Yahoo Lifestyle Trista Sutter Recalls Hitting a 'Breaking Point' on “Special Forces” as the World 'Lost Its Mind' Over Ryan’s Cryptic Posts (Exclusive)
The 'Bachelorette' star tells PEOPLE that the grueling experience on 'Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test' left her body "starting to fail me" while her husband Ryan's posts caused a stir among fans
PETE DADDS / FOX
Trista Sutter on 'Special Forces: World's Toughest Test'Warning: this story contains spoilers from the Jan. 15 episode of Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test.
Trista Sutter knows the moment she hit her “breaking point” while competing on Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test.
The inaugural Bachelorette star, 52, exclusively opens up to PEOPLE about the physical toll of the show’s grueling beach exercises — including experiencing hypothermic shock — which ultimately led her to withdraw from the Fox reality series on the Jan. 15 episode.
“The beach was definitely a breaking point for me,” she recalls. “On the beach, I felt like I was going to faint.”
After being told she would need to voluntarily withdraw from the competition if she saw a medic, she initially decided she wasn’t “ready to go home,” adding, “So I kept going. And then as I was putting on my pack and leaving, my knees were buckling. I knew my body was starting to fail me.”
Pete Dadds/FOX
From left: Trista Sutter and Denise Richards on 'Special Forces: World's Toughest Test'The television personality admits she was “exhausted” from the experience as viewers didn’t see about “three-quarters of what we did on the beach.”
“What you also didn't see is in between the tasks you're running with a pack that's a third of my weight,” she explains. “I'm trying to run. I am not a runner normally. I have asthma. I'm out of shape. And those are not excuses at all. I don't want that to come across as an excuse. I'm just saying that was really hard for me.”
Sutter also shares her gratitude to fellow recruits Golden Tate, Nathan Adrian and Cam Newton who helped her along the way.
“I had angels like Golden Tate, who at one point you could see at the bridge task that he had two backpacks on, one in the front and one in the back,” she reveals. “Mine was the one in the front. And he was carrying me.”
“Him and Nathan were holding my hand as we were running to the vehicles from the bridge,” she adds. “Cam came running to get my pack from me after the beach, even though [Directing Staff member] Q was like, ‘Don't you help her. Don't you help her.’ And he's like, ‘Whatever, I'm going to help her.’”
While she was away filming, Sutter’s husband Ryan’s cryptic posts about her being gone sparked speculation about their relationship. When the rumors began, the reality star tells PEOPLE she thought “the world had lost its mind.”
John Parra/Getty
Trista Sutter celebrates her 50th birthday with her husband, Ryan Sutter, on November 29, 2022 in Willemstad, Curacao.“Well, immediately I saw Ryan's post and I think it's incredibly sweet because if you have the perspective that I was filming the show when you read his post, then you know they're not cryptic,” she explains. “He's like, ‘I wish I was with you. I wish I could be with you. I wish I could help you through this. You need to find yourself,' and that kind of thing.”
“And I was trying to reconnect with me, who I am at my core, and searching for something in a way. And so if you look back on his posts, it makes total sense,” she adds. “But I also was very humbled by it, that people actually still care because usually we post things and it doesn't go viral.”
“But this clearly went viral and it kind of filled my heart, made my heart happy that there are people out there that still care about us,” she concluded.
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Special Forces: World's Toughest Test airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET on Fox.
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