How ‘Special Forces’ Helped Mel B Heal From an Abusive Marriage: ‘I Felt Completely Empowered’
There’s a scene in the 1997 cinematic classic Spice World in which our five heroines, the Spice Girls, participate in a boot camp of sorts, performing obstacle course challenges while wearing matching camo ‘fits and singing about “strength and courage in a Wonderbra.”
Fast forward 26 years, and Melanie Brown (aka Mel B, aka Scary Spice) has once again donned camouflage gear on screen for a series of physical tests requiring the utmost strength and courage—only this time, the stakes were much realer and way higher.
The British musician is one of 16 celebrities on Fox’s ambitious new reality show Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test, in which the brave contestants venture to a remote desert in Jordan for a series of demanding training exercises. They’re supervised by an elite, intense team of ex-special forces operatives, who give them the opposite of “star treatment” by regularly screaming at them, calling them “buffoons” and “clowns,” and making them do push-ups when they step out of line.