Shawn Johnson East and Gia Giudice Win 'Special Forces: World's Toughest Test' Season 4 After Grueling Morocco Finale

When Shawn Johnson East crawled out of a mud-filled coffin after 47 minutes of suffocating darkness, she didn’t cheer. She didn’t cry. She just stared at the sky, breathless, as if she’d just survived something far bigger than a TV show. Beside her, Gia Giudice did the same—no applause, no smile. Just quiet, exhausted triumph. The Special Forces: World's Toughest Test Season 4 finale aired Thursday, November 20, 2025, at 9:00 p.m. Eastern Time on Fox, ending a 10-episode journey that began in September and pushed 18 celebrities to their absolute limits in the deserts of Morocco. Only two made it. And neither of them looked like they expected to.

From Gymnast to Survivor: The Unlikely Winner

Shawn Johnson East isn’t just an Olympic gold medalist—she’s a woman who spent her life balancing on a four-inch beam, contorting her body into shapes that defied gravity. But in Special Forces: World's Toughest Test, there were no mats. No judges. Just sand, sweat, and silence. Her journey through the season was quiet but relentless. While others broke under pressure, she adapted. When forced to carry a 60-pound rucksack up a 1,500-foot dune at 4 a.m., she didn’t complain. When she was dropped into a freezing river with no warm gear, she swam without hesitation. Even her husband, former NFL player Andrew East, couldn’t protect her from the psychological warfare. He was eliminated during the mock interrogation challenge after his cover was blown—something the show’s military hosts, including former SBS operator Jason 'Foxy' Fox, said was “a textbook failure in deception.”

Gia Giudice: Reality Star Who Refused to Quit

If Shawn Johnson East was the quiet force, then Gia Giudice was the storm. The 30-year-old reality star, known for her dramatic appearances on The Real Housewives of New Jersey, walked into training with a reputation for being loud, emotional, and unpredictable. But what viewers didn’t see was her discipline. She woke up before dawn every day. She ate rations she hated. She ran until her legs gave out. And when the burial challenge began—where contestants were placed in wooden coffins and buried under five feet of mud—she didn’t scream. She didn’t panic. She counted breaths. She remembered her mother’s advice: “When you think you’re done, you’re only halfway there.”

That moment was the breaking point for Brianna LaPaglia, the comedian and actress who, with just minutes left, blurted out her true identity—something the show’s rules strictly forbade. “I couldn’t breathe,” she later told Parade. “I thought I was going to die.” Her confession ended her run. Only Shawn Johnson East and Gia Giudice remained.

The Gauntlet: How the Final Challenges Broke the Rest

The finale wasn’t just hard—it was designed to break minds. After the mock interrogation, where former NFL stars Andrew East and Kody Brown were stripped of their civilian personas and grilled by actors playing hostile interrogators, only three remained. The burial challenge was the final test. No water. No light. No air. Just the sound of your own heartbeat and the weight of the earth pressing down.

“It’s not about strength,” said Mark 'Billy' Billingham, a former SAS operator and one of the show’s hosts. “It’s about whether you still believe you can survive when every instinct says you can’t.”

Of the original 18, only two did. The others? Brittany Cartwright quit during a 20-mile night march. Randall Cobb and Eric Decker were medically evacuated after dehydration. Teresa Giudice, Gia’s mother and a former Housewives star, withdrew after a knee injury. Even Christie Pearce Rampone, the legendary U.S. Women’s Soccer captain, didn’t make it past week six.

Why This Season Mattered

This wasn’t just another reality show. It was a mirror. For decades, we’ve seen celebrities on Dancing with the Stars or Survivor—performing, posing, playing roles. But Special Forces: World's Toughest Test doesn’t let you perform. It strips you bare. The ratings tell part of the story: Season 4’s premiere drew 1.17 million viewers, down from Season 3’s 1.86 million. But the social media reaction? Explosive. Fans flooded Twitter with #ShawnSurvived and #GiaDidntQuit. People who’d never watched reality TV before were sharing clips of her crawling through barbed wire.

And that’s the real win. This show isn’t about who’s the toughest. It’s about who refuses to quit when no one’s watching. When the cameras stop rolling, and the mud dries, and the medals are handed out—what’s left is something real. Something raw. Something human.

What’s Next for the Show—and the Winners?

Fox renewed the series for Season 5 on May 12, 2025, with production expected to begin in early 2026. Past seasons were filmed in New Zealand (Season 2), Wales (Season 3), and Morocco (Season 4). Industry insiders suggest Season 5 could head to Jordan or the Philippines—both known for elite military training grounds. The network has yet to announce the cast, but based on past patterns, it’ll likely drop in September 2026.

As for the winners? Shawn Johnson East has already hinted at launching a fitness initiative for survivors of trauma. Gia Giudice told AOL she plans to speak at military family support centers. Neither plans to return to reality TV. “I didn’t do this to be famous,” Gia said. “I did it to prove I’m not who they think I am.”

As for the rest of us? We’re left wondering: if two women—one a gymnast, one a reality star—could survive this… what’s stopping the rest of us from pushing harder?