Candace Cameron Reveals How ‘Brutal’ Experience On ‘Special Forces’ Pushed Her Out of Her Comfort Zone

FOX

Among the celebrities competing in the current season of Fox’s reality TV hit “Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test” is 1990s TV star Candace Cameron Bure.

As viewers have witnessed, the former “Full House” star had a difficult experience with the military-style training she and her fellow celebs undertook, and a new interview finds her opening up about facing such harsh conditions that she came very close to quitting.

A ‘Horrific’ Experience

Speaking with Entertainment Weekly about “Special Forces,” Cameron Bure comments on the recently aired fifth episode, in which she and her fellow celebs had to endure a gas chamber.

“It was the worst thing I’ve ever experienced in my life. I had no idea how chemical warfare affects your body,” Bure told the magazine. “I mean, how would you know unless you’re in it? And it was horrific.”

As she explained, there’s no artifice in what viewers are seeing, because competitors are so focused on what they’re experiencing that performing for cameras is the furthest thing from their minds.

“I know when you watch the show or you’re thinking, ‘Oh, this is reality television.’ But I would say that this is actually a special forces course that happens to be filmed,” she pointed out. “Because although there are some camera people around, they are not looking at you, they are not allowed to talk to you, so you almost feel like they’re not there. If you happen to even try to talk to them or bump into them, they are like a ghost [or] a wall. There’s no communication whatsoever. You very much forget that there’s a sense of reality television, that it’s being filmed, that there are camera people around.”

‘It Wasn’t Easy’

“Special Forces” also proved to be a harsh departure from any other experience she’s had in her decades on television.

“I think this is the most I have had a straight face on television in my 45-year career,” she explained. “There was no energy to smile. I had to store up all of my energy to then focus on what the next task was going to be.”

However, she also knew what she was getting into. “It was not easy, but we all signed up for it,” Cameron Bure added. “We had our barracks, which we had those cots and a little pillow, a little trunk, which they gave us a roll of toilet paper and a toothbrush and a bar of soap. I mean, that’s all you got. And the mosquitoes and the bugs and the snakes and the scorpions were problematic. They were in our area all the time.”

Even the brief period they were given to rest offered little respite, thanks to the open-air barracks. “So the bug infestation and the mosquito infestation was pretty brutal,” she shared. “But, this is what we’re there for. We’re experiencing just a small little portion of what our real military goes through in special forces. I considered it all a privilege to be there, but yeah, it wasn’t easy.” 

She Nearly Quit

Admitting she was “scared of everything,” she also tried not to “let fear get the best of” her. 

“I know I’m going to do it [and] try it, but all of it scared me to my core,” she said. “I’m very afraid of heights, so those were very challenging. But the one I actually dreaded the most was submersion, being underwater [and] having to hold my breath. I’m not a strong swimmer and just knowing that I had to hold my breath — I tried to practice that at home a few times before I was going out there and I never really quite felt comfortable that I could even sustain for 40 seconds.”

Speaking with Entertainment Weekly, she also opened up about a clip from the show in which she says she’s ready to pack it in and head home, revealing her fellow celebs prevented her from quitting.

“I would say my teammates stopped me,” she says. “They were really encouraging. Someone [said], ‘Just sleep on it. Don’t quit now. Just sleep on it, wake up, have a fresh morning. If you want to go in the morning, go in the morning.’ That sounded very rational to me. So that’s what I did. I slept on it, and some sleep, even when it’s not very much, it does give you a new perspective.”

The fifth season of “Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test” airs Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on Fox.