Netflix’s new docuseries Toughest Forces On Earth could be the streaming giant’s most dangerous show yet, with all three hosts left bloodied and battered after an intense year of filming.
The exciting eight-part series follows former Special Operations soldiers; US Army Ranger Cameron Fath, British Special Forces Operator Dean Stott and US Navy Seal Ryan Bate, as they delve into the most elite military units on the planet in countries like Mexico and Austria.
Speaking exclusively to DailyMail.com, the trio shed light on just how brutal the process was, revealing they suffered a ruptured bicep, an extreme shoulder dislocation and countless food poisonings, culminating in two surgeries.
But despite putting their bodies through hell and returning to show the intensity of learning how the forces operate in extreme environments, former soldier Cameron, 28, admitted they would “rather die than give up” any of the unique challenges to those who were subjected.
In the show’s third episode, the group travels to northern Sweden to learn how the Parachute Rangers unit trains at the world’s best SERE (survival, evasion, resistance, escape) arctic school.
US Army Ranger Cameron Fath, British Special Forces Operator Dean Stott and US Navy Seal Ryan Bate host the new Netflix documentary series, Toughest Forces On Earth.
Former soldier Cameron, 28, admitted the trio would “rather die than abandon” the training exercises.
However, it isn’t long before the sub-zero temperature takes its toll, and Cameron is forced to sit out the final task for medical reasons due to concerns that he may be developing hypothermia, having been subjected to a emersion to survive in a cold ice hole.
Speaking to DailyMail.com, Cameron revealed that he had been battling a horrible illness before the threat of hypothermia.
“I ended up suffering one of the worst illnesses I’ve ever had in my life on the first day of filming,” he said.
‘When Ryan and I were cross-country skiing, part of my practice was running to and from the bathroom. I got food poisoning and it devastated me.
‘I would retch during meetings, I would have to go out and I would literally throw up.
“Then the next day I woke up with conjunctivitis in both eyes and the worst flu, right during filming for two weeks.”
Cameron explained that he had contracted a viral infection that lasted more than a week.
“I was probably at my worst when I made the hole in the ice,” he said. “After that, I remember we were snowmobiling to the frozen lake and I was thinking, ‘I’m about to pass out.’
Cameron (left) struggled with the brutal sub-zero temperatures in the Arctic and, after contracting a viral infection, was also at risk of hypothermia.
Speaking to DailyMail.com, he revealed that shortly after landing in Sweden he contracted “the worst flu”, which caused conjunctivitis and nausea.
“I kept making the hole in the ice because I always wanted to do something like that, but it pushed my body to the limit.”
Midway through the episode, Cameron is told that he is no longer allowed to participate in training practices due to his health and is ordered to spend 24 hours recovering.
“At that point, I became more of a burden,” he said. “I had to put my ego aside, because I wasn’t going to help anyone by putting myself in that situation.”
But what the Netflix series didn’t show was that Cameron’s illness got so bad that he had to be quarantined.
“I was alone in a hotel room for five days,” he said. “After that, I was probably sick for another week and a half.”
He wasn’t alone in his suffering, however, as Ryan, 44, also suffered from the same illness after filming wrapped in Sweden.
He said: ‘I went to the doctor because I had a temperature of 106 Fahrenheit. I was sick for about two and a half weeks just when I got back, so I caught exactly what he had, which was a miserable illness.’
To add insult to injury, both hosts said they contracted food poisoning in almost every country they visited.
Ryan (right) also suffered a horrible viral infection, before tearing his bicep.
While Dean (left) was able to evade food poisoning, he suffered two gruesome dislocations.
Turning his attention to his most painful injury of the series, Ryan revealed that he tore his bicep while the group was with the Navy Seals in the Philippines.
He told DailyMail.com: ‘I completely tore my bicep while playing basketball, which sucks. It happened during the first week we were in the Philippines.
‘I didn’t know it was broken until I got home, I thought it was just a strain.
‘I went and had surgery maybe a couple of days after I came back. I had completely torn my bicep and had to reattach it to my tendons.’
Dean, 47, however, suffered possibly the worst injury: his shoulder was torn off while hanging from a helicopter in Malaysia.
The trio had been training with Gerak Khas, the elite Malaysian Special Forces unit that has some of the toughest training in the world.
“In Malaysia, when I was shooting, I was hanging from a helicopter when it took off and it took my shoulder off,” Dean said. “I’m still waiting for surgery for that.”
Dean’s shoulder was ‘torn’ from its orbit while hanging from a helicopter
Toughest Forces On Earth is now streaming all eight episodes on Netflix
Recalling the horrific incident, co-host Ryan added: “The rope looked like something you could order on Etsy. It was like a rope tied inside another rope.
“There’s supposed to be nine or ten feet of separation between each one, but they were grouped together at the bottom.”
Reflecting on the events, Dean said: “I couldn’t do anything because my arm was trapped and I had a GoPro on the other arm.”
“I just had to wait until we landed, which was fine.”
He also injured his hand while training with the Jagdkommando, the elite special operations unit of the Austrian Armed Forces.
“I got my thumb done in the slaughter house in Austria and it was good because it went back in,” he revealed.
Speaking of the brutality, Dean added: ‘In the Special Forces, most deaths and injuries occur during training anyway.
“You can’t do adrenaline-charged exercises like that without suffering injuries along the way.”
Although the three hosts were tested to the max, it never crossed their minds to abandon the training exercises.
“You adapt a certain mentality where you’d rather die than quit,” Cameron admitted.
“I remember when I was about to go through the ranger evaluation and selection, the captain said, ‘If you quit, you will quit smoking for the rest of your life.’ There is no turning back if you quit and you will know that I couldn’t do it.”
“It’s almost worse than death because it stays with you.”