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Candace Cameron Bure has opened up about her decision to join the Fox reality show Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test.
The Full House star traveled to Malaysia to film season five of the quasi-military training series, which is set to premiere Thursday night. She’ll be competing alongside disgraced former congressman George Santos, The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills alum Brandi Glanville, and about a dozen other reality TV stars and athletes.
Asked what drew her to the opportunity at this phase of life — newly 50 and about to become a first-time grandmother — Bure told The Independent, “I was really fearful of some of the things that I could possibly be doing, but when I’m challenged with something that scares me really badly, I like to say yes, because I don’t want fear ruling my life.”
Bure admitted that the show “is really the world’s toughest challenge.”
“You are in training with the Navy Seals and doing crazy things that most of us will never do in our lives,” she explained. “And yet this is what these men and women do on a daily basis for us in our country to protect us. So that in itself was just incredible to be able to have that opportunity.”
She added: “I just I turned 50 and I felt like this was an opportunity of like, you’re in a new decade and you got to say yes. Like nothing can hold you back.”
Bure said that by competing, she hopes to inspire women around her age to not give up opportunities later in life just because they may be challenging.
“We’re never too old,” she said. “Don’t discount us. Even if we’re in perimenopause or menopause, we can still do hard things.”
Bure joined a cast that, in addition to Santos and Glanville, includes former reality star Collin Gosselin, father-daughter duo Mauricio and Alexia Umansky, figure skater Maxim Naumov, and others, along with her old friend, actor Oliver Hudson. The two starred together in the 2016 Hallmark film, Journey Back to Christmas.
Hudson was the first person Bure saw when filming began, she recalled. “I felt instantly like, ‘Oh, I have a buddy here that I know,’” she said. “So I like grabbed onto Oliver and I was like, ‘You’ve got to help me. You’ve got to be my wingman.’”
As far as the other castmates were concerned, Bure said she “didn’t know” several of them and “wasn’t even aware of who some of them were because I don’t watch much reality television.”
Still, Bure said the group “really connected right on day one” and still have a group chat.
“A lot of us are still in touch,” she added.
Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test premieres Thursday at 9 p.m. ET on Fox.
