00:00I am so excited to talk to you all about Special Forces.
00:03What made you decide to sign on for this show?
00:05Honestly, I got the call and I was a little hesitant because I'm like,
00:08I don't know how to swim, not great in water, but I was turning 50,
00:13so I was like, why not?
00:15And I kind of missed that adrenaline from competing,
00:17so I was like, what better way than face all your fears to get that adrenaline going again?
00:22You're obviously very athletic, World Cups, Olympics, everything.
00:25Did your background in sports help prepare you for this at all?
00:30Not really.
00:31I think in sports your preparation is getting you ready to play
00:35and your fitness is for that sport and your game plan and everything.
00:40You go into Special Forces, there is no prep work.
00:43The game plan is always thrown out the window.
00:46Even you'll see on some episodes when you're actually with your teammates
00:49thinking you're going to head into something and this is what we're going to do
00:52if this goes wrong, and then you turn the corner and you're like,
00:54it's all out the window.
00:56So I will say having a fitness base probably helped a little bit,
01:00but it's definitely more mentally challenging than physically.
01:02How do you watch past seasons before you went on?
01:05Were there any standout moments where you're like,
01:07okay, if they can do it, I can do it kind of thing?
01:09I've watched some clips, to be honest.
01:10I started when Carly, my teammate, was on it,
01:14and when she got submerged underwater, I was like,
01:16I can't watch this show anymore.
01:17Full-on panic freaked me out.
01:19I was like, I can't watch her suffer.
01:21I see her as a strong, crazy, independent woman.
01:23You know, like, she's rock solid.
01:25So kind of pulled away from the show,
01:28and then when I got asked, I started watching clips.
01:30I'm like, I can't watch anymore.
01:32I won't go on.
01:33You know, I don't want to, like, psych myself out before I actually got there.
01:35I was like, I wanted to face it straight on
01:38without having too much of, you know, some, like, imagery of something not going well for somebody.
01:45We talked to Denise Richards after last season aired,
01:48and she was saying that her daughters just did not want her to do it.
01:51They thought she was going to die.
01:52What did your daughters think when you said you were going to do this?
01:54They thought it was crazy.
01:55Yeah, they thought, because I told my oldest,
01:57because I don't want to tell my youngest until after I was on the show,
02:00so I told her I want to do a yoga retreat.
02:03So when she saw me come back, she's like, Mom, you did not go on a yoga retreat.
02:06I was like, yeah.
02:07But she's like, Mom, I can't believe you're going to do this.
02:10She's like, I know you're tough and you're fit,
02:12but, like, you're going to face all your fears.
02:14I'm like, yeah, straight on.
02:16Like, Mom's going for it.
02:17And, you know, it's like, what else?
02:19You know why?
02:20I needed a little me time kind of just to get away, put the phone away,
02:23like, get into these challenges.
02:25We're going into Episode 3 next week.
02:28We've already lost three people.
02:29We lost Brittany, Teresa, and Eva.
02:32Were you surprised that most of the Bravo girls were the first to go?
02:35How do you watch?
02:37Are you a Bravo fan?
02:38Have you ever watched them before?
02:39No, I mean, it was nice because I got to see people for who they were,
02:41like, you know, with seeing them face their fears.
02:44But I was impressed with everybody, to be honest,
02:46because once you get there and you're getting screamed at by the DS,
02:50like, you know, just you start bonding and getting to know people.
02:54It's hard because you have the mics on to really get to know somebody,
02:56but, like, I was impressed because, you know, everybody has a background.
03:00Like, whether they played sports, even though they're not doing it
03:02at the highest level, you know, you could definitely tell
03:05there was some fierce fight in Eva and Teresa.
03:08Like, I was really impressed.
03:09Yeah, and then in this week's episode, you were forced to fight Gia.
03:13Yes.
03:14Go! Go!
03:15Let's do it all.
03:16Fight her back!
03:17Come on, let's go.
03:18Let's go! Don't turn your back!
03:20Don't turn your back!
03:21You better fight.
03:22That's it!
03:23Can you walk me through what that was like for you?
03:25It was intense because I've never fought before.
03:28You know, so they call your number out, and you go over,
03:30and you're getting, you know, the hat, the helmet put on,
03:33and you're putting on the boxing gloves, and I'm like,
03:36you don't know who you're facing.
03:37So he's, you know, DS is talking to me.
03:39I'm like, I'm just going to fake this until I make it.
03:40I'm going to hit my gloves together.
03:43I'm going to act like I belong.
03:44I'm going to act like I do this.
03:45And I turn, and it's Gia, and I'm like, oh, my God, I love Gia.
03:47How am I going to fight her now?
03:49You know, and it was just so hard.
03:50So I just kind of warped her face into somebody that was somebody else
03:55that I, you know, don't really like.
03:57So that made it a little bit easier to kind of get into that moment.
04:00But it's such an adrenaline high fighting because it's like, again,
04:03so quick, so fast.
04:05You don't even know how to throw a punch.
04:06You're just getting after it, and the DS is yelling at you.
04:08So you're just, it's intense.
04:09As a mom yourself, could you understand why Teresa, you know,
04:13ripped off her armband right before she had to watch Gia fight?
04:16All right, I'm withdrawing.
04:20You want a VW?
04:21Yes.
04:21Okay.
04:24Go over there to the doctor.
04:25I can't see you fight.
04:26Go over there to the doctor.
04:27Get over here!
04:28You got this.
04:29You're off the course.
04:30Or do you think she should have stuck around and kind of, you know,
04:33waited it out for her?
04:34I think mother-daughter with my daughter,
04:36because we, like, go to the gym together,
04:38I'd probably be like, get after it, you know?
04:39But, you know, they have a different bond,
04:42and it's like, I get the fact that she's like,
04:45Mama Bear doesn't want to watch her, you know, her cub actually fight.
04:48So I guess it's, you know, that part of it.
04:51I can see why.
04:53But I think originally, I think I was supposed to fight Teresa,
04:56but she heard it wrong.
04:57I think she was so into the fact that she didn't want to watch Gia fight
05:00that I think she was the one that I was originally supposed to fight,
05:04and then she pulled out.
05:05The other thing that they did in this episode was the water submersion.
05:08You said you're not a great swimmer.
05:10You said you had to turn it off when you saw Carly doing it.
05:23What was that like?
05:25Because that's one of my biggest fears, too.
05:27Well, it was even more difficult
05:29because the recruit that went prior, before me, had an incident,
05:33and, you know, I got to watch that live, you know,
05:37and then realizing that's my biggest fear
05:39and kind of going into a panic, you know, trying to walk away,
05:43take some deep breaths, started crying a little bit.
05:45Then I was like, all right, I have to do this.
05:47Like, I really have to do this,
05:48and kind of just took that walk, did the imagery,
05:51and was like, the pressure.
05:53It's not like just dumping your head in a pool.
05:55It's like when you're slowly going in, you have more time to think,
05:58or like take the last breath at the right time,
06:01and it's cold, and then the pressure when you first go under is like,
06:06it does take your breath away, but you're like holding your breath,
06:08and that's what I was like full on, like just everything that I was practicing,
06:13again, game plan, out the window, I was just like, keep holding.
06:16You have more breath than you think.
06:17You have more breath than you think, and like just keep going.
06:20Eyes are shut.
06:20Lips are like blown out, but, yeah, it was an experience.
06:24When doing that, I was like I could do anything.
06:26Well, I do want to talk about the living situation
06:29because we hear a lot about the bathroom situation.
06:31We hear a lot about the food.
06:33What was the hardest thing for you to adjust to when you were in the camp?
06:37I think the lack of food, right, and I think because it was so hot,
06:42and when I'm hot, I lose my appetite, right,
06:45so all I wanted was like a bar.
06:46Like, just give me a bar.
06:47Like I didn't even like need food, but it was just when the timing of when we ate,
06:52I was usually so exhausted that I barely ate,
06:55and I regret not trying to get more down because then physically I was getting more tax
07:00because I couldn't recover.
07:03You know, it was like task after task, workout, workout, you know,
07:07so that was I think the hardest part for me is like not really getting enough nutrition like I should have.
07:14Yeah, no, that's tough, and then you're in the heat.
07:16You're probably not sleeping well.
07:17Those cots don't look very comfortable.
07:18No, they're not comfortable.
07:20Like it's hot in there, and then I was like flipping the side that I was sleeping
07:23because the dirt was not as much on the one side, so I went the opposite way.
07:28The first night I didn't put my sleeping bag on it.
07:30I was too tired.
07:31I was like, you know what?
07:32If they call me, I'm not going to roll this thing up and put it in my bag.
07:35I'm just going.
07:36Yeah, exactly.
07:37I was like trying to get through it, so yeah, you're living in tough situations,
07:42and that tent was blowing all night too.
07:43Really?
07:44It was like loud and windy.
07:46You know, you're hot.
07:46You're basically falling asleep for 10 minutes at a time just because you're exhausted.
07:52You're waking up, and you're going back to sleep, so you're never really getting that
07:55full night's sleep.
07:56One of the other things they did were these mirror room scenes, and we get to know each
07:59recruit a little bit better.
08:00We get to see the human side of the DS too a little bit more.
08:04We haven't seen yours yet, but what can you say about your one-on-one with the DS?
08:07I was in a good place.
08:09I actually did well in the task, so when I actually went in to get that interview,
08:13it was hard because at first I'm like, I don't want them to know about me because I don't
08:19want them to use it against me.
08:20I don't want them to know my fears, so it was very, I would say, short-answered in the
08:26beginning, and then I started opening up because I've had some trauma in my life.
08:30I've gone through some tough times.
08:33I'm divorced, and things didn't go well, and unfortunately, I have a full restraining
08:38order on my ex-husband, so I indulged some of that information because it was my time
08:43to release it as well.
08:46It's just like I've dealt with so much after I retired.
08:50My last eight, nine years has been crazy, so I just was like, got it off the chest and
08:55kind of can move on.
08:57It was kind of just my own therapy within that room.
09:01One last quick question.
09:02I always love to end the interviews with this show on this.
09:05What's the biggest thing you learned about yourself through this experience?
09:09I think for me, it was more of like, just be patient with yourself.
09:12I'm someone that just goes 100 miles an hour and never gives myself that grace, and I think
09:17I learned it in the show is like, the first three days, I was going 100 miles an hour,
09:21and the DS are like, slow down.
09:24You're like falling off the ladder.
09:25You're doing this.
09:26You're failing.
09:27You're making, but I was just like, that's all I know.
09:30I only know one speed, and now it's like, okay, you're not who you used to be.
09:34Give yourself a little bit more patience when things don't go so well, so I think I've
09:38learned to calm down a little bit, take it all in, and just kind of enjoy life.
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