U.S. Olympian Maxim Naumov was among the contestants on Season 5 of FOX’s Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test, filmed in Malaysia in May 2026. | Photo: FOX
Maxim Naumov participates in Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test Season 5
U.S. Olympian Maxim Naumov traded the ice for the jungle earlier this year as one of the contestants on Season 5 of FOX’s Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test.
FOX announced the cast on Wednesday, confirming that Naumov was among 15 celebrities who took part in the military-inspired reality series. Producers filmed the season in the jungles of Malaysia in May 2026. It premieres on September 24.
Although filming concluded several months ago, FOX has not revealed how the contestants performed. Figure skating fans will have to wait until the season premieres to find out how Naumov handled the demanding endurance competition.
Unlike traditional reality competitions, Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test is based on the real-life Special Forces selection process. Former Special Forces operatives put participants through physically demanding and mentally exhausting challenges. Instead of relying on judges or viewer voting, the show tests contestants’ resilience, teamwork, adaptability and determination.
According to FOX, the celebrity recruits trained in Malaysia’s challenging jungle environment. They tackled a variety of military-inspired exercises designed to test both physical endurance and mental resilience. These included: a claustrophobic, high-pressure search of an underground bunker to find crucial military weapons; a supply load retrieval while suspended 300 feet above the jungle floor; enduring a barrage of chemical gassing while retrieving coordinates of an enemy vessel, and more.
Naumov, 24, represented the United States at the 2026 Winter Olympics after an extraordinarily difficult year. The son of former World pairs champions Vadim Naumov and Evgenia Shishkova, he continued training and competing following the deaths of his parents in the January 2025 plane crash near Washington, D.C.
The Season 5 cast also includes Candace Cameron Bure, Ruby Rose, Matt Barnes, LeSean McCoy, Alycia Baumgardner, David Charvet, Oliver Hudson, Hannah Stocking, Breana Tiesi, Brandi Glanville, Collin Gosselin, George Santos, Alexia Umansky and Mauricio Umansky.
Naumov also hinted at what viewers can expect in an Instagram post, writing, “A challenge unlike anything I’ve ever experienced.”
Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test Season 5 premieres Thursday, September 24, on FOX.
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