As the recruits make their way to base, they are faced with initiation and their first brutal challenge: repelling out of a military-grade helicopter. Later, the recruits get a taste of what it's like operating behind enemy lines as they carry supplies weighing 800 pounds in sweltering 100-degree heat.

The recruits are strapped inside an old cargo plane then lowered into a dam 215 feet below them, forced to escape underwater. Then, the recruits go head-to-head in an intense military-style boxing match.

With nothing more than a radio kit and each other, the recruits must communicate effectively and move quickly as they work together to identify fallen comrades in a casualty evacuation test behind enemy lines. Then, when their team's mission is compromised, they must cross rooftops to make it to extraction.

The recruits must focus as they plummet down a 330-foot drop, then at the bottom, they are asked to recite a set of coordinates which they were asked to memorize prior to the drop. Then, the recruits are split into teams and challenged to navigate through tight tunnels and trenches.

The recruits were split into teams and competed in a grueling race under the scorching heat, aiming to be the first to complete the course. This task tested their physical limits and ability to work together under extreme conditions.

The recruits are split into teams and face a high-stakes physical challenge: they must sidestep along a 165-foot rope suspended above a canyon floor, testing balance, coordination, and nerves. Once on the rope, the teams must fight to get a ball over the opposition’s goal line — turning the rope traverse into a competitive “murder-ball” style exercise under extreme conditions. The episode is described as pushing the recruits’ grit: physically, mentally, and as a team.

The recruits must perform under stress, but also learn from failure (as some pairs did) and improve their mindset. The staff keep pushing the notion that attitude matters as much as skill.

In one of the most intense physical challenges yet, the remaining recruits are split into two teams to attempt an extraction operation and are uplifted by heartwarming messages from home.

In the final week of selection, the recruits are subjected to a multi-stage process of interrogation and are placed under gradually increasing duress.