in North Wales though, so at least there’s that.
Billy tells the recruits that the next task involves milling, “literally two people fighting for their lives,” as a means to train for a worst-case scenario for special forces operators: hand-to-hand fighting.
“No rules, no regulations, and you keep going until the job is done.”
First up: Kayla Nicole versus the must bigger Olympic athlete, Marion Jones Thompson. Nicole tells the camera separate that she is not afraid of violence.
We also see an interviewing with Thompson where she talks about how she got into a “physical altercation with an inmate when she was in jail that earned her 49 days of solitary confinement.
“If I have to fight, I will fight,” Thompson says.
So I would have had my money completely on Thompson, but when the fight begins Nicole goes after her very aggressively and Billy is forced to call it quickly when Thompson screams in pain from getting punched in the ribs. Kayla Nicole is declared the winner.
Next up: reality star Brody Jenner (The Hills, Keeping Up With the Kardashians, The Princes of Malibu) versus motorcross champion Carey Hart. While Hart is eight years older than Brody, he looks way tougher. Hart gets the best of Brody, but it’s not a dominating win and a little hard to tell if he’s “officially” declared the victor.
There’s a montage of the next number of fights, which is disappointing as I’d have liked to see each one play out. We do see Golden Tate awarded a win over the smaller Landon Donovan.
The final fight is something like a “main card” with the big dudes getting after it: Cam Newton versus Olympic swimming gold medalist Nathan Adrian.
The fight gets halted quickly when the two almost hurl each over the cliffside that’s weirdly close by. Billy instructs them to “throw punches and not run at each other,” and then they are allowed to resume. I’ll also note here that it’s clear that neither of these guys are trained boxers at all, which becomes obvious when they just start launching haymakers at each other with no technique.
The two go at each other aggressively, with Cam getting a clean shot right on Adrian’s nose (causing him to bleed quite a lot) that drops him to the ground. “Not a bad scrap,” Billy notes – high praise for him – with Newton getting the victory.
The milling task takes it toll as we learn when the recruits are back at base: Billy informs the group there that both Marion Jones Thompson and Nathan Adrian are being medically withdrawn from selection, dropping the remaining recruits all the way down to nine.
“Damn,” Newton says in reaction. “That sucks.”
Speaking of Cam, he’s the next to be called for tactical questioning.
Newton tells Q and Dusty that the milling allowed him to release a rage that he’s had to hold in his entire life. It’s enlightening when Dusty talks about how in the special forces, “extreme aggression” is required but they may then enter the next room during an operation where there are women and children to attend to.
Cam then talks about how he’s entering into a phase of his life where he’s ready to reinvent himself, and Q tells him that they’re going to keep challenging him while he’s part of selection.
At the end of Day 3, here are the remaining recruits: Golden Tate, Cam Newton, Brody Jenner, Christy Carlson Romano, Landon Donovan, Carey Hart, Alana Blanchard, Kayla Nicole, and Kyla Pratt.
More info about Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test Season 3
TV SHOW – Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test
SEASON/EPISODE – Season 3, Episode 3
AIRED ON – January 15th, 2025
NETWORK/STREAMING SERVICE – FOX/TubiTV
GENRE – Reality TV, Competition Show
CAST – Mark Billingham, Jason Fox, Rudy Reyes, Shaun Dooley, Jovon Quarles, Stephen Baldwin, Golden Tate, Cam Newton, Denise Richards, Brody Jenner, Christy Carlson Romano, Jordyn Wieber, Marion Jones Thompson, Landon Donovan, Carey Hart, Nathan Adrian, Alana Blanchard, Ali Manno, Trista Sutter, Kayla Nicole, Kyla Pratt