Bre Tiesi Explains Quitting Over Matt Barnes, David Charvet’s Rough Night (Exclusive)

Bre Tiesi was the fifth recruit to leave Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test Season 5. She opted to voluntarily withdraw (VW) from the course after seeing David Charvet and Matt Barnes be pushed to the limit during a night in the jungle.

Charvet and Barnes left the group to complete a mission that they failed as a team, but they got lost amid the rugged terrain of the Malaysian jungle and had to be led home in the dark by Directing Staff (DS) Rudy Reyes. Tiesi was overwhelmed when she learned what the guys went through.

“Once I saw Matt and David in that condition and realized that we did sign a lot of paperwork, these are real elements, there are certain things that can happen, and knowing that I had to go home to film and all of the things I had, I was like, ‘I don’t feel like this is a good decision at this point anymore,’” Tiesi tells TV Insider.

Scroll down for scoop from Tiesi about why she left the show, how her fellow recruits tried to convince her to stay, and more.

I feel like we didn’t really get to see too much of you this season, so just give me a little bit of insight into what you went through in the days leading up to the VW that made the situation so difficult for you.

Bre Tiesi: I was actually a little disappointed in that, I’m not going to lie. I did really well on the show, honestly, and I felt like I passed every challenge. I really enjoyed it. It was definitely difficult. It was probably one of the most difficult things I’ve done in the sense of mentally pushing myself and just keeping my head in the game, knowing that even though I have the luxury to leave, I need to push past that. So I think it was just an interesting experience because towards the end, it got easier in a lot of ways and you got used to it.

I think now I am sitting in my ego and doing things that are making me uncomfortable for a multitude of reasons. And if I wouldn’t have seen the [Matt and David] like that and hearing that they’re lost in the jungle and stuck and literally can’t even talk or walk, I was like, “Yeah, this is too much.” Because if that was me … absolutely not. So that was something that was too far for me, personally.

When you were grappling with the idea of whether or not you wanted to leave, did you bring it up to some of the other recruits and did anyone try to talk you out of it?

Oh, they all told me to go the f**k to sleep. “Go to sleep. You don’t need to leave. Relax. It’s fine.” I was like, “Why is no one upset about this? I genuinely do not understand. We’ve spent so much time together. We’re literally trauma -bonded for life. This is like family. They were stuck in the jungle for hours. No one is upset about this.” And I think I’m very protective by nature, that’s just my nature in general. And I just couldn’t believe the way that they came back. And I think on top of the mental toll and how stressful and the elements and everything, I was like, “Yeah, f**k this.”

It was definitely my ego, but I did end up regretting it. I did wish I would’ve went to sleep because David and everyone was like, “Bre, it’s over.” I was like, “It’s not over.”

Did David and Matt kind of give you the reassurance of, “Don’t worry, we’re OK. You can do this?”

Matt was not having it. I don’t even think he spoke to anyone for 24 hours. And I think seeing him, our big friendly giant that has carried us the entire season, in shambles, I was like, no, I’m not OK with this. David also was upset, but David is in a space of … he was making it to the end. He had been saying that since day one and his ego was full-blown. “We’re doing this. We have something to show our children.” And I don’t personally live in that space. I think that’s a man thing, honestly. But to me, I was like, “I love it. I love you, and I love that you’re trying to keep me here, but I’m out of here.” And I think in that moment, everyone was like, “Yeah, she’s out of here. She’s done. She’s had enough.” They tried, though.

Like you said, you trauma bond with these people. You’re relying on each other so many days in a row in those conditions. But was there anyone who you specifically formed a special connection with?

I would say Alycia [Baumgardner], I would say Hannah [Stocking], I would say David. Honestly, everyone. We were so bonded, and you would be in cars with different people, you’d be in different situations with people that you really dispersed your energy and time, either as a group or one-on-one with everyone.

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So it was a really interesting experience because I typically am more a one-on-one person, and I kind of pick a human and I kind of stay there. So this was a cool environment for me because I really liked everybody. So it was different.

What was it that initially made you want to be on the show?

I’ve always been a tomboy. I’ve always loved extreme stuff. I’ve always been someone that does everything myself. And I think I realized that I was kind of in this, I don’t want to say complacent place, but I’m very blessed to be where I am in life, and that I have the power to say no to whatever I don’t want to do. And I don’t have to do anything I don’t want to do, and I don’t have to push myself if I don’t want to. And I was like, “I don’t know if that’s the healthiest space. Maybe I do need to be somewhere to recalibrate and check myself and push my boundaries and do things physically and mentally that I wouldn’t typically do and just interested to see if I could do it or not.”

And I think stunt training and the acting side and action has always been such a huge goal for me. And I was like, “I would love to actually do these things and see how I feel doing them and embrace them.” And I think in that, I also just found such a huge respect and just love for Special Forces and anyone that’s a part of our military in any facet because that s**t is insane to live and I couldn’t imagine that. And just not talking to my family for two weeks straight and just all of those things, it was a lot of growth that I didn’t expect. And I think it hit me a lot harder when I left than I thought it would at all, honestly. So it was good.

Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test, Season 5, Thursdays, 9/8c, FOX