Jussie Smollett stepped into the latest season of Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test hoping for what he called “a reset.”
Instead, the premiere turned into another moment of tension for the former Empire star.
The FOX reality series dropped its cast—including Smollett, Teresa Giudice and her daughter Gia, Chanel Iman, Eva Marcille, and more—into military-style training with no warm-up. Within hours of arrival, recruits were crawling through mud, running uphill with heavy supplies, and learning how to rappel out of a helicopter.
Smollett drew immediate attention when he slowed during the uphill carry. Navy SEAL Jovon Quarles, part of the Directing Staff, unloaded on him in front of the group. “Sixteen, what are you doing? What is your problem?” Quarles yelled, using Smollett’s assigned number. “You all are truly pissing me off, especially you, Sixteen.”
In a later interview, Smollett admitted the moment rattled him. “I’m okay with taking orders,” he said, according to Entertainment Weekly. “I just don’t like to be yelled at, all up in my face. I don’t like being disrespected.”
The confrontation framed his presence on the show. Earlier in the episode, Smollett explained why he signed on. “I’ve been through some s---, and it’s been very public,” he said. “I was called a liar, with everybody believing something that was not true. This feels like a reset.”
That “public” ordeal was his 2019 hate crime case in Chicago, which spiraled into years of indictments, appeals, and eventual settlement after a special prosecutor retried him. Smollett has always maintained his innocence, but the legal fight left his acting career in limbo.
Special Forces also handed him an awkward run-in with Sister Wives star Kody Brown. When Brown asked his full name, Smollett hesitated before finally adding his last. Recognition was instant. Brown’s response was brief but telling: “Second chance.”
Most of the cast survived the brutal first day. Brittany Cartwright, from Vanderpump Rules, tapped out almost immediately, while Smollett managed to push through.