Most celebrities who appear on FOX’s “Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test” don’t make it to the end. But one actress is hoping her New England roots give her a competitive edge.
Christy Carlson Romano, former Disney Channel star of “Kim Possible,” “Even Stevens” and “Cadet Kelly,” grew up in Milford, Connecticut going to the beach and toughing out New England winters. The exposure to water, especially cold water, she said, helped prepare her for her time on the reality TV show.
“I think, personally, the East Coast is what made me a little tougher than most child actors,” Romano said. “And so I think that’s part of the reason why I did well on ‘Special Forces.’”
In just a few short weeks of the show, she’s had to jump off of a 12-story bridge, tread freezing cold water for 15 minutes while people were trying to pull her under and she’s been pushed off a speeding boat and swam to shore in full outfit.
Her husband, Marine veteran Brendan Rooney, helped make sure she was prepared.
He had her run up a hill with a weighted backpack, sit in a lunged position against her garage and yelled at her.
“And I didn’t break,” she said, adding that that’s when they both knew she could do it.
Her time on “Cadet Kelly” — a 2002 Disney Channel movie — really only taught her ribbon twirling 101 and gun twirling 101, she joked. Although, she added, they did one month of boot camp prior to “Cadet Kelly” that gave her insight into what training for Special Forces could be like.
One of her greatest fears — small spaces — was exploited in episode three of “Special Forces,” as she had to unlock a suitcase on a sinking boat, and then get through a “very small hole” out the back.
But, again, she did it.
“So for me, what I’m taking from it is just the fact that I did hard things,” she said. “I can do hard things. I can believe in myself, and I can show my girls just how strong they can actually be.”
The show also provides therapists and mental health professionals to help the contestants as needed.
There are 16 celebrities at the start of the season. However, only eight remain as of Tuesday, including Romano, Kyla Pratt, another former Disney Channel star, and former New England Patriots quarterback Cam Newton.
Romano now lives in Austin, Texas with her husband and two daughters. The couple have a multimedia production company called PodCo.
But she tries to get back to New England to visit family and enjoy a lobster roll when she can.
“I will always come back to New England,” she said. “… it’s always drawing us back.”
Romano is working on a memoir that is expected to come out in 2026. The book will feature stories from her time growing up in New England, including traveling to The Professional Children’s School in New York for school but then being able to leave the city and live in Connecticut.
And readers will get to know the “big, crazy Italian” Romano family from Connecticut who grew pine trees.
She remembers one Christmas when, in the middle of the night, someone sawed down one of the pine Christmas trees from their yard that they’d normally decorate.
“My mom was so angry,” Romano recalled.
Her mom made a massive sign calling out that they had taken a Christmas tree from a child during the holiday season.
“My mom canceled them for taking our Christmas tree in our backyard,” she said.
“Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test” airs on FOX Wednesdays at 8 p.m. EST.
