Jussie Smollett Hits Back at Harsh Reprimand on ‘Special Forces’ Season Four Premiere: ‘I Don’t Like Being Disrespected’

There’s a reason the show is called Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test. And on Thursday night’s (Sept. 25) season four premiere of the Fox reality competition series former Empire star Jussie Smollett quickly found out why.

In the first minutes, after the group of influencers, athletes, models, podcasters and actors are driven into the the desert in Morocco, their military manhandlers storm the bus and put black hoods over the heads, marching them into the unknown.

Placed in Team Alpha with reality TV personality Gia Giudice, former NFL long snapper Andrew East and Sister Wives cast member Kody Brown, among others, Smollett instantly drew the eye of Jason “Foxy” Fox, the former UK Special Forces soldier in charge of whipping them into shape.

“You’re on the wrong bus,” Fox told Smollett after taking off his hood. In a confessional, Smollett said, “I’m here because I’ve been through some s–t and it’s been very public. I was called a liar with everybody believing something that was not true.” Smollett calls the show a “reset” after his career went into a tailspin following four well-received years on the Fox music drama Empire.

In Jan. 2019, Smollett claimed that two men had attacked him outside his Chicago apartment building using racial and homophobic slurs and that they placed a noose around his neck. A grand jury later charged him with a class four felony for filing a false police report, charges that were later dropped, though Smollett was indicted again on similar counts in Feb. 2020. At that time he was found guilty of five of six counts of felony disorderly conduct and making four false police reports. The case drew international attention over allegations that Smollett had allegedly staged the attack and paid two bodybuilding brothers to pretend to be his assailants.

Smollett did 150 days in county jail and his professional reputation took a major hit, despite the charges being reversed by the Illinois Supreme Court in Nov. 2024. Smollett, who has hardly worked since the incident, recently appeared in the Netflix documentary The Truth About Jussie Smollett? in which he once again asserted his innocence in the case.

After being made to low crawl across a mud pit and having their faces shoved in a muddy puddle, Team Alpha were ordered to haul bags of sand up a steep hill, with Smollett stalling out halfway up, saying “I’m gonna die.” He was immediately called out by a member of the Directing Staff, who addressed him harshly by his team number.

“Sixteen, what are you doing? What is your problem?” asked veteran Navy SEAL Jovon Quarles when he spotted Smollett taking a breather. “You are all truly p–sing me off, especially you, Sixteen. Sixteen, y’all better hurry up!” he shouted.

“I’m okay with taking orders,” Smollett said in a confessional. “I just don’t like to be yelled at all up in my face… I don’t like being disrespected.” After repelling from a helicopter and settling into their barracks for the night, the show lost Vanderpump Rules star Brittany Cartwright on night one after she quit on the first day.

Among the other contestants on the show are podcaster Brianna LaPaglia, supermodel Chanel Iman, former pro soccer player Christie Pearce Rampone, singer Jessie James Decker, NFL quarterback flame-out Johnny Manziel, TikTok influencer Mark Estes and others.