'Sister Wives' star Kody Brown hit with brutal punishment on 'Special Forces': 'It was humiliating...'
'Sister Wives' star Kody Brown came close to completing one of the last hurdles on FOX's 'Special Forces: World's Toughest Test', but not before being confronted with one of the show's most uncomfortable moments. A fellow recruit labelled him "creepy," a remark that came back to haunt him during a brutal mock-capture drill. In the near-final stage of the course, the remaining celebrity participants, Brianna "Chickenfry" LaPaglia, Andrew East, Shawn Johnson East, Gia Giudice, and Brown, were subjected to individual interrogations meant to mimic real-world hostage tactics.
Each contestant was isolated and grilled under pressure, but the situation escalated when LaPaglia's earlier comments about Brown were thrown directly into the spotlight. During her session, a female interrogator bluntly informed LaPaglia that she had "dropped [Brown] in the s***," before turning her attention to the 'Sister Wives' star. She told Brown she had prepared "some nice s*** water" for him, then ordered LaPaglia to repeat what she truly thought of him as the foul liquid was poured over his head. LaPaglia attempted to soften the blow, saying she simply found him "older" and didn't want to interact much, but the officers pushed further.
As quoted by Parade, one of the Directing Staff reminded her, "You also said he was creepy." "This is what you get for being creepy." DS instructor Jason "Foxy" Fox later explained that such interrogation tactics are always intentional. "[They] don't poke people for no reason. They look for a weak point; and what they're really after is information," he noted. Brown's difficulty connecting with the group had been a recurring theme throughout the season. Some competitors felt he kept his guard up, struggled to collaborate, and focused more on his own survival than the team's success.
Speaking to E! News in an interview filmed earlier in the season, Brown acknowledged that the challenge exposed emotional vulnerabilities he wasn't expecting. "[They find] your weakness. And they're pushing you on your weakness," he said. "And they found me in an emotional weakness, and they found me in a mental weakness. It felt like it broke me. It was humiliating in such a way that I came home feeling just humble." Despite the tension, he insisted he holds "nothing but love" for the cast, and he did have one strong supporter from afar. In the November 13 episode, Brown received a morale-boosting message from his wife, Robyn Brown.
"Hi, handsome," she said warmly. "I'm sure you're charming everyone and making friends and impressing everyone with what you can pull off and what you can do. Please know that the kids and I are praying for you every day. I'm sending you light and love." The season ultimately concluded with a historic finish. Out of 18 celebrity recruits, only two, Gia Giudice and Shawn Johnson East, managed to survive the nine-day endurance course and pass the show's final interrogation gauntlet. Their victory was confirmed in the November 20 finale.