Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test premiered on Fox, and viewers might’ve been shocked to find out it’s about as tough as the title suggests. Celebrity participants dropped like flies in the two-hour premiere, and most of them not because they voluntarily chose to do so. Reality star Kate Gosselin, for example, was medically withdrawn after a suspected broken neck. Now, Gosselin has shared an update on how she’s feeling and how she felt facing her “absolute fears” during her brief time on the show.
Kate Gosselin spoke to People about participating in Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test and the opening challenge of having to fall out of a helicopter backward into the ocean. The challenge was daunting but especially terrifying for Gosselin, who confessed the challenge combined two of her “absolute fears.” She said:
Water and height are two of my absolute fears. Yet at some point making that turn in that helicopter, I remember thinking, “I’m sorry, you don’t have a choice here. I know you’re scared to death, you’re doing it. Do it and get it over with.
Kate Gosselin expressed that she was terrified in Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test, but participated in the challenge anyway. All of the participants managed to make it through the first challenge, and for the most part, came out of it okay.
Unfortunately, Kate Gosselin was one of the unlucky ones who managed to injure herself during the challenge. Gosselin recapped what went down from the moment she hit the water to when she finally decided to visit the medic:
I landed right on my neck and I screamed when I landed because it was absolute ridiculous pain. Then at some point I started feeling nauseous and I was dry heaving over the edge into the water. Everyone by then on the cast was like, ‘I think you should probably say something.’ I was like, ‘No,’ because I knew if I said something I was going to… well, I didn’t know I was going to be out. So I braved through it and it just kept getting worse.
The medic evaluated Kate Gosselin, who appeared to worsen as the segment continued. Gosselin wanted to stay but was medically withdrawn and taken away in an ambulance after being loaded in on a stretcher. Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test explained that Gosselin was taken to a hospital with a suspected broken neck.
The situation sounded dire, but thankfully, Kate Gosselin did not suffer a broken neck. The mom, who first found fame on the reality series Jon & Kate Plus 8, shared how she’s feeling currently after her fall from the helicopter:
My neck still bothers me sometimes. It is muscle. I do tend to carry stress in my neck and shoulders. So I do think that that probably was a factor in it, then hitting it smack dab on the water.
Kate Gosselin was the first exit of Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test, but as mentioned, she was not the only one. Celebrity specialist and former contestant on The Masked Singer Dr. Drew Pinsky had to be taken to a hospital due to heat exhaustion, chef Tyler Florence voluntarily dropped out after seeing the rope challenge, and “This Is How We Do It” singer and pastor Montell Jordan had to leave with a suspected broken thumb.
It was a brutal series premiere, and it doesn’t seem like things are going to get any easier for the remaining contestants on Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test. We’ll have to wait and see who leaves next the grueling challenges still ahead. (Or, in the case of singer and former America’s Got Talent judge Mel B, seeing white penises.)
Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test airs on Fox on Wednesdays at 9:00 p.m. ET. It’s one of the exciting shows to premiere from the 2023 TV schedule, and hopefully not the last!