Mark Estes talks grueling ‘Special Forces’ journey with ‘Virtual Reali-Tea’ and gushes over new gf

Mark Estes talks grueling ‘Special Forces’ journey with ‘Virtual Reali-Tea’ and gushes over new gf

I just want to kind of pro prove to myself that I still have that grit in me. And then I kind of want to show another side of me as well that, you know, I’m not just a Tik Tocker, you know, um, thirst rapper, you know, all the above. Virtual reality. Mark Estus from Special Forces. Danny and I are so excited to have you in studio. This is actually a surreal moment for me because we were chatting earlier. Mark, I got a nose job earlier this year and I showed my surgeon pictures of you. I was trying to get your nose. Like literally now a surgeon’s they can only do so much. So unfortunately I don’t look exactly like you. But I think I got myself a little bit closer. So anyways, thank you so much for having a nice nose. Yeah, it was a great blueprint for my surgeon. Yeah, and that’s the interview. No, but seriously, Special Forces, a new season is upon us. You participated. It’s such a crazy intense show. What made you say yes? Um, yeah. I just want to kind of pro prove to myself that I still have that grit in me. And then I kind of want to show another side of me as well that, you know, I’m not just a Tik Tocker, you know, um, thirst rapper, you know, all the above. So, I kind of want to show that side of me. Um, because I did grow up in Montana, you know, and social media has only been so much my life, like only a year and a half out of 25 years of my life. So, I was excited to show that part for sure. I know. I feel like it’s probably like your fans are excited to see the or hear the idea of you rolling around in mud cuz they’re like, “Oh, that sounds that not thirst trapping, but thirst trap.” But then when realizing all of the levels you have to do with it, this this show is a doozy. Yeah, it’s it’s crazy. And now I was telling you cuz we interviewed Eva Marcel, who uh is one of your castmates on it. She walked us through the bathroom situation and she told us she did not poop the entire time while there. Really? Yeah. Yeah, I don’t know how she said she felt it the whole time, went home, scheduled several colonics and took care of herself in that way. But is there anything you resisted doing or you were like, I just can’t do this here? Uh, no. No. If I got to go, I got to go. Exactly. But it is an outdoor situation. You’re basically just like pooping in the ground and then people have to clean it up. Like it that’s like that’s rough. That is so rough. Yeah. Porter potty is nicer than what we had. What what about any of the other conditions that were kind of tough to deal with that you weren’t expecting to be so tough? Right. And that’s kind of part of it, too. Like the challenges were, you know, the challenges were the challenges. They’re hard and stuff, but like I’ve been saying, the little things dayto-day were so much tougher. Like like sleeping in a hot tent, you know, it’s so hot there. There’s not really AC. There’s a little AC, but it doesn’t work all the time. You know, all the dust the dust was crazy. So, yeah, it’s like the little things. And now I kind cuz I I was telling you earlier like I love my air conditioning. I love my comfort. I would not thrive. I would not do well here. But because I need all that for the people around me because I can kind of if I don’t get coffee or if it’s not temperature controlled, I can oscillate to become like a How did you find a way and I’m not saying that’s what you did, but how did you find a way to kind of maintain your cool with all of these people because there’s a lot of personalities there because you like were did you have those moments where you’re like I want to snap at everyone right now? Yeah, absolutely. I think it was just kind of like like Johnny was big for me there. Like we would just sit there and just complain about how it was like how the breakfast was or you know so I think that helped a lot. I feel that is a such a skill like addressing it if you’re like okay you know what it just sucks that we’re making it through. It sucks but we’ll make it happen. Who other than Johnny who did you connect with? Who did you gel with when you got there that you were maybe surprised to get along with someone? Um I don’t think I was surprised ne necessarily to you know get along with you know a certain person. I think I got along with all of them. Yeah, the guys are really cool. Like Randall, he was cool. Eric, um, you know, I mean, all the guys, honestly, I loved all the guys. So, that was fun. And were there any people because I feel like it probably happens a lot for the show in general, like you’re sitting next to someone and you’re like, “Okay, I don’t know who you are, like, you know what I mean? Like, were there any people that you weren’t that familiar of?” And how was getting to know them? Like, who kind of surprised you? Um, I knew who Nick Young was obviously, but um, he really surprised me on a lot of challenges, you know, because I didn’t think you’d get through certain ones and somehow he was able to get through it. So, he surprised me a lot. And because we love our housewives, how was Did you have a lot of interactions with Eva and Teresa? Um, oh, and Brandon Cart, right, Joe from the Valley. Oh, yeah. That’s right. Another Bravo celebrity. Yeah, they’re Yeah, they did their thing. I bet they did. I bet they did. And also cuz I bet um they cuz you were kind of just like you know what some things suck and I’ll deal with it. I don’t know if um housewives love to deal with things casually. They showed it in a little different manner. I think I think it’s really it’s tough. You know it’s very emotional. So I think you know there’s a lot of blood sweat a lot of tears. So I think how did you deal with the emotional aspects of filming the show? Cuz obviously you’re a very fake guy. Physically speaking, you probably felt equipped to deal with some of the challenges, but it comes with that emotional part of it, too. So, did you allow yourself to be vulnerable? Did you prepare in any way on that front? Um, honestly, no. I I just kept telling myself, you know, one step in front of the other, you know, if I kind of caught myself thinking about, what about tomorrow? Then that makes it so much worse because every day felt like a week in there. So, I just, you know, focus on one thing at a time. And if I caught myself thinking about too far in advance, I would shut it down immediately. And you were saying earlier one of the main reasons you were so excited to do Special Forces was to kind of counteract a lot of the conversation about or common misconceptions about you. What when you got announced as casting or as being a part of the uh this season, did a lot of people like kind of hit you with some of that too, you know what I mean? Were they kind of saying like, “Oh, what’s he doing this for?” Everything like that. Or were they like, “Oh, excited to see the side of you.” Um, I think a little bit of both. You know, I think there’s still, you know, the people people who don’t like you don’t like you. You know, they never will. You can’t change that. But yeah, I think the people that, you know, have supported me throughout, you know, my career, you know, I think they’re really excited to watch it. Cool. What do you think is the biggest misconception about you that still lingers maybe from some public relationships you’ve had, your, you know, what you’ve done on social media, etc. And how do you hope to kind of clear that up? Yeah, I think the biggest is like just being, you know, thirst trapper and all that that, you know, I’m seen on TikTok as a dancer, which I can’t even dance, so I don’t understand that either. I mean, it works for me. I mean, the thirst is trapping. I I like the moves, Mark. But yeah, just to show that, you know, kind of how I grew up in Montana, you know, how it translate in real life scenarios and those scenarios are pretty crazy. So, I’m excited for them to see that. Yeah. What when you told your family, you’re like, “Hey guys, by the way, this is what I’m about to do.” What was their reaction? Oh, my dad was really excited. My mom was kind of nervous about it. Yeah, my dad made tons of Spark Notes for it. He was pretty excited. Was he a fan of the show previously? Yeah, he’s seen it before. Oh, wow. What was he like? Did he What was some good advice he gave you and did it end up coming in handy? Um, yes, he did give me about the one just keep putting one step in front of the other. So, I just I took that. Were there any challenges that you can tease that we’ll see you uh undertake that were just like really tough? whether it’s like jumping out of a plane or being like dunked in water like what what was kind of tough for you? Yeah, I think the hardest one was going through the tunnels. We got to crawl through these tunnels and that one got me. I Are you claustrophobic kind of? See, I didn’t think I was until I was put in that scenario and then it was like holy. How did you deal with that? Um I mean I got through it but yeah it was I said if I’m going to go through another tunnel I probably not going to you would bow out. And I do love all the tattoos you have on your arm. I’m wondering is uh special forc is like this experience could it lend itself to getting inked permanently? Absolutely it could. Yeah. Has it already happened? Not yet. Are we think are we in a brainstorm? I actually have thought about a little bit. I’ll have to get my artist kind of involved and see, you know, I’m not a um I’m not an artist, but yeah. So we’ll I’ll give him a couple ideas and see what he can brew up. Oh, nice. Cuz I was Is it all from the same artist? Because it really does tell a full story there. Um some is like half and half, probably. Nice. But that’ be fun. Yeah, you had even like a whole like some like matching tattoos with the cast. There you go. That could be kind of cool. I love that. If you were to get a matching tattoo with anyone from the cast, who would it probably be? Like someone you were closest to? Probably Johnny. Johnny? Yeah. He’s got a lot of cats, too. So, he’d probably be down. That is That is true. When did you start When did you like start building a relationship with tattoos? Um, when I was like 16. Oh, I thought you were like six and I was like, “What?” No, but 16 is that’s still very What was your first tattoo? Um, it was a cross on my back. Okay. All right. God is always with you. I have a cross on my shoulder, too. So, we are blessed and highly favored. Hopefully, we make it permanent. Um, now you were mentioning how you hope to sort of, you know, let everyone know that you’re more than just a thirst trapper. Do you think your approach to social media is going to change after Special Forces? Um, like my approach, like what I’m posting or what I’m about? Um, I think a little bit. You know, you can only thirst shop for so long, you know, like I don’t want to be You’re still very young. You can thirst trap forever. Honestly, you can honest. I’m I’m into like a daddy thirst trapping. So, you can thirst trap till you’re 60. Mark, you really Please don’t stop. We know you’re bartending on Waffle Happens Live. Andy Cohen’s thirst shopping and he’s in his 50s. Oh, yeah. And he he appreciates a thirst. I feel like you and Andy are really going to get along. Maybe I will just keep doing it. Yeah. So, why not? It’s easy, right? Yeah. But I am curious because we can’t spoil how anything ends with special forces, but we obviously know you came back. You’re here. Yeah. What was the like first day back to reality? What were you doing? Like were you kind of like laying in bed forever? Were you like I want to be an opulence? I want to like What was that like? Um yeah, I think I was just excited to be, you know, back in my own bed, you know, having real food. Um so yeah, that was a big part of it I was excited for. What was the first meal? Um my first meal actually was a McDonald’s. Oh, hell yeah. Like we’re back in America. Yeah. But yeah. What do you eat during special forces? Like what is the food like? Um it’s all like best way to describe is like cafeteria food. Okay. Like not good cafeteria food either. Like the breakfastes were really bad. Um what’s on the menu? It was like chia pudding, which I don’t like in general, but it’s probably not like a great one either. And like oatmeal. Um but I would just eat the eggs. I was going to say, oh my god, chia and oatmeal. And it’s even I use in the bathroom. She’s really commendable. Yes. There are and I’m curious cuz I know you’re you have a very busy schedule today, but I am wondering because of course there are so many fun people on your season. Is there anybody from pop culture that you’re like, “Oh, they would have been so cool to do this with.” You know what I mean? That like maybe you haven’t met that you’re a fan of that you’re like, “I would have loved to been in the mud with them.” Um, probably my girlfriend. Oh, yeah. Wait. Yeah. So, tell us how that’s going cuz she’s in the room with us right now, Miss Summer. Yeah. It’s going awesome. Yeah. Why is this relationship different than any other, would you say? um different than any other. I think we just we’re both like kind of on the same page, you know, um with everything. We get along very well. Um you know, like she can tell like how I’m feeling or how, you know, how she’s feeling and we don’t need to really talk about it. Like we just know. So we just get along very well. We click very well. And did this happen in the DMs? Um you started there. Okay. It’s a place to start. Exactly. cuz you said you were excited to prove yourself on special forces. She’s a glamorous girl. Would she enjoy doing I know you would probably love to have her there. Would she enjoy doing all the activities of Special Forces? I think she could get it done. She’s tough. She’s tough. Okay. You know, she’s from Colorado, too. So, okay. So, she’s built for it. Yeah, she’s built. That would be up on spin-off Special Forces couples. That Oh, that would be That’s when the fights would happen. Oh my god. Yeah, that that would be the true test. That would be the true test. I am curious. How do you think Kristen, your ex would do on Special Forces? cuz we recently chatted with her this summer when she was promoting her show. She had very nice things to say about you. Yeah. I mean, I don’t know. Like, you’d have to ask her about it. I’m sure she would, you know, probably be fine on it. Yeah. I I think she’s a tough girl, too. She is. Yeah, she is. Yeah. Yeah. But she’s also a glamorous girl, so you kind of wonder how it would go. I know. It’s a very That’s a hard thing. Honestly, I just feel like the all the previous I was like, “Oh my god, mud and jumping, all these things.” I also like always had like the teachers know to get out of the gym class. So, I like I really it’s not for me, but I would love to just be there for moral support for everybody. Yeah, you you could do like a special forces cheerleader. They might need some help. And we’re excited. We’re talking to uh DS Foxy later on this week. He’s awesome. How was he awesome? He seems really cool, but kind of scary. He’s very scary, but you know, he would like certain moments he would kind of, you know, kind of relax a little bit and crack a joke or two. He’s he’s funny. He’s a good guy. Okay, that’s good to know cuz yeah, we’re a little like intimidated going into an interview. We immediately said yes to talking to him because his name is Foxy and he also like looks the way he looks. But then I was like, “Oh my god, I forgot his whole thing on the show was being very like torturing people.” Would you do it again? Would you would you would you do this experience? Um, yeah, I think I would, but it would have to depend where, you know, it depends on where it was. Um, was Morocco tough? It was hot. Yeah, it was very hot. If it was something like that, I probably wouldn’t do it. Okay. Have I wonder how special forces like on a glacier would be like special forces in Alaska be tough. That would be I think actually I think I’d rather be in I was thinking of taking you to like to Biz or Hawaii. Oh like an all-inclusive special forces Hawaii. You’re doing a race to the swim up bar. Right. That’s where we could talk. Special Forces Four Seasons edition. Come in on top. Yes. But Mark, thank you so much for stopping by and talking to us. We are excited to watch this entire season play out because we know Special Forces doesn’t mess around. Yeah. No. Thanks for having me guys. We appreciate Of course.

“Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test” star Mark Estes stopped by the Page Six studio to chat with “Virtual Reali-Tea” co-hosts Evan Real and Danny Murphy to unpack his experience on the grueling Fox reality show. The Montana Boyz influencer also gushed over his romance with girlfriend Sommer Ray. Check out the full unedited interview!

“Special Forces” airs Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET on Fox.

Read more at https://pagesix.com/video/mark-estes-talks-grueling-special-forces-journey-with-virtual-reali-tea-and-gushes-over-new-girlfriend/

#virtualrealitea #markestes #specialforces

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