"You’re Shawn’s husband, right?" - Andrew East opens up on Special Forces: World's Toughest Test about living in his wife’s shadow

Special Forces: World's Toughest Test's Thursday episode, released on October 16, 2025, saw Andrew East, a former NFL player and husband of Olympic star Shawn Johnson East, confronting the emotional weight of living with his wife's fame that overshadows him.

Andrew and Shawn joined the celebrity edition of Special Forces: World's Toughest Test, a reality competition series that includes military-style training, testing contestants’ physical endurance, mental resilience, and emotional strength.

In the Fox show, Sister Wives fame Kody Brown asked Andrew whether his football career did not earn him fame. 

Andrew then opened up on the emotional topic, expressing that he is just known as Shawn's husband after marriage, and nobody cares about him, saying,

My ego has never had a chance to shine.

It is always like, ‘You’re Shawn’s husband, right?

Andrew and Shawn got married in 2016 and have three kids before coming together as contestants on Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test

Andrew East is a 34-year-old American professional football player who played as a long snapper in the National Football League(NFL).

He made numerous stints in the NFL with teams like the Kansas City Chiefs, Seattle Seahawks, Oakland Raiders, and Washington Redskins, officially retiring from professional football in 2022.

Kody Brown asked Andrew in the episode Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test whether his football experience led to him not getting tons of glory.

He replied, addressing the sentiment of being recognized as the husband of his Olympic gold medalist wife's name, by saying that,

"I was a linebacker and then they made me a long snapper. Then I lost it.

Then I get married to Shawn and it’s like, ‘No one cares about Andrew." 

Kody also joked about it, saying that Andrew would come home and do the dishes in his marriage. 

Ahead of the release of Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test, Shawn claimed that the Directing Staff tried hard to make her and Andrew compete against themselves in the show to break them apart.

In an exclusive interview with US Weekly, she expressed that every time the makers tried to make them compete against each other, they were not shaken at all, which probably frustrated them, noting,

"They tried really hard, I think just to [break us apart] — not because they were, like, anti us — but just to see, like, the mental strength and where your breaking points are. Every time they tried to pit us against each other, I think they just kind of got frustrated because we were, like, not shaken by it at all."

She recalled a specific conversation with the Directing Staff, further adding that,

"I remember I was put in a room once with the [Directing Staff], and they’re like, ‘Isn’t it just so annoying? Like how he comes running and he’s breathing down your neck when he thinks you’re hurt? I was like, ‘I kind of think it’s endearing. It’s kind of great."

Shawn felt that they could not succeed in breaking them apart for the show and went on to compliment her husband, Andrew, embracing their togetherness on the show, saying,

"I don’t think that they succeeded,” she added. “I got to see sides of him that I’ve never seen before and we got to compete together for the first time, which was really special."

The former NFL player and Olympic gymnast have been married since 2026. They first met around 2012, through Andrew's brother, Guy East, and started dating soon after.

During a Chicago Cubs game in July 2015, Andrew proposed to her, and they got married on April 16, 2016, in Tennessee. 

The couple have welcomed three children, including daughter Drew Hazel, and sons Jett James and Barette Madison.

They also co-host a podcast called Couple Things.

Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test episodes air weekly every Thursday on Fox at 9:00 p.m. ET.

Stay tuned for more updates.