Entertainment Extra

December 31, 2022

Entertainment Extra - Your source for on screen entertainment from the Logansport Pharos-Tribune

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2 ENTERTAINMENT EXTRA By Sarah Passingham TV Media T he competitive worlds of Hollywood and professional sports create some pretty tough cookies, but the challenges of ris- ing to the top of their industry aren't enough for a few famous faces who are about to take on the ultimate test of endurance. "Special Forces: World's Toughest Test" premieres Wednesday, Jan. 4, on Fox, with 16 celebrities will- ing to face real special forces challenges and prove they can survive. As Directing Staff (DS) agents, former Marine Rudy Reyes, ex- SAS and bodyguard to the stars Mark "Billy" Billingham, former SAS and Special Boat Service vet- eran Jason "Foxy" Fox, and for- mer Navy SEAL/"The Terminal List" actor Remi Adeleke oversee the new celebrity recruits, guid- ing them through 10 days of intense training exercises similar to those used to enlist special forces agents. No stranger to these exercises themselves, the DS agents help the contestants prepare for simulated missions and pull them out if they don't make the cut. The VIPs pulling on their camo best are: Spice Girl and "America's Got Talent" judge Mel B; former NFL player Danny Amendola; "The Bachelorette" lead Hannah Brown; chef and host of "The Great Food Truck Race," Tyler Florence; Kate Gosselin of "Jon & Kate Plus 8"; NBA all-star Dwight Howard; "This Is How We Do It" singer Montell Jordan; British Olympic skier Gus Kenworthy; "7th Heaven" actress Beverley Mitchell; five-time Olympic med- alist Nastia Liukin; "Real Housewives of Atlanta" star Kenya Moore; two-time Olympic gold medalist and soccer player Carli Lloyd; former MLB player Mike Piazza; MTV's favorite "Teen Mom" moderator, Dr. Drew Pinsky; businessman and shortest-ever-serving White House Director of Communications Anthony Scaramucci; and, finally, "Zoey 101" actress Jamie Lynn Spears. Surrounded by a desolate des- ert landscape, "Special Forces: World's Toughest Test" contes- tants face physically and mental- ly grueling challenges with only one objective: survive. Alliances won't do players any good in this game, as there will be no elimi- nation votes cast: contestants can only exit the 10-day competi- tion by failure, injury, quitting or being ejected by the DS. There is no grand prize at the end of the special forces journey, except for the satisfaction of having com- pleted a uniquely punishing chal- lenge. In an interview with Entertainment Tonight, Billingham broke down how exactly he and the other DS agents shatter contestants' bar- riers, saying, "We don't break people — we strip them back to their raw self." Billingham further explained: "that means getting right inside their head, their emotions, how they think and how they tick." While he may not "break" them, he does insist "we scream at them, we shout at them, this is raw." Billingham really doesn't sugarcoat how unfamiliar the conditions of "Special Forces: World's Toughest Test" are to the celebrity contestants. He says in the same interview, "There's no soap on a rope, there's no coffee lattes on demand, there's no using your cellphone. Everything is controlled by us." Just how controlling are Billingham and the rest of the DS agents running the training exercises? Billingham told Entertainment Tonight, "We even take away their names and give them a number." Not only are contestants leaving creature comforts behind, they're being shut down on a personal level, the social isolation making the physical challenges that much more difficult. The official trailer for the series opens with Spears dramatically falling headfirst from a helicopter into a body of water, while a voice dramatically narrates, "If you should die, that is nature's way of saying you failed." Teased in the trailer are some of cial forces challenges, in high-wire walk, a subme vehicle escape, hand-to- combat and maneuverin through a simulated war Contestants visibly strug suspending their packs a their heads, running thro dusty terrain and crawlin through claustrophobic t Dropping celebrities in ronments that are unfam them is an undeniably w TV format, with hits from early days of reality TV s "The Surreal Life" and " Celebrity... Get Me Out o across the pond leading The genre is still a prove with recent shows such "Beyond the Edge" and "Celebrity Big Brother." birthed fun takes on the reality mix, such as "Cla Fame," a "Big Brother"- series that put relatives o rities in a house and left form alliances and battle for a $100,000 grand pr Schwering Realty 2 x 2" Pear Tree Gallery 3 x 2" On the Cover Jason Fox, Remi Adeleke, Rudy Reyes and Mark Billingham from "Special Forces: World's Toughes Celebs ditch the glam for 'Special Forces' competiti Chase Center 3 x 2" American Legion Post 60 2 x 3" Thrifty Muffler 2 x 2.5"

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