"What a great accomplishment!!": Special Forces: World's Toughest Test fans react to Gia Giudice and Shawn Johnson's victory

Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test season 4 concluded on November 20, 2025, in which two female recruits – TV personality Gia Giudice and Olympic gymnastics gold medalist Shawn Johnson East – outlasted their co-stars and completed the grueling course, taking home the winner’s title. 

The finale opened with five remaining contestants, namely, Gia, Shawn, Kody Brown, Andrew East, and Brianna “Chickenfy” LaPaglia.

It saw the recruits undergo extensive mental and physical challenges when special interrogators, posing as the enemy camp, tried to extract key information from them. 

While some cracked under pressure, others remained strong, determined not to falter under the torture. 

The first round of questioning was enough to break Andrew and Kody, who were the first ones to be removed from the course, leaving Brianna, Gia, and Shawn in the race to the finish line. 

The ultimate challenge to test the three women was being buried alive. 

The cast members needed to maintain their composure and not reveal their true identity as recruits of the military. It was in this task that Brianna gave up, leaving Gia and Shawn as the two recruits to have completed the training camp.

Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test fans took to X to share their thoughts on Gia and Shawn completing the camp and winning the show, as one commented:

“so proud and impressed by Gia and Shawn. what a great accomplishment!!”

Many Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test fans cheered as two women ultimately survived the grueling challenge at the end of the competition.

“Two badass women #GiaGiudice and #ShawnJohnson, the only two to survive #SpecialForces til the end. Congrats!” a fan wrote. 

“Way to go Shawn & Gia! You ladies rock!” another one commented.

“Congratulations Gia & Shawn The 2 smallest. The 2 women. Absolute Rockstars,” an X user reacted.

Other fans of the FOX show expressed a similar sentiment. 

“Oh Teresa must be so so so proud of Gia  gia is her mothers daughter a lil reality tv superstar in the making,” a person wrote.

“The feeling of being a woman is incredible after watching #specialforces finale,” another netizen commented.

“I'm proud of Shawn and Gia for sticking it out! Good job. I'm so disappointed that Andrew, Randall, Brianna and Kody didn't make selection. Y'all were so close,” one fan posted.

How did Gia and Shawn react to their journey on Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test?

After being declared the winners of the series, Gia went to a confessional and reflected that she and Shawn were going to be “bonded for life.”

Speaking about her own journey, she said that although she did not initially have faith in herself, she had to push her limits and keep moving forward for those who believed in her capabilities. 

On November 20, Gia took to Instagram to write about her journey, accompanied by a clip of her time on the show. 

“This was truly one of the best experiences of my life, and I’m forever grateful I took on this challenge. Thank you to the DS for pushing me every single day. And to my incredible cast, I’m honored to have gone through this with you. I wouldn’t have made it this far without you,” she wrote. 

As for Shawn, she called Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test a “very humbling experience” while speaking in a separate confessional. 

The Olympic Gold medalist added that the journey taught her that there needed to be a balance in tuning out the world and getting “your job done.”

She also took to Instagram to share her thoughts on her feat, writing that the FOX reality show was “one of the hardest things” she had ever done in her life. But at the same time, she believed that it was “the most rewarding,” too.

Lastly, she thanked the Directing Staff for “investing so much time” into the recruits and pushing them to improve. 

Stay tuned for more updates.