By Michaela Gordoni
Olympian Shawn Johnson East and her husband, Andrew East, recently revealed that their time on SPECIAL FORCES: WORLD’S TOUGHEST TEST made their marriage stronger.
On the show, contestants are pushed through demanding training exercises and some of their worst fears by ex-special forces operatives. It’s not for the faint of heart.
“My understanding of love between Shawn and I was renewed, I think, in the sense that there were moments where like we just need to like support each other in that traditional sense,” Andrew said on the “Off the Vine” podcast.
“But then there were also other types of love and support where it was like she was looking at me terrified and I was looking at her and it was like just this moment of, ‘Hey, you can freaking step up and do this thing. You just got to stick with it, and I’ll meet you on the other side,'” he explained.
Shawn said watching her spouse get pushed to his physical limits and still keep a good attitude was inspiring.
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“That was really cool for, like, our marriage,” she said. “Our marriage is our priority in life. Like it’s our number one thing, and we were just like it has to come out better than it was. If there’s any chance of this hurting our marriage, it is not worth it.”
Producers asked Shawn to be on the show for years, but she always said no. Now, she feels proud of herself for persevering on the show, which she won alongside reality TV star Gia Giudice.
“Self-doubt has creeped in over the years…after retirement, a failed comeback, and 3 kids,” she wrote about her time on the show on Instagram in November. “I wondered if I could.”
“I feared I couldn’t. But dang… it sure feels good knowing I did! I finished! It hurt,” she said. “I learned a lot. I healed a lot. I’m better for it.”
She hopes that her three kids will be inspired by what she accomplished.
“I’m excited to have them go watch mommy go be strong,” she said in another interview.
She said she and Andrew trauma bonded, and each day on the show was different.
“There’s no schedule. That’s what really freaks people out,” Shawn said. “But we would wake up and have breakfast, and then you would go through the five challenges a day of like workout, jumping off cliffs, having bombs thrown at you, roll in mud and go into a dunk tank.”
It was an extremely tough experience, but Andrew and Shawn’s marriage is all the better for it.
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