Fifteen Celebrities Are Going Into the Malaysian Jungle, and Two of Them Already Do Not Get Along

Special Forces: World's Toughest Test returns for a fifth season on September 24, and the format remains the reason it works: there are no votes and no eliminations. Recruits either continue or withdraw.

Fifteen celebrities from film, reality television and social media are being taken to the jungles of Malaysia to face uncomfortable conditions, unpredictable terrain and jungle warfare tasks.

The instructors set the tone early

Rudy Reyes, the United States Marine Corps veteran, opens the preview with a line that establishes the register.

"The jungle can kill you before the enemy even has a chance," he says. "Do you have what it takes to be one of us?"

Jason Fox, the former UK Special Forces soldier known as Foxy, is more interested in what the recruits have been told about themselves.

"These recruits have been used to agents telling them that they're the best thing since sliced bread," he says.

That is the actual premise of the programme, and the reason it has outlasted most celebrity endurance formats. The drama is not manufactured by producers. It comes from putting people who are managed, flattered and protected into a situation where none of those things apply.

I don't believe that everyone deserves a second chance

Who is going in

The cast is broad by design.

Mauricio Umansky, Oliver Hudson and Collin Gosselin are among the recruits, alongside Candace Cameron Bure, Ruby Rose, Brandi Glanville and the former politician George Santos.

The sporting contingent is substantial: the former NFL player LeSean McCoy, the former NBA player Matt Barnes, the Olympic figure skater Maxim Naumov and the world champion boxer Alycia Baumgardner.

Also taking part are Bre Tiesi from Selling Sunset, the comedian Hannah Stocking, the reality star Alexia Umansky and the actor David Charvet.

The tension that arrives before the jungle does

The preview makes no attempt to hide where the friction is coming from.

Ruby Rose, on finding Santos among her fellow recruits, is unambiguous.

"I don't believe that everyone deserves a second chance," she says. "Nothing's ever deterred me from speaking my mind. I just wish I spoke out more. I probably still will."

Brandi Glanville, seated between Santos, 38, and Cameron Bure, 50, plays it for comedy. They are not going to talk politics or religion, she jokes, and then invites everyone to look at who she is sitting between.

Cameron Bure's own expectation is more straightforward. "This is a little nutso for me," she says. "I'm going to face some of my biggest fears."

McCoy, 38, arrives with the confidence of somebody who has spent a career being tested.

"I've missed being challenged and going up against people saying I can't do it," he says. "They need a true player in the room, and now I'm in the room."

Why no eliminations is the smart format

Every other celebrity competition runs on a mechanism by which participants remove each other, which produces alliances, strategy and a certain amount of performance.

This one has none. Nobody can vote anybody out, which means there is no advantage in being liked and no route through except doing the task or quitting.

It also means the only thing the cast can do to each other is get along or not, and on the evidence of the preview, that question has already been settled by at least one recruit before anyone reached the jungle.

The season premieres on Fox on Thursday, September 24 at 9pm Eastern, with episodes streaming the following day on Hulu.