After three days on “Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test,” Savannah Chrisley decided to voluntarily withdraw from Fox reality series after the “Chrisley Knows Best” star hit her “breaking point.”
“When I got there I was under the impression that it [was] gonna be super tough physically — that’s gonna be the only thing that’s hard on me,” Chrisley told TheWrap. “But then after being there for a few days, I was like, ‘OK, this is getting really difficult … emotionally.’ It was really tough being away from Chloe and Grayson because obviously there’s been a ton of change in our life.”
Earlier this year, Todd and Julie Chrisley reported to their respective federal prisons to serve a combined 19 years after being found guilty of several financial crimes last year. Once her parents began serving their sentences, guardianship for Savannah’s 17-year-old brother Grayson and 10-year-old niece Chloe fell to her.
“For the first time in my life, I actually love two people more than I love myself [and] I [was] ready to get home to them,” Chrisley said. “I was worried about them because obviously we had no phone service — there was nothing like that. I wasn’t allowed to have a phone. So it was just really tough with all the transition that we’ve had in life to just leave them. That’s what it came down to.”
While Chrisley admitted in the episode that her head wasn’t fully in the vehicle protection challenge during the start of Day 3, she stayed strong until later that day, when the recruits were brought to the icy waters of New Zealand and were instructed to partake in a backwards dive on a steep platform.
“I was just like, ‘Alright, this is too much.’ You have to be on wet clothes — sure, they gave you something to change into, but you still had soaking wet boots and I was at my breaking point,” Chrisley said. “I was like ‘I barely had any food. I’m tired. I’m cold. I miss the kids. I showed up. I proved to myself that I can do it and now it’s my time to go.’”
Despite quitting the show three days into the 10-day experience, Chrisley noted going on the show gave her a “sense of accomplishment,” as well as “a little bit of a break from what [she] deal[s] with on a day-to-day basis.”
“It just made me realize that it doesn’t matter how tough life gets, I still have the capabilities of showing up and it’s okay to not show up perfectly,” Chrisley said. “I think that’s what this whole situation has taught me — just showing up is enough sometimes because life is so difficult.”
Below, Chrisley explains why she was initially interested in joining the unscripted series, if her first day there was anything like what she expected and how she is coping with her parents’ incarceration.
TheWrap: Why did you first decide you wanted to go through this experience on “Special Forces?”
Chrisley: “Special Forces” was actually one of the last shows that I watched my parents before they left and my mom was watching and she was like, “Oh my gosh, if anyone could do this, you could do it. You need to do it.”
I was like, “Alright, I have been at home nonstop with kids” and I feel like, in a way, that was a little break for me. I knew that my parents were going to be able to watch it so why would I not want to go on the show and just show up as best I can?
How did you feel when you first entered the experience? Was it what you expected?
I was actually really relieved with the cast and the group of people that they had on because we all connected so well and just had it was an immediate connection and humor. We just had the best time.
Now, the lack of food … If anyone knows me, I love to eat so that was a challenge for me. You don’t realize that things you do on a day-to-day basis until you don’t have them to do and then you’re like, “Holy cow, I don’t know how I’ve ever lived without X, Y and Z.”
In Episode 2, there was a particularly brutal episode during which you vomited while rappelling down a 330-foot wall. Did that experience contribute to your voluntarily withdrawing?
I was the first to go but they aired it as if I was the last, so throughout all the challenges you learn more through watching people because you really didn’t get great instructions. I was just completely thrown off guard, and I think that definitely started the downward slope of things. I already wasn’t feeling good — You get the bare minimum. You’re not really showering. You’re not really eating you’re doing nothing of that nature. This started the whole downfall for sure.
In the first episode, you spoke about how your parents going to prison has hardened you. How have you made peace with this situation and how did this experience help with that?
The whole experience has been just an impossible situation. It’s not easy. You go through moments of anger and hurt and sadness. There was a lot of anger at first, but now I’ve been able to channel that in a more effective and healthy manner and say, “You know what, that sucks. Life sucks. It’s not always perfect.”
Our situation sucks but if I can take this and create a platform to help other people that are going through exactly what we’re going through, then I will do it in a heartbeat. That’s been my main focus is just doing more with what I’ve been given. A lot of people don’t speak up about it and over 2 million families are impacted by the federal prison system. I want people to know that they’re not alone, and if something I can say or do can help that then I’m all for it.
“Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test” airs Mondays at 9 p.m. on Fox and streams next-day on Hulu.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
