‘Special Forces’: Mauricio Umansky Gives Injury Update After Cracking a Rib

Mauricio Umansky voluntarily withdrew from Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test during the October 15 episode. The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star had previously hurt his rib and was worried about injuring himself even further when the recruits were tasked with entering a building filled with tear gas, so he opted to take himself off the course.

“Yeah, it was pretty bad. Ultimately, it happened during the milling challenge with me fighting Matt Barnes, and he’s a beast. He’s a big man, not an easy person to fight,” Umansky told TV Insider. “But I took one punch to the ribs, and I felt it the second I took that punch. My rib was cracked, and my pain just started to grow and grow.”

While he was able to “bear through the pain” for two challenges, he knew he couldn’t risk it in the gas chamber. “I had fear that if I was hacking up a lung and [the rib] was cracked, I could puncture the lung,” he explained. “I just didn’t want to put myself in the middle of the Malaysian jungle with that kind of potential, even though I think I could have beared the pain.”

Scroll down for more about Umansky’s journey on Special Forces, including the conversation he had with his daughter, Alexia Umansky, before eliminating himself and how he’s doing physically today.

When you were going into that day, was it just a matter of seeing what the mission was going to be before you decided VW? If it wasn’t the gas chamber, do you think you could have stuck it out until the next one?

Yeah, I was hoping it wasn’t going to be the gas chamber. I was hoping it wasn’t going to be the gas chamber until later on. I had in the back of my mind that the gas chamber was going to be the one that I was not going to be able to do. I mean, keep in mind, I did have 24 hours after I got hurt to get to the gas chamber. So I was struggling. I couldn’t even sit in the car anymore. I was holding the Bergen and standing up at attention, and that was hurting me. But I could have gotten through all that pain, and I was just looking at it challenge by challenge and hoping that the gas chamber wasn’t coming because I just wanted to make it one more night and one more meal and just keep going until the gas chamber.

When you got home, did you get the rib checked out? How are you doing now?

Mauricio Umansky: I’m doing fine. It took me about 10 weeks to recover. I did get it checked out. It was cracked. I was right. But yeah, it took me 10 weeks to recover, and now I’m back in the gym and working out and doing everything, and we’re staying fit. So yeah, we’re 100% recovered.

Had you discussed how bad it had gotten with Alexia beforehand? And did you mention to her that if the gas chamber was coming up, you might not be able to keep going?

Yeah, she and I had that conversation, and she could tell. She was always standing next to me because we lined up in numbers, and we were 14 and 15. We’d get in the car, and she’s like, “Dad, you can’t even stand up anymore. You’re literally struggling.” And we talked about it, and the rest of the recruits knew that I was in tremendous pain, and they were going to take care of Alexia. And we had our moment where she knew that come that gas chamber, I was exiting.

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Did she give you the OK? Like, she’ll be fine on her own if you had to go?

A hundred percent. Her strength, her resilience, her grit was unbelievable. That was the best part, and the best experience for me was watching that as a father. Obviously, I loved the experience of all of it, me conquering my own fears, me understanding the power of the brain and how strong the brain is, the course, the conditions, and all of that stuff, but ultimately my favorite part was watching her as a father. And in those types of conditions where you’re wet and sweaty, you’re never dry; it was the best part of it for me. And so we knew what was happening, and I knew she was going to be strong and in good hands. The bond that the recruits developed was pretty amazing, and the group was pretty incredible. We still talk almost every day on our group chat, and it was just incredible.

Did you know anyone else on the cast coming into it? And who would you say you’ve been the closest with since you finished filming?

We’re all close, but I knew David Charvet. He and I actually went to junior high together. Bre [Tiesi], being in real estate, I knew of her. Brandi [Glanville], obviously, I knew, but I didn’t have an opportunity to say anything to her. She went relatively quickly.

I’ve developed a great friendship with Oliver Hudson, I really like Matt Barnes. Hannah [Stocking] is fantastic. And even the young boys, Collin [Gosselin] and Maxim [Naumov], we’ve developed a good friendship with them. Candace [Cameron Bure] is incredible. Alycia’s [Baumgardner] incredible. I mean, I’m telling you, the group really, really developed a tight friendship. Out of the people that were remaining after that first initial group that left, that group became super tight. There were no weak links. It was solid. Everybody was helping each other, pushing through each other, and it was awesome.

How do you think Kyle [Richards] would do if she was a recruit in a future season?

Yeah, I don’t think she would do well. She’s strong, and she’s incredible. But to be honest with you, I don’t think that Kyle even wants to or wants to challenge herself like that in terms of those conditions and the bugs and the animals and the heights and all that stuff. I just don’t think that’s something that’s in her. I think if it was in her, like anything she does, she would crush it, but I don’t think it’s in her to do that.

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‘Special Forces’: Alexia Umansky Cries & Shares Personal Story

When you look back on the experience as a whole, what would you say is the most important thing you learned about yourself?

Well, the most important thing that I learned is the power of the brain and how the brain can overcome anything. I was extremely physically fit. Alexia was not the most physically fit, but she’s still there, and that’s because of her brain.

I can tell you that moment that I fell off the bridge, off the hanging bridge on the ladder challenge, I had a little bit of a torn bicep I was dealing with. I was still good, but my forearms were just giving out on me. And I remember looking at my hands and instead of saying to my hands, “I need one more grip to get up,” I looked at my hands and I thought to myself, “Oh my God, I’m not sure I have one more grip.” And I know that if I changed that moment when I fell and I didn’t grip it … I know that it had nothing to do with my physical grip. It had to do 100% with the brain, the fact that I doubted whether I had one more grip or not. And that just taught me so much about the power of the brain. You just got to have that confidence in yourself and you got to repeat it and keep going.

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