Savannah Chrisley always puts her family first. The reality star, 26, was one of three recruits to quit the course in the October 9 episode of Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test season 2. Savannah was honest about how “tough” it was to leave her younger brother, Grayson Chrisley, and niece, Chloe Chrisley, to compete on the show. HollywoodLife spoke exclusively with Savannah about how her parents, Todd and Julie Chrisley, who are currently in prison, responded to her withdrawing from the show.
“Honestly, they were like, ‘Heck, I probably would have done it way sooner.’ They were like, ‘I don’t blame you.’ Especially when I told them that I was wearing wet boots in the freezing cold weather. They’re like, ‘Yeah, there’s no way. I would have been done immediately,'” Savannah told HollywoodLife.
In the wake of Todd and Chrisley serving time in prison for tax crimes, Savannah now has custody of Grayson, 17, and Chloe, 10. During the episode, Savannah revealed that her mom inspired her to join Special Forces because Julie’s a fan of the show. The Chrisley Knows Best alum also gushed that being on the show has been a way to connect with her parents while they’re serving their sentences.
“My parents were really excited for me to get a break, too,” she said. “That’s what people don’t understand. I have the kids 24/7. It’s challenging at 26 years old to get two children and have to keep everyday life going and work and all of their activities. It’s really tough.”
Savannah continued, “She [Julie] was really excited for me to just have a few minutes to myself, but also, she knew she was going to be able to watch it and that was the best. That’s what has been so exciting because even though we’re not together, we still get the opportunity to interact through this. So just for that, I will forever be grateful for the show.”
Savannah tackled many of the Special Forces challenges head-on. Despite throwing up, the podcast host powered through rappelling down a steep wall. So, does she regret leaving the show when she did?
“Part of me says yes, just because I am so competitive, and I always want to win. It’s just the personality that I have,” Savannah said. “But then the other side of me is just… the biggest thing that I struggled with, in all honesty, is I wasn’t necessarily prepared mentally for it. I knew this was going to be tough physically going into it. I knew that. But I didn’t realize how tough it would be emotionally as well. The biggest thing for me was just leaving Chloe and Grayson and knowing that they were with my grandparents. My grandparents are older, so they’re not giving the same amount of attention that I would have given, and they weren’t getting that same amount of attention.”
Savannah admitted that she was constantly “nervous” about how the kids were doing and had no way of contacting them while on the show. “This past year in my life, us as a family, we’ve dealt with so much loss, and it kind of brought back some of those feelings, which I was not expecting. That was the biggest challenge. So at that point, I was just like, ‘It’s time for me to go home for a shower. I’m ready for a good shower. I’m ready for good food, and I’m ready to see the kids.’ I was just ready to get out,” she added.
The real estate agent did note that she “probably” would have stayed if she hadn’t had so much going on at home. “I tried to keep a straight face on and play tough, but I knew I needed to get home,” she said.
The first thing she did once she got back to the hotel was eat pizza. Once she returned to the States, sleeping was on the agenda for her. She also scored some cool points with Grayson and Chloe by being a part of Special Forces. “Chloe thinks it’s the greatest thing in the world, and I am so cool. I’m winning right now,” Savannah told HollywoodLife. Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test season 2 airs Mondays at 9 p.m. on FOX.