00:00We are here with the Special Forces Season 4 winners, Gia Giudice and Shawn Johnson-Ease.
00:05I'm so excited to talk to you guys. I love this show.
00:08And, you know, Gia, at the end, you said that you and Shawn are now truly bonded for life.
00:13Have you guys been keeping in touch since the show ended?
00:16Yes, of course.
00:17Yes. I feel like once you go through that together, especially the last day, I will never forget.
00:23It wasn't even shown, but we're like, we were sprawled out on the floor.
00:26We have, like, the babies crying in our headphones, the bags of our head, we have zip ties.
00:31And we both just got so done and defeated, I started yelling out.
00:36I was like, Gia, break!
00:39Just because you have no idea who's left.
00:41And it was both, Gia's like, Shawn?
00:44I was like, is that you?
00:45Yeah.
00:45It was like, we were trapped.
00:48So it was, we didn't know who was around us.
00:50So when we found out that it was us two, it was just like, it was so calming.
00:54Yeah. Things got really intense by the end, especially when Andrew was forced to hold your head underwater, which I thought was wild.
01:01It's really hurting you, isn't it? Let's go again.
01:10Oh.
01:11What was that moment like for you?
01:13Nothing about that bothered me.
01:14I know it bothered him, and he has, even to Gia, like, he apologizes every day.
01:20And I'm like, baby, you have nothing to apologize for.
01:22He's the sweetest person you'll ever meet in your life.
01:26And the screaming that was going on under the water was fake.
01:30There was no screaming.
01:31Me and Shawn were so tapped out.
01:33Yeah.
01:33And by that point, and so was Andrew.
01:36Like, we all were.
01:37When we were going under the water, we were just like, okay.
01:41Also, it was like, like, warm water.
01:43And can I just say about my husband, who is the greatest human on the face of the earth.
01:47You can see so blatantly in the last episode, he was definitely out of his comfort zone.
01:53The man can't lie, which is such a beautiful thing.
01:56But he was very distraught in that moment and not understanding, like, what we were allowed to do.
02:03You're so disoriented.
02:05We've been tortured for 12 hours.
02:07And I think it's funny that him having such an issue with dunking me.
02:13Because I would have been pissed if he didn't dunk me.
02:16Because they were like, dunker.
02:18So had he VW'd, I would have been pissed.
02:20But also, there's no other person I would rather dunk me.
02:23I would rather it be him than, like, any of those interrogators.
02:26Yeah, you know, he's not going to let anything bad happen.
02:30No, he's my protector.
02:31So, honestly, in such an uncomfortable position, I was really glad he was there.
02:35Like, even in that moment as that was happening, Sean and I both know how bad, like, we knew how bad he felt.
02:41Like, there was, and we were just like, okay.
02:44I felt way worse for him than us.
02:46Gia, you came into this whole experience with your mom.
02:49Be honest, how far did you think she was going to go?
02:51Did you expect her to bow out in day two, or did you think she was going to go a little bit further?
02:56I think she definitely could have handled going a little bit further, for sure.
02:59I think day two was a little too short.
03:02But, honestly, I think, you know, everything happens for a reason.
03:07And she left because that's what she felt was the right thing to do in that moment.
03:13All right, I'm withdrawing.
03:16You want your VW?
03:17Yes.
03:18Okay.
03:20Go over there, she's a doctor.
03:21I can't see you fight.
03:22Go over there, she's a doctor.
03:23Get over here!
03:25You got this.
03:25You're off the course.
03:26When you're there, you're disassociated from reality.
03:29You don't have a phone.
03:30You're not connected with anybody.
03:31So you're really just sitting there with your thoughts.
03:34And when that milling thing was going on, she probably just was like, nope, I'm done.
03:39I can't see my daughter fight.
03:41So.
03:41We were all so sad.
03:43She was like the mom of the group.
03:44Immediately became the mom of the group.
03:46I did learn, I think, last season that they set you up with like therapists and psychologists
03:50or psychiatrists and stuff for when you come out to help you get back to normal life.
03:54Did you have to utilize any of those?
03:56And what was it like to kind of re-acclimate to life after this show?
04:00I don't feel like I really utilized mine or needed to.
04:05It was a harsh transition.
04:09There was no greater feeling than being able to go home to my babies.
04:12But it was a harsh transition to go from being screamed at by the DS to being screamed at by my babies.
04:17I was kind of like, enough yelling just for a little bit.
04:21But it was honestly seamless.
04:24I think we had a luxury that a lot of people didn't of going through the hardship of 10 days
04:30and then being praised for it, like crossing that finish line.
04:33So it made it easier to come home because you could end on a note of just such pride
04:38rather than festering in this world of I just came up short,
04:43which made me really, it was really hard as a wife to be able to support my husband that way
04:47because he was so beat up that he didn't finish.
04:50So I think because of that, the transition home was actually really easy.
04:54And I got to go cuddle my kids.
04:55I agree.
04:56I don't think I really utilized a lot.
04:58My mom, like, oddly connected with the psychologist.
05:02And so my mom, like, talks there.
05:05She's like, she really gets me.
05:07And I'm like, I'm so glad.
05:08But, yeah, it was pretty fine.
05:12I honestly just, like, tried to rest on it as much as I could.
05:15We were tired.
05:15But, I mean, other than that, it was weird.
05:20When I got home, though, I felt like I had to keep working out.
05:23I was very, like, I got off the plane and I went to a workout.
05:26Yeah.
05:27I went to Pilates.
05:28I just, you felt, it was, like, so instilled in you.
05:32Yeah.
05:32So, like, certain things, it definitely came home with us, which is a good thing.
05:36But now, obviously, we're normal.
05:38And if we want to take a day off, we take a day off.
05:41Your last challenge, you guys were, like, buried alive,
05:44kind of a simulation of you being buried alive.
05:45To pass this phase, recruits must suffer in silence.
05:57They need to hold their nerve.
05:58You, at first, you were like, nah-uh.
06:00You just laid down.
06:01You were like, fine.
06:02What got you guys through those final minutes of being in that box or that coffin?
06:08This is going to sound absolutely psychotic,
06:10but it's just because of what we went through for 12.
06:12It was actually 18 hours because they extended it.
06:15Yeah, it was a lie.
06:17It was so much longer.
06:18But we were in those stress positions with the back of our head,
06:21listening to awful noises for so long, being put in, like, uncomfy positions.
06:26It's crazy to say this, but when they walked me out to that mud pit and they're, like, lay down, let me cover you up,
06:33I was like, this is amazing.
06:35I'm going to take a nap.
06:37The mud was cool.
06:38It was quiet.
06:40I was like, this is bliss.
06:42So when they're, like, lay down, I was like, yes.
06:45Great.
06:45No problem.
06:46Honestly, I freaked out at first because I knew I got so claustrophobic during the tunnel challenge,
06:55so I was like, oh, I am already at my wits' end.
07:00Like, I do not feel like having a panic attack right now.
07:03And the interrogators just literally looked at me and they were like, get in.
07:08And I was like, okay.
07:11So then I just laid back.
07:13I got in.
07:14Tell me the truth.
07:15This stops.
07:17Just lie down.
07:18On the edge.
07:27Razor's edge.
07:27So crazy.
07:29And it was fine.
07:30I actually was like, well, it was weird.
07:32Then when they put the board on top of me, I was like, oh, wow.
07:35It's kind of nice.
07:36Yeah, I'm all right.
07:37Like, I just, like, I put my hands, like, on the board to, like, give me some sanity.
07:41But I was like, I'm okay.
07:43Oh, my gosh.
07:44I thought it was funny the way everyone interacted with Cody in particular.
07:47It seemed like everybody was kind of, he was getting under everyone's skin a little bit.
07:51What was your experience with him?
07:53Cody's sweet.
07:54Cody has great intentions.
07:58I think you put so many people into a show like that where it's fear-inducing and vulnerable
08:05and just honestly terrifying.
08:08You get exhausted.
08:09Everybody had, like, pet peeves with everybody.
08:12And I think what the show didn't show fully was we were all very close to where we could call each other out very comfortably to, like, each other's faces.
08:24So Cody and I, when we got paired up and we, like, really failed a mission very badly, what they didn't show is, like, him and I were actually talking about it.
08:34And I was like, I'm mad that this happened.
08:35And he'd say, I'm mad that this happened and I'm sorry.
08:39Like, it was very confrontational but in a friendly way.
08:41So even if something did annoy us, we could have a very open conversation about it.
08:48Yeah.
08:48I mean, yeah.
08:50I think also a lot of us didn't really know who Cody was going into Special Forces.
08:54So when we were interacting with him, it was kind of all of our first times doing that.
09:01But back to, like, Sean's point, there was even the scene, remember, when they were asking who you would leave behind, what number you would leave behind.
09:09Cody, Randall, Eric, and maybe Christy.
09:12Yeah.
09:12There was only a couple of them that said my number.
09:16But when they did, I was in the car with Cody after, and I go, Cody, I just have to ask you, like, why did you say my number?
09:22His response to that was, you remind me of my wife.
09:26We all treated him with kindness and he has, I think, you know, he means well and it may be just, he just wasn't taught, like, the way some people were or brought up the way that we were and that's totally, you know, okay.
09:41The DS, they had no problem yelling at everybody, obviously.
09:45We see them screaming at you during the tightrope.
09:46We see them trying to get you to open up a lot.
09:48But what was it like to be, like, just screamed at by them constantly, A, and then B, did you guys have a favorite, you know, trainer?
09:58I didn't mind the screaming.
10:00I loved the screaming.
10:01Yeah, I, something that you learn very, very quickly on the, like, when you're with them is they are, like, the most amazing stand-up human beings that are truly trying to better you.
10:14And even with their screaming, it's not to, like, beat you down or, like, make you a worse person.
10:21It's truly to, like, make you better and make you stronger.
10:24And they each figure out an individual weakness that can, they feel like they can rebuild of each person so quickly.
10:33So, it didn't bother me at all.
10:35I respected it because I wanted to fixate on it and say, what are you trying to, like, what do you see in me?
10:42Like, what do I need to work on?
10:44A favorite?
10:45I don't know if I had a favorite because they're all so cool and so amazing.
10:49I do think I, um, felt like I had something to prove to DSQ.
10:57I felt like him and I had, like, tension at the beginning and I, like, I disappointed him in something.
11:03And he, like, at one point was like, don't, don't get cocky with me.
11:06And I was like, oh, gosh.
11:07So, I felt like I was trying to win him over the whole time.
11:10And when I got a hug from him at the end, I was like, yes.
11:13Oh, that's awesome.
11:14I made it.
11:14That's awesome.
11:15Overwarning.
11:15Um, but, yeah, it was, the yelling was to motivate you.
11:20It was totally, like, I loved it because them yelling at me, it was just pushing me, like, further and further and making me do better.
11:28Yeah.
11:28So, didn't bother me at all.
11:31Honestly, if they weren't yelling at me, I probably wouldn't have done as good.
11:34Oh, yeah.
11:34I probably would have tapped out sooner.
11:36That's true.
11:36Um, and then my favorite DS, I want to say I probably, like, connected with maybe Q the most.
11:45Okay.
11:45But then the person that I wanted to prove myself to was Foxy because we had a, you know, we had a little bit of confrontation.
11:54You're a little tip.
11:55Um, but they're all truly amazing.
11:59They, like, each one of them pushed all of us until the end.
12:03And, and it differed every day based on the challenge, on what we were doing, like, and it was, it was really awesome.
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