Olympic champion Shawn Johnson East recently underwent a remarkable physical transformation while participating in the intense reality series, “Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test.” The grueling nature of the course left Johnson East with countless bruises and layers of dirt and mud embedded in her skin, a testament to the extreme challenges she faced.

“This was about an hour after I crossed the ‘finish line’ and got to finally go to a hotel,” Johnson East, 33, captioned a Friday, January 9, selfie via her Instagram Stories that was taken after the show wrapped. “I had lost about 10-15 pounds.”

Johnson East, alongside her husband, Andrew East, a former NFL player, took on the formidable challenges of “Special Forces” season 4, which aired on Fox in late 2023. Although Andrew, 34, was eliminated just before the final selection round, Shawn persevered to the end, standing alongside Bravo star Gia Giudice. Their journey was not without its difficulties, as fellow contestants Kody Brown and Brianna “Chickenfry” LaPaglia also faced elimination before the finale.

For Shawn Johnson, life has always been about maintaining balance, a skill she perfected as an Olympic gymnast. At the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, she dazzled the world by securing an individual gold medal on the balance beam and a silver for her floor routine, while also contributing to Team USA’s silver medal in women’s artistic gymnastics.

Reflecting on her experience, Shawn shared with Us Weekly in November 2025 that overcoming the show’s hardships and reaching a positive conclusion helped to reframe the challenging moments as worthwhile. “For contestants like Kody, Brianna, and Andrew, it was incredibly tough,” she admitted. “They endured intense trials and interrogations without the satisfaction of being told they succeeded or deserved recognition.”

“Being able to have a happy ending to all the hardship helped us repaint a lot of the hard moments and make them feel worth it,” Shawn exclusively told Us Weekly in November 2025 of her victory. “I would say for Kody and Brianna and Andrew, that’s really hard. They had to go through all this torture and all this interrogation and not have the reward of being told they did a good job or they earned or deserved.”

While Andrew left the Specials Forces camp upon his elimination, he reunited with Shawn shortly after she passed selection.

“We are each other’s biggest fans and cheerleaders and teammates. Coming across that finish line, he was so happy for me and so ecstatic,” she recalled to Us. “I could also see the disappointment and the sadness in him. As his biggest cheerleader, it was this interesting shared moment of, ‘I just wanted to hug him and help him process this moment,’ and he just wanted to celebrate with me.”

Shawn and Andrew have been married since 2016, going on to welcome three children together. The pair’s kids — Drew, Jett and Bear — were all especially proud of their mom’s reality TV victory.

“It’s a pretty intense show, but they were so excited to see us jump out of a helicopter. They get to see that little clip and we will show them more as it goes on,” Shawn told Us of her children’s reaction to the grueling competition. “My daughter has heard people talk about it, and she’s aware enough that she’s like, ‘Mommy, I want to watch the army show.’”

Not only does Dancing With the Stars help revive celebrities’ careers, but the hit ABC ballroom competition also reshapes their physiques if they stay in the game long enough. Thank You! You have successfully subscribed. Subscribe to newsletters Please enter a valid email. Subscribe By signing up, I agree to the Terms and Privacy Policy […]

In addition to walking away with a win, Shawn and Andrew both left the show with physical injuries.

“I had a concussion [and] Andrew broke two ribs and possibly his nose,” she said, revealing that their fellow recruits also got hurt. “Eric Decker slipped a disc. Mark Estes had cauliflower ear. Christie Pearce Rampone had pneumonia.”

Shawn added, “Everybody had, like, huge chunks of missing skin all over their feet and heels. We all ripped our hands so badly.”

Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test is now streaming on Hulu.