Heavy A DWTS champ is celebrating another win.
Former “Bachelorette” star and “Dancing With the Stars” champ Hannah Brown is celebrating a huge accomplishment after finishing in first place on another reality television series.
Brown participated in the new Fox series “Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test” along with other celebrities and athletes, including former DWTS competitors Kate Gosselin and Melanie Brown, Olympian Gus Kenworthy, and NFL star Danny Amendola.
Throughout the season, recruits were put through extensive training and completed military-style drills to see if they could handle various situations that the special forces face. Week after week, viewers watched as the recruits dropped out of the competition, either due to strain, stress, or injury — some by choice and others due to medical necessity.
Brown, however, made it to the end of the competition, overcoming her fears through grit, determination, and tears. She and co-recruit Carli Lloyd were the only two left standing on the finale, which aired on March 1, 2023.
The goal of the program is for the staff sergeants to feel confident enough to have one of the recruits beside them and to trust them with their lives in the event of an attack or other unforeseen circumstance. Ultimately, both Brown and Lloyd passed the test.
Here’s what you need to know:
Hannah Brown Says She’s ‘Proud’ of Herself
While the finale of “Special Forces” was airing on the east coast, Brown was posting videos on her Instagram Stories from a hotel room in New York City while she watched.
The last episode of the series was the final few hours of an interrogation process, which proved to be grueling for the recruits.
“This show is so humbling in so many ways,” Brown said on her Instagram Stories. “You look horrible. Like, so run down,” she continued.
“If you’re watching the show or you’re watching it later, like, being in that holding cell was absolutely the worst part of that whole thing for me. Listening to those horrible sounds for like hours and hours and holding these stress positions was miserable. And I feel like you can’t really see that through watching it. Just how horrible it was,” Brown said.
After the show ended, she returned to her Stories with an update.
“Okay, so, there you have it! I’m so proud of myself. I’m so honored that I got to be a part of the show,” Brown said. “And it’s been great to have all of your support,” she continued.
Hannah Brown Says Her Experience on ‘Special Forces’ Was Unmatched
Brown has competed in beauty pageants, tried to find love on national television, and became a ballroom dancer in a matter of weeks, but she says that nothing compared to her time on “Special Forces.”
“The living conditions were the hardest part. All we were given was a box that had three pairs of underwear, two bras. We had two sets of clothes for the entire time, a bar soap and a toothbrush. We were on the tiniest cots all in a tent outside in the Jordanian desert going to the bathroom in buckets with a piece of plywood in between us that our heads were out the whole time,” she told E! News in January 2023.
“This is not a beauty pageant at all. I’m honestly terrified to see what I look like the entire time. It truly feels like you’re fighting for your life at all times. You’re just in discomfort the entire time,” she added.
As for what’s next for Brown, she says that she doesn’t have any plans to do another television competition show.
“I’m really thankful for the experiences I’ve had — it’s been a journey — and I’m so thankful I was able to complete everything that I have set out to do, but no. ‘The Bachelorette’ and ‘Dancing With the Stars’ was all within a year of each other,” she told TV Insider.
“It was such a crazy, amazing experience. Coming back to reality TV, for me, had to be something special and something that was transformative and that would make me become a better version of myself through these challenges and difficulties,” she added.
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