“It don’t get no better than this, taking a shower in a flophouse. This is paradise!” – Cam Newton
The third episode of Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test Season 3, “Terror,” saw four celebrity recruits – a full quarter of the original 16 who began the selection course – get sent home through a combination of VWs (voluntary withdrawals) and involuntary medical withdrawals.
Which only emphasizes how difficult and real this reality TV show is.
At the dawn of Day 4, nine recruits remain: Golden Tate, Cam Newton, Brody Jenner, Christy Carlson Romano, Landon Donovan, Carey Hart, Alana Blanchard, Kayla Nicole, and Kyla Pratt.
It’s Sunday morning, the day of rest… “but not for soldiers,” as Christy Carlson Romano notes. Cam Newton yearns for “two shots of espresso and a cigar.”
One of my favorite parts of this season is when ex-NFL stars Newton and Golden Tate talk about life in the National Football League. Tate asks Newton if he misses his playing days, and the former Pro Bowl quarterback says, “The preparation, no. Playing, yes.”
“I miss the locker room and playing,” Tate adds.
Soccer star Landon Donovan sustained an injury to his ribs during the brutal “milling” that took place in the previous episode – which is essentially no holds barred boxing – and upon a visit to the base medic, he learns it’s likely that “you have rib fractures on both sides.”
The medic recommends a “conversation with the DS.” The DS is the directing service, the “staff” special forces instructors who lead the selection course. When Billy is brought in, he immediately makes the call that Donovan needs to hand over his armband due to the need for a medical withdrawal.
“Great effort – don’t beat yourself up,” Billy tells him.
So like the previous day, things start out with one recruit leaving before the day’s tasks have even begun.
Eight recruits remain now – precisely half of the original 16.
Out on the parade square, Rudy tells the recruits that “this phase is about brotherhood… the bedrock of which is teamwork.”
The recruits are split into teams, with Golden Tate and reality star Brody Jenner invited to choose a fellow recruit to join them. Tate chooses Cam Newton without hesitation while Jenner quickly chooses his guy and motorcross champ Carey Hart.
The teams fill out with four on each, and Rudy tells the camera that this provides the DS insight into who the recruits feel are the strongest and weakest selection candidates.
When the recruits are brought to a “wild cove,” Rudy explains that the task involves “a crash course in boat work” because special forces work “is all about amphibious operations.” Communication, coordination, and teamwork will be key.
The teams are then sent off, with the challenge involving a boat “race at sea to a buoy and back.” However, boats must first be inflated, a coordination challenge if there ever was one. Team Bravo, which includes Tate and Newton, takes the early lead in getting out to sea. Team Alpha is a full two minutes behind, via Narrator Guy.
However, Team Bravo’s boat soon “goes way off course,” causing Rudy to shout at them, “You’re going in the wrong direction!”
“Where the hell are you going?” Dusty adds.
Suddenly, it starts to feel like an episode of Survivor where Jeff Probst gets completely exasperated by how badly one of the tribes is performing during an Immunity Idol challenge.
Tate, who tells the camera that he’s used to a quiet kind of leadership from his football days where he led by example, here he’s exposed by a lack of being able to coordinate the other three recruits under his temporary command.
Meanwhile, Team Alpha storms back and gets their act together under Brody Jenner’s leadership, and eventually completely smokes the other boat team in getting back to shore by more than three minutes.
“Alpha conducted themselves like a proper boat team,” Rudy tells the recruits on the beach. “Bravo was a boat filled with individuals.”
Rudy also introduces a concept to the losing team: shame retains. To emphasize the concept, the team is forced to submerge in the surf and then quickly roll around the sand so as to get completely sandy.
Q then particularly calls out Tate’s poor leadership, saying, “You’re not a leader at all,” and threatens to take his armband away for his terrible performance.
Back in the vehicle, a despondent Tate says, “I don’t know what just happened,” and punches his Bergen.
Back at base, Tate solemnly apologizes to his boat mates, and Kayla Nicole says, “No apology necessary.” However, a clearly frustrated Cam can only say, “You’re trying me, boy.” Soon after he adds (somewhat unnecessarily, in my view), “I guess what we were looking for was direction, and we didn’t have it.”
Meanwhile, it’s all sunshine and light over at Team Alpha, who heartily enjoy a meal separately from the team they just defeated.
Golden Tate is then called in to have a little chat with DS, otherwise known as “tactical questioning.”
Tate tells staff that he’s “upset, angry… I feel like a failure because you gave me a leadership role and I did absolutely nothing with it.”
Billy tells Golden that no matter what the task is – even one that he’s not comfortable with – he must take charge and stay focused, “Or I’ll rip that armband off of you.”
Once back in their living quarters, it’s nice to see Newton and Tate on better terms. “If you ain’t motivated, you gone,” Newton advises.
And you can see Newton’s charisma and sense of humor emerge once again a little while later when he announces, “It don’t get no better than this, taking a shower in a flophouse. This is paradise!”
Soon enough, Rudy reassembles the recruits on the parade square and tells them that Team Alpha and Team Beta are staying together for the next task, but this time with new team leaders: actress Christy Carlson Romano* for Beta and actress Kyla Pratt for Team Alpha – both of whom were the “last picks” during the initial team draft.
* News broke on the day I wrote this piece that Christy Carlson Romano was “shot in the face” during a birthday party and was hospitalized. Remarkably, her injuries appear to be relatively minor.
Upon arriving at the location for the next task, Dusty tells them that they are about to embark upon a “multi-pitch structure assault.” This involves getting each and equipment (“500 pounds of kit”) to the top of a super steep “disused quarry” (which actually looks like an ancient Welsh castle wall).
This is both a physical task and one that requires skill and decision-making about how to correctly use a system of pulleys to haul the equipment up and also how and when to deploy the strongest members of each team.
Cam Newton demanded strong leadership, and he definitely gets it in the form of Romano, who shouts commands like a seasoned pro. Newton, exhausted at one point, complains, “Man, you’re killing me!” under assault of her orders. However, she has problems securing the equipment that needs to get up the wall.
But Tate and Newton on the same team proves to be a major asset this time, as the two former NFL stars are strong enough to haul equipment from high up faster than the other team.
It’s rare to see the DS in a state of surprise, but they are with regard to Team Beta’s victory. “The special forces gods are shining on Team Bravo,” an impressed Rudy tells Dusty and Billy.
After the task, Dusty calls out Kyla Pratt for her lack of leadership on Team Alpha, calling her “quiet as a mouse,” while lauding Team Bravo for the “outright grit and graft” that helped them to secure the win.
Back at base, I expected Pratt to get called in next for tactical questioning, but instead it’s Brody Jenner, who staff saw as taking on the leadership role lacking in Pratt for Team Alpha during the task.
Brody tells staff that the version of himself portrayed on reality TV and in the media is not reflective of his true self at all, and that he’s very focused on his newborn daughter. He also talks about how his father at the time, Bruce Jenner, wasn’t around all that much, and that he later felt “abandoned” by their involvement in Keeping Up With the Kardashians and all its surrounding factors.
“Dig deep” for what’s coming next, Billy tells him.
The episode ends on a rare note of harmony and relaxation as the recruits go to sleep at the end of Day 4, with eight recruits remaining to face a new day of selection.
More info about Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test Season 3
TV SHOW – Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test
SEASON/EPISODE – Season 3, Episode 4
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