Special Forces’ Andrew East Talks Living in Wife Shawn Johnson East’s Shadow

Special Forces gave Andrew East a chance to shine after previously living in wife Shawn Johnson East‘s shadow.

In Us Weekly‘s exclusive clip from the Thursday, October 16, episode of the hit Fox show, Kody Brown asked whether Andrew’s “experience in football” led to him not “getting tons of glory.”

“I was a linebacker and then they made me a long snapper. Then I lost it,” Andrew, 34, recalled. “Then I get married to Shawn and it’s like, ‘No one cares about Andrew.’”

Andrew admitted his “ego has never had a chance to shine,” adding, “It is always like, ‘You’re Shawn’s husband, right?’” In response, Kody, 56, poked fun by joking that Andrew “would come home and do the dishes” in his marriage.

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Shawn, 33, and Andrew have been married since 2016 and have welcomed daughter Drew, 5, and sons Jett, 4, and Bear, 21 months. Before Special Forces premiered last month, Shawn claimed the Directing Staff tried to pull them apart.

“They tried really hard, I think just to [break us apart] — not because they were, like, anti us — but just to see, like, the mental strength and where your breaking points are,” Shawn exclusively told Us at the time. “Every time they tried to pit us against each other, I think they just kind of got frustrated because we were, like, not shaken by it at all.”

Shawn Johnson East, Andrew East and Kody Brown. Pete Dadds/ FOX

The Olympic gymnast wasn’t concerned because she knew how strong their relationship is.

“I remember I was put in a room once with the [Directing Staff], and they’re like, ‘Isn’t it just so annoying? Like how he comes running and he’s breathing down your neck when he thinks you’re hurt?’” she recalled. “I was like, ‘I kind of think it’s endearing. It’s kind of great.’”

According to Shawn, the DS “tried hard” to get her and Andrew to compete against each other instead of together.

“I don’t think that they succeeded,” she added. “I got to see sides of him that I’ve never seen before and we got to compete together for the first time, which was really special.”

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Andrew, meanwhile, was just as thrilled that Shawn was by his side.

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“It’s an experience that’s hard to communicate or share [or] describe to anybody else,” he said. “So the fact that we were able to do it together, I think was really, really special. It would have been sad if one of us did it alone. Because you cannot describe it — you can’t capture the full experience in words.”

He added: “I do think the experience brought us closer together. It was really fun, because I missed Shawn’s entire gymnastics career, so I never got to see her in competition mode. But in the couple weeks of preparation we got for this, and then on the show, I saw what made her the world champion that she is, and it was, like, unbelievable.”

Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test airs on Fox Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET.