Kailyn Lowry Reconnects With ‘Teen Mom’ Co-Star After Hospitalization

Former “Teen Mom” star Kailyn Lowry met up with Dr. Drew Pinsky for a new episode of her podcast, “Barely Famous,” where they talked about Pinsky’s trip to the intensive care unit in Jordan after his stint on Fox’s “Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test.”

Pinsky was the second reality star to be eliminated after he became dehydrated on the first day in the desert, where he and 15 other celebrities faced challenges “pulled from the actual special forces selection process under the eye of four former military operatives,” according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Although the show isn’t intended to feature eliminations, according to the outlet — “the goal for the participants is just to make it through the training” — two participants were medically eliminated during the first episode. Kate Gosselin was the first to be taken out after she fell the wrong way out of a helicopter into the water.

“I get very sick, very fast. It was shocking to me. What you see there, with me in the tent … I was totally out of it,” Pinsky told Lowry on the January 6 podcast episode. “I don’t remember any of that. Neurologically, I was just already out.”

Pinsky said he was encephalopathic — meaning his brain was swelling — and dehydrated.
“And that was that,” the celebrity doctor said about being pulled out of the show.

Pinsky credited fellow contestant Jamie Lynn Spears with noticing he wasn’t feeling well and getting help. “I was trying to hide it from my peers,” Pinsky said on the show.  “Jamie Lynn grabbed me and took me to the medical services. … I swear I’m gonna get a t-shirt made that says, ‘Jamie Lynn Spears Saved My Life.'”

Pinsky, 64, told The U.S. Sun in December 2022 that he had been unwell prior to participating on the show. “I had been feeling sort of crappy. At that point I’d had multiple episodes of diverticulitis. I had a long Covid. I was feeling old and whiny, and I wasn’t feeling myself,” Pinsky told the outlet. He was first diagnosed with COVID-19 in December 2020, he shared on Instagram at the time, after previously downplaying the illness.

Pinsky was also diagnosed with and surgically treated for prostate cancer in 2011, he told People in 2013.

But Pinsky told The Sun he “felt great” after the two-week training for the show.

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Pinsky Says ‘Special Forces’ Was ‘Traumatic’

Despite the physical ramifications of the competition, Pinsky said he and his co-stars cherish the experience.

“All of us — all 16 of us — feel like it was the greatest experience we ever had. We’re all dear friends now,” Pinsky explained. “We talk on a regular basis. We meet all the time. … It’s odd how bonded up we are.”

The group quarantined in a hotel for a week before they started training, and even though they weren’t supposed to, seven of them would meet up for meals. “They couldn’t keep us apart. We all had meals together and stuff,” Pinsky said.

Pinsky said the group was discouraged from supporting each other.

“If I remember right, Mel was actually the first one out,” he said, referring to who jumped out of the helicopter first. “We applauded when she did it and they punished us.”

“We were a unit, 100%,” he added.

Pinsky said it was tough to watch the first episode of the series without his co-stars.

“We all last night had trouble watching it because we weren’t together,” he said. “When we were all together it made it much more tolerable.”

Lowry asked if they were all trauma bonded because of what they endured as a group.

“It was a traumatic experience but not damagingly traumatic. You know what I mean? We could tolerate it. All of one and one for it. It was crazy,” he said.

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Lowry Wants to Apply for ‘Special Forces’ Season 2

Lowry has said before she would be interested in returning to reality TV if the show focused on her and her family, but she told Pinsky she’s interested in the new competition show.

“I’m obsessed. It’s so good. I literally need to apply to season 2 because I never wanted to do a show more in my life,” she said about “Special Forces.”

But she had mixed feelings after hearing all of Pinsky’s stories.

“I really want to apply for season 2 although you’re scaring me,” she said.

Pinsky encouraged Lowry to apply but suggested she should dedicate two months to training.

“You should. I’ll support you in this,” he said. “If you have two months to train, it will make a big difference.”

“Special Forces” is based on the British show “SAS: Who Dares Wins,” which has been airing since 2015. “Special Forces” airs Wednesdays at 9 p.m. Eastern time on Fox.

The “Barely Famous” podcast comes out on Fridays where podcasts are available.

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