“Caitlyn Jenner Showed Great Pride in Brody Jenner’s ‘Special Forces’ Win”

Brody Jenner’s achievement in making it through the selection of Special Force’s World’s Toughest Test Season 3 comes as no surprise, given his impressive athletic lineage as the son of an Olympic gold medalist.

In a recent interview with DECIDER, the reality TV star from The Hills shared that his father Caitlyn Jenner expressed being “super proud” of his victory on Special Forces, highlighting a newfound closeness as they now engage in daily conversations despite past estrangement.

“[I] did the family proud, the Jenner name,” Brody said over a Zoom call. “That’s one thing I was trying to do, also, was throw it down for the fam.”

Although Brody expressed gratitude for his father’s support, he cited his 18-month-old daughter, Honey, as his primary source of motivation during the arduous 10-day challenge, developed and overseen by former Special Forces members. Reflecting on emotional moments where thoughts of his daughter brought him to the brink of tears, he emphasized his desire to make her proud.

“I think that’s a simulation of real life. I mean, you go into battle and you lose some of your best comrades. Do you just quit right there? Or do you get back in the fight and do it for them?” Brody said. “After he got knocked out, it was also a motivating force for me to make sure that I make it to the end for him because I know he really wanted me to do that.”

While chatting with DECIDER about his time on Special Forces, Brody also talked about napping in a coffin while he was getting buried alive, hanging out with the directing staff after filming wrapped, and whether he’d ever do another competition reality series. Check out the full interview below.

DECIDER: Congrats on making it to the end of selection! After 10 days of torture, how did it feel to know that you were one of only two recruits to pass? 

BRODY JENNER: It was surreal. I think that, honestly, you’re so out of it at that moment.It really doesn’t set in until, I would say, almost the following day. You’re so sleep deprived, you’re pretty delusional. So it takes a while to really let it sink in. 

What was the first thing you did after leaving the training camp?

I went back to the hotel. We had to do a bunch of photoshoots and stuff. Like it was kind of a long work day after we won. We had to do some stuff with the DS. I went back to the hotel and I think I just ate a lot of food. Like, I remember just eating for weeks. Yeah. It was a pretty special moment for me. I was proud of myself that I was able to get through that last phase. That last phase, I will say, I mean, it’s hard to put into words how difficult that is. Even when you watch the show, as I did, too, before I did the show, I saw Season 2 and I watched what they went through and I thought like, “Wow, that looks tough.” But nothing can prepare you for how difficult that really was. 

You come from the world of reality TV, but this is obviously very different from anything you’ve done in the past. What was your main takeaway from this experience? 

What I learned from the experience is that I can do anything I set my mind to – if I really and truly want something and I want to accomplish something, that I can do that. So my advice to people, if you get an opportunity to do something like that, do it. It’s all about self-growth and learning. And so for me, it was an incredible space. [It was the] most difficult experience I’ve ever done in my life. But hands down, the most rewarding I’ve ever done, too.

I have to ask, have your siblings and step-siblings been watching this season? If so, what has their feedback been?

I’m not sure. I’m not sure. I have no idea. I don’t know if they have been. No, I’m just over here with the fam. We’re watching. I think tonight we’re going to be watching. So we’ll see how that [goes].

Have you heard from Caitlyn at all?

Yeah, I talked to Caitlyn today. I talk to her every day. She’s super proud. Super glad that I made it all the way. Did the family proud, the Jenner name. That’s one thing I was trying to do, also, was throw it down for the fam.

I remember from old episodes of Keeping Up with the Kardashians that Kendall always gravitated toward the Jenner activities. Do you think she – or any of them – would be able to do something like this? 

Sure. I think that they could do whatever they set their mind to. Absolutely. If she really wanted to do it, I think she could do it. Absolutely.

I thought it was really powerful to see you open up about how your relationship with Caitlyn influenced the way you father your daughter Honey. Are you excited to show her this season when she’s older? 

Absolutely. I mean, she was my motivation to get through the whole thing. I mean, I can’t tell you how many times I would almost come to tears just thinking about her and making her proud. So, yeah, I think I did that. I accomplished that. So I can’t wait for her to watch the show for sure. 

Do you think you’d let her do it someday if she came to you and asked?

I’d make sure I’d fill her in on all the stuff that she’s got to do. But, yeah, absolutely. I’m here to just help facilitate whatever it is she wants to do in life. 

I love the bonds all the recruits created and I saw you were recently hanging out with Carey Hart. Were you bummed he didn’t make it to the end with you?

I love Carey so much. I mean, he’s such an incredible guy and his energy is just so infectious. You just want to be around it all the time. He would have made it to the end. I really believe that. Yeah, it was a bummer. But I think that’s a simulation of real life. I mean, you go into battle and you lose some of your best comrades. Do you just quit right there? Or do you get back in the fight and do it for them? And honestly, after he got knocked out, it was also a motivating force for me to make sure that I make it to the end for him because I know he really wanted me to do that. And so he was a huge driving force in me making it to the end as well. 

Was there anyone else you stayed close with?

All of them. We have a big group chat. We’re all in it. We’re all talking. Even people that went out the first day. We’re all in a big group chat. And I think that when you go through an experience like that with anybody, I mean, there’s a bond that just gets created. For the rest of your life, you will have that,especially with Cam and Golden. I love these guys. And they’re the kind of people now that if I see them across the room, all we have to do is just look at each other. It’s a bond for life between all of us. 

Aside from Carey, is there anyone else who didn’t make it to the end who you thought would make it?

Yeah. The girls did such an incredible job. What happened towards the end – it’s such a bummer – when they get the top five, these packs are so heavy and then they don’t give [the girls] a lighter [pack]. You know, nobody’s getting lighter packs. So I think that towards the end you get the top five and, you know, you can want it so bad. And most of these girls should have made it all the way to the end. But physically, there were some things where, I mean, it was back-breaking stuff and they physically weren’t able because we’re all getting the same amount of weight. I think all the girls sort of made it to the end. Alana and them. But those are some strong, strong women, I’ll tell you that. And they could kick my butt. I don’t want to fight Kayla. These girls were gnarly.

Were you surprised when they took off your blindfold and Alana, Cam and Golden weren’t there?

Yeah, I was definitely surprised. I wanted all of them to make it. You know, the beautiful thing about this show is that it’s all about teamwork. We’re not working against each other. We’re working with each other. So I was bummed that they didn’t make it and they were so close. I mean, they were so, so, so close. They were right at the end. So that’s tough. I remember just being at that phase right at the end where, I mean, I would have died. I literally in my head, I’m like, “I will die before I give up.” You get to see. It’s wild. 

You didn’t give up your identity until they were about to dunk your head underwater, which was wild. What was going through your head at that moment?

I haven’t even watched the episode. It’s kind of a blur. But yeah, when that happened, I thought maybe I gave up too early, even though I was tortured probably eight hours before that even happened. I still thought, “Man, did I, did I do it too early?” I didn’t know because you don’t know. You have no idea. But they give you a lot of very valuable information before you go into that. And that’s why it’s so important.  You have to pay attention to every little detail, because they told me to make friends with these people. And then, look, if you’re really getting captured, you want to make friends with them. You want them to like you. So with the first guy that interrogated me, I try to make friends with them and be cool with them. And he actually did me a really solid when later on, I don’t know if you see it or not, but he just sort of gave me some encouraging words into the ear, just like, “You got to keep it going. Keep going.” And that was I don’t know how far into it, but it just really gave me the motivation to to make it to the end. 

The DS really put you guys through a lot. Was there ever a moment during selection where you came close to handing in your armband? 

Every single one. No, not every single one. There were some really fun ones. You know, the jump into a helicopter and all that stuff, all the ocean stuff I felt pretty comfortable with. One of my biggest fears going into it was getting buried alive. I’m not very claustrophobic, but I’m claustrophobic. You know, I don’t want to be buried alive. So I was really worried about that. And it was interesting. It happened around the eighth day, and I think that on the eighth day I was so exhausted and we had been through so much that I saw that coffin in the ground and I was just like, “Oh, I get to lay down and rest my eyes for a little bit.” I think I took a nap in there for a little bit. So a lot of the stuff I didn’t want to do, but by far the most difficult thing is what happened at the end. Getting tortured – I mean, the stuff that they’re playing in your ears is just so loud, screaming baby crying or whatever you don’t like to hear, that’s what’s going on in these. Scratching on the chalkboard. And you’re also sitting in these stress positions, which are extremely uncomfortable, especially for a 40-year-old man. I’m getting in these positions for four hours at a time. It will break the best of us. It was it was tough. It was really, really, really difficult. 

I imagine that once it was all over, it was nice to see the DS loosen up.

That’s another thing that I really wanted to do was have a beer with these guys at the end or something. I was like, I just want to see them as human beings. That was also a driving force for me because I know these guys are such incredible men. They really are. And so just to be able to sort of get to know them and since then, I’ve hung out with them multiple times. Rudy and I get together a bunch. I just got to hang with Billy the other day and I talk to them a lot. I consider them brothers to me and going through that experience with them, I’m just very appreciative. And they’re and they’re great, great, great human beings outside of the show. They’re there to teach you. 

After this experience, would you want to go on another competition reality series? If so, which ones?

I’m one and done with this. I don’t know. I’ve been asked to do a bunch of different competition reality shows. But this one I liked because it wasn’t really a competition reality show. It was more you’re competing with yourself  to see if you can do this and that type of show I really gravitate towards because I was just seeing if I could do this. I was seeing if I could put myself through this. And I’m proud of my performance. And I think that I don’t know, we’ll see what happens with that. But I’m on hold with the competition or the reality shows like that for now, for sure.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity

You can stream Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test Season 3 on Hulu.