George Santos set to appear on Fox reality TV show

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Disgraced former Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.), who was convicted of multiple counts of wire fraud and aggravated identity theft in 2024, confirmed that he is headed to reality television.

Santos will be joining the cast of the upcoming fifth season of Fox’s “Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test,” a military-style competition series that puts celebrity contestants through physically and mentally demanding challenges in the Malaysian jungle.

“I took my fat behind off the couch and tried something new!” Santos wrote on the social platform X. “And it changed EVERYTHING! I can’t wait to share this experience with y’all!”

He posted an image of himself dressed in camouflage-print pants carrying a military style backpack on Instagram, writing in the caption that the experience was “out of my element and which I was absolutely not in shape for!”

“I’m proud of this experience,” Santos wrote in the caption. “That changed how I view myself and take care of my body soul and mind.”

The former Republican congressman will star in the show alongside 15 other celebrity contestants, including retired NBA player Matt Barnes, actress Ruby Rose, Collin Gosselin from the reality show “Jon & Kate Plus 8,” and “Full House” star Candace Cameron Bure.

The celebrity recruits will attempt to complete challenges modeled after the special forces selection process, while juggling the “unforgiving conditions” of the Malaysian jungle, according to Fox.

Challenges include navigating an underground bunker to retrieve military supplies while being suspended 300 feet above the jungle floor, chemical gas exposure and facing claustrophobic environments.

The show, which is set to premiere in September, is unlike a traditional reality competition series as the public will not vote and there is no weekly elimination.

Instead, contestants may only leave if they voluntarily withdraw, are dismissed by the show staff, fail to meet challenge requirements or are medically unable to continue.

Santos was elected to Congress in 2022 but served less than a year before being expelled from the House after he was exposed for fabricating much of his professional background and campaign finance reports. He pleaded guilty to federal charges tied to fraud, identity theft and campaign finance crimes.

After spending three months behind bars at a federal prison in New Jersey, President Trump commuted Santos’s 87-month sentence. The clemency order granted Santos “an immediate commutation of his entire sentence to time served with no further fines, restitution, probation, supervised release, or other conditions.”

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