‘Special Forces’ Premiere Recap: An Injury Sends a Recruit Home After First Mission

Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test is back! The Season 5 premiere put the 15 famous recruits in the jungles of Malaysia, and they quickly learned what they were in for when the Directing Staff (DS) invaded their luxurious villa and started telling them exactly how things were going to go.

For their first mission, the contestants had to dive backwards out of a helicopter and then swim to a floating wooden platform. George Santos completely shocked the DS when he was able to successfully complete the dive, but he wasn’t able to get out of the water without help from his fellow recruit, Oliver Hudson.

Candace Cameron Bure and Alycia Baumgardner both passed the test, but Collin Gosselin failed the mission with his “back flop” into the water. Among others to fail were David Charvet, LeSean McCoy, and Hannah Stocking.

Brandi Glanville was terrified of the challenge, but she ultimately jumped out of the helicopter. “Recently, I have let fear rule me. With my health issues, just leaving my house has been hard. Now, I want to say, ‘Balls to the wall.’ I just want to jump back into life.”

However, she over-rotated and landed flat on her stomach. She also struggled to move in the water, only reaching the platform by swimming on her back. “It’s my sternum. My sternum is cracked,” she told the DS. Meanwhile, Ruby Rose was given permission to jump into the water feet first due to “medical reasons” (a past broken neck) that prevented her from descending into the water headfirst.

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After all of the recruits had their turn, Glanville asked to see a medic. She revealed that her chest hurt when she was breathing in. “It’s exhausting to always be bouncing back from something. You keep getting tested and sometimes you can’t get back up,” she said. The DS declared that Glanville would not be moving on. She was medically withdrawn form the course on Day 1.

“I told my kids I wouldn’t be the first one to leave,” she cried, before leaving the show.

The remaining recruits headed through the jungle to basecamp, with Santos once again struggling on the hike. To push him even further, the DS named Santos the duty recruit, which essentially meant he would be the leader of the group. At their first meet-up, the DS admitted that Santos pleasantly surprised them by passing the dive mission, but when he was called in for a meeting, he took his time changing and made them wait five minutes for his arrival.

As punishment, Santos was forced to hold pushup position while getting berated by the DS. “I need my meds, Staff, my back is killing me,” Santos insisted. “Stop. I can’t do it. I can’t do it. My back.”

DS Rudy Reyes wouldn’t let him give up, though. “I expect so much more out of you,” he said. “I know you’re out of shape. Who gives a damn? Think about why the f**k you’re here.” Santos was pulled in for tactical questioning.

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After Santos complained about his severe back pain and opened up about his past controversies, DS Jovon “Q” Quarles told him, “We all feel pain, I’m telling you. We have been there. You want redemption? You push through it.” The Staff agreed to give Santos a second chance.

When the DS woke the recruits out of bed in the middle of the night and subjected them to a punishing combat fitness assessment “designed to push them to the brink,” Santos was the last outside. Bure and David Charvet were standouts on the course; Santos struggled and had to be helped by Mauricio Umansky. When the group was tasked with lifting heavy sandbags over their heads, Rose was unable to do so, prompting the DS to call her “pathetic.”

No one else was eliminated, though, and they’ll continue with Day 2 next week.

Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test, Season 5, Thursdays, 9/8c, Fox