Why Eric and Jessie James Decker Finally Said Yes to ‘Special Forces’

Eric Decker was previously asked to go on Special Forces — but it wasn’t until he teamed up with his wife, Jessie James Decker, that it worked out to go on the show.

“He was asked season 1 and season 2,” Jessie, 37, exclusively told Us Weekly. “It just didn’t make sense, the timing of it all. Then they asked again this past season, but they had a different dynamic. They wanted another married couple. So he was like, ‘Come on. Let’s go do it.’”

The “Boys in the Summer” singer noted that she had “never had interest in something like” Special Forces before, so she wasn’t 100 percent on board.

“It was just a moment of like, ‘What? Is this serious?’ But yeah. We did it,” she shared, adding that she wouldn’t have done the Fox competition series without her husband. “It’s just not anything I’ve ever wanted to do. It makes sense that he wanted to do it. He’s like a big, ol’ man that likes to clearly get rough and tough.”

While Decker wouldn’t necessarily do the show without Eric, 38, she said that, because of her personality, saying “no” to things already feels like she “failed.”

“I felt like I needed to say yes because I knew I would have that feeling in my stomach of, ‘You failed by already saying no to this,’” she explained.

Thankfully, Eric finally was the voice that convinced her to do Special Forces after wanting to do it since season 1.

“She was my only way in,” the former pro football player joked to Us. “I mean, we went back and forth on whether it made sense or not, but it really is a once in a lifetime opportunity to do something really extreme, like bucket list-type things. To do it together was actually really fun. It was a whole different experience. We’ve never done anything to that degree, obviously. Just to kind of rough it and be tested mentally and physically and have the support system was awesome.”

Special Forces is a reality competition series where celebrities go through a modified, but brutal, version of real-world Special Forces training that tests their physical and emotional limits. Season 4 of the show, which airs on September 25, will include the Deckers, Jussie Smollett, Teresa Giudice, Gia Giudice, Brianna “Chickenfry” LaPaglia, Mark Estes, Shawn Johnson East, Nick Young, Johnny Manziel, Christie Pearce Rampone, Randall Cobb, Chanel Iman, Eva Marcille, Ravi V. Patel and Kody Brown.

Throughout the experience, both Eric and Jessie really had to lean on each other, especially since there was no training to prepare them.

“We found out maybe less than 10 days before the show kicked off, so there was no training,” Eric said. “When we got there, you know, we really hadn’t done anything in this world together. I played professional football, and I had my locker room, and I kind of got to experience the challenges that come with training with sports. But to have a dynamic, really be together and just go through the most extreme things that you can do was unique and fun.”

Eric went on to say that now looking back on the experience has him feeling in awe of his “really tough” wife.

“She is really tough,” he gushed. “She has a lot of grit. It kind of showed me a lot of her personality. I knew that she was capable of doing it. … The living conditions were awful, the food was awful, they didn’t make it easy. You get accustomed to a certain lifestyle … but this is really fun to see the success of getting through every day together.”

Special Forces season 4 premieres on Fox on Thursday, September 25, at 9 p.m. ET/PT.