Shawn Johnson and Andrew Wouldn’t Leave Special Forces If 1 Was Eliminated

Shawn Johnson East and husband Andrew East made it to the Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test season 4 finale together — but if one had been eliminated earlier, the other had no plans to quit in solidarity.

“Andrew and I had many conversations of, like, hypotheticals going into it,” Shawn, 33, exclusively told Us Weekly after winning the season alongside Gia Giudice on the Thursday, November 20, episode.

The Olympic gold medalist explained, “We both were very adamant about, like, one of us has to finish it all the way. So if he left, I had to stay. If I left, he had to stay.”

Shawn added of her husband, “We had to represent the team. We’re a team.”

During the finale, Shawn and Andrew, 34, began the episode with Gia, 24, Kody Brown and Brianna LaPaglia. After being put through an intense interrogation challenge and simulated capture exercise, Kody, 56, and Andrew were eliminated.

The three women continued to the final challenge, a simulated burial. Brianna, 26, pulled herself out minutes before Shawn and Gia were named the winners.

Looking back, Shawn told Us that was the “hardest day” because she wasn’t prepared for the mental aspect that came with the interrogation portion of the day.

“I was very used to pushing through, like, physical pain. Not in a dramatic way, but like, I was used to pushing myself,” she said. “And so the first nine days, eight days of physical challenges were very, very hard. But I was used to that.”

The retired gymnast wasn’t expecting how hard it would be to transition to 12 hours of torture and interrogation knowing her husband was going through the same challenge.

“That was really hard. I was really worried about my husband, Andrew was very worried about me,” Shawn revealed. “That was a different form of, you know, anything we’ve ever had to deal with, and it’s just not anything I want to do again.”

Shawn, who has been married to the former NFL player since April 2016, admitted she was hesitant to do Special Forces at the same time as Andrew, but is now grateful he was by her side.

“My husband and I got a little nervous just doing the show together. We didn’t know how that was going to be used against us,” she shared with Us, noting that their marriage is their “No. 1 priority in the world.”

Despite being tested, Shawn said competing alongside her spouse “turned out to be amazing.”

The Olympian noted that her and Andrew’s three children were also inspiration for her joining the cast and battling so hard.

“I competed at the Olympics at 16. I did the blood, sweat and tears. I could sacrifice anything. I could push through any pain and anything hard back then,” Shawn recalled. “Since I finished the Olympics, I kind of used that as an excuse to never complete anything else afterwards. It was always like, ‘Well, I did it so I don’t have to do it again.’”

Once she had her daughter, Drew, 6, and sons Jett, 4, and Bear, 23 months, Shawn realized she “wanted to kind of prove it to myself and see if I still could tap into that [competitor] and show my babies that I’ve got more grit than they think.”

When she won Special Forces, Shawn confessed it was bittersweet because Andrew fell short of the crown after wanting just as badly as she did.

“Andrew and I are each other’s biggest fans and cheerleaders and teammates, and coming across that finish line, he was so happy for me and so ecstatic,” she told Us. “But I could also see the disappointment and the sadness in him.”

Shawn explained, “As his biggest cheerleader, it was this interesting, like, shared moment of I just want to hug him and help him process this moment, and he just wants to celebrate me.”

Although it was “a little odd” to win without him, Shawn said being on the same season was “the greatest blessing.” She revealed, “There is no way anybody can ever fully understand what we did.”