Over the course of 10 days, celebrity recruits will see if they have the courage to be a hero. The 16 recruits of Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test are flown to Wadi Rum, Jordan, to take on some of the most grueling challenges ever. Their faces are covered upon arrival as they await their first challenge. “I’ve been through a lot of pain — physically, emotionally — and I really want to find out what I can do,” Jamie Lynn Spears says.
On day one, the recruits are told to get in a water tank and then get out right away. Kate Gosselin needs help getting out. The recruits then have to lay on their backs and cover themselves from top to bottom in the sand.
The DS (Directing Staff) reveals that the only way to get out of the competition is voluntary withdrawal. The first true test is the backward dive from a helicopter into the ocean. This is designed to test the element of fear. The recruits have to enter the water headfirst.
Kate begins to cry and admits she’s “terrified of water and heights.” Mike Piazza is the first to attempt the backward dive, and he passes the test. Kate is next. “I feel like I’m gonna pass out,” Kate says. She begins to cry again because she can’t swim. The Kate Plus 8 star does get into the helicopter. “I’m so afraid,” she cries. Kate does attempt the test, but she doesn’t go in head first as ordered.
After her dive, Kate starts to feel pain in her neck. She gets checked out by a medic who thinks she needs to go to the hospital for an X-ray. Kate breaks down in tears because she doesn’t want to go. “My main goal is to walk away proud of myself because this is not for the faint of heart,” Kate says. She has to withdraw from the course.
When Jamie Lynn is called to go for the backward dive, she confesses that the water reminds her of the worst moment of her life when her daughter, Maddie, nearly drowned in an accident. Jamie belly flops on the attempt. When she faces the DS, she throws up. “This reminds me of rescuing my daughter,” Jamie cries.
The DS wants to dig deeper with Jamie Lynn with tactical questioning, which will explore the recruits’ psychological state. They confront her over her backward dive meltdown. She recalls trying to save her daughter in a pond after an ATV accident. “She wasn’t breathing and she was blue. It was bad,” Jamie Lynn.
The Zoey 101 star also admits to feeling worthless, which the DS questions her about. “It just feels like every time I work really hard to get something on my own. It’s like it’s not really worth it. I mean, growing up, my sister [Britney Spears] became famous, worldwide famous when I was very young… I’m proud of her, love her to death. And I don’t know I feel like sometimes I’ve never been able to really have anything for myself,” Jamie Lynn confesses.
She goes on to say that she “can be extremely proud of my sister but also have my own identity and be expected to be seen as my own person. I struggle with self-esteem all the time. And as a parent, you really want to fake it because you don’t want to ever see your children feel the feelings you feel. The hardest thing is being away from my kids, but I’m here to do something to make them proud.”
After the first challenge, Dr. Drew starts to feel ill. He gets checked out by a medic and discovers that he’s suffering from heat exhaustion. He has to medically withdraw from the course. Meanwhile, the recruits are called for a spot check. They were instructed to keep the water bottles full, but not everyone followed directions. All the recruits are punished for the lack of water discipline.
On day two, only 14 recruits remain. The DS forces the recruits to line themselves up from strongest to weakest. Dwight Howard is at the front, while Beverley Mitchell puts herself at the end.
The next test is to cross a 300-foot wide canyon while side-stepping on two pieces of rope as they are suspended in the air. Dwight is first, and he struggles from the get-go. He attempts to walk the rope across, but he doesn’t get far. Multiple recruits fail this challenge.
Before even attempting the test, Tyler Florence voluntarily withdraws from the course. It’s his wife’s birthday, and he promised her that he wouldn’t do anything to hurt himself. This makes him the third recruit to leave the course.
Beverley puts in a good effort on the rope, but she doesn’t make it across. Nastia Liukin completes the test, as well as Gus Kenworthy and Danny Amendola. When the remaining recruits are called to base camp, the DS calls in Dwight for questioning.
The next test is to fight one of the DS. Mel B is up first. “I was in this abusive relationship that I couldn’t get out of. You just feel helpless on a daily basis… you’re being yelled at and called horrible names,” the Spice Girls star says. Mel B goes after the DS and gets out all her anger. All the recruits complete the test, but many of them are left broken and bruised. Mel B’s knee is hurting her, while Montell Jordan thinks he has hurt his hands. He later withdraws from Special Forces with a possible broken thumb.
Beverley is called for questioning by the DS. She admits that she is struggling and cries in front of them. The 7th Heaven star reveals that she’s almost afraid to succeed because she doesn’t want to fail.
By the end of day two, 12 recruits remain. The recruits have to put themselves from strongest to weakest again. Danny and Gus put themselves in front of Dwight, while Beverley moves further up the ranks.