CANDACE CAMERON BURE PUSHED HERSELF TO THE BREAKING POINT ON SPECIAL FORCES — AND WHAT SHE DISCOVERED ABOUT HER OWN LIMITS WAS FAR MORE INTENSE THAN SHE EXPECTED! Fans know Candace Cameron Bure for her familiar television roles and upbeat personality, but Special Forces placed her in a world where neither fame nor experience could make the challenges easier. Facing gruelling physical demands and relentless mental pressure, the actress had to confront moments that tested far more than her stamina. Her experience raises an intriguing question: what happens when someone accustomed to being in control is pushed into circumstances where determination alone might not be enough?

Candace Cameron Bure pushed herself to her limits on Special Forces. 

The 50-year-old Full House alum opened up to Entertainment Weekly about her experience in the Malaysian jungle for season 5 of the Fox series, including the moment she threw up on Thursday’s episode after being gassed in a gas chamber.

“It was the worst thing I’ve ever experienced in my life. I had no idea how chemical warfare affects your body,” Bure says. “I mean, how would you know unless you’re in it? And it was horrific.”

Bure notes that the cameras were the last thing on her mind when she felt ill.

“I know when you watch the show or you’re thinking, ‘Oh, this is reality television.’ But I would say that this is actually a special forces course that happens to be filmed,” she explains. “Because although there are some camera people around, they are not looking at you, they are not allowed to talk to you, so you almost feel like they’re not there. If you happen to even try to talk to them or bump into them, they are like a ghost [or] a wall. There’s no communication whatsoever. You very much forget that there’s a sense of reality television, that it’s being filmed, that there are camera people around.”

Bure has said that turning 50 made her want to try something out of her comfort zone, and it’s definitely showing her fans a new side of her.

“I think this is the most I have had a straight face on television in my 45-year career,” she says. “There was no energy to smile. I had to store up all of my energy to then focus on what the next task was going to be.”

In addition to the grueling challenges, the cast of Special Forces has to live in communal military-style barracks.

“It was not easy, but we all signed up for it,” Bure says. “We had our barracks, which we had those cots and a little pillow, a little trunk, which they gave us a roll of toilet paper and a toothbrush and a bar of soap. I mean, that’s all you got. And the mosquitoes and the bugs and the snakes and the scorpions were problematic. They were in our area all the time.”

The conditions made it difficult to sleep.

“Our place, even where we slept, wasn’t actually enclosed. There was no real roof on it. It was just some tin that was over the top,” Bure continues. “So the bug infestation and the mosquito infestation was pretty brutal. But, this is what we’re there for. We’re experiencing just a small little portion of what our real military goes through in special forces. I considered it all a privilege to be there, but yeah, it wasn’t easy.”

While Bure admits she was “scared of everything,” she doesn’t “let fear get the best of” her.

“I know I’m going to do it [and] try it, but all of it scared me to my core,” she says. “I’m very afraid of heights, so those were very challenging. But the one I actually dreaded the most was submersion, being underwater [and] having to hold my breath. I’m not a strong swimmer and just knowing that I had to hold my breath — I tried to practice that at home a few times before I was going out there and I never really quite felt comfortable that I could even sustain for 40 seconds.”

During Thursday’s episode, Bure also had her sit-down with the DS, opening up about being a “beta” in her marriage to “alpha” husband Val.

“We ended up talking about quite a few different things,” she tells EW. “My faith was definitely one of them, and we talked a lot about that. We talked about people-pleasing and just how that plays out in my daily life and then the decisions that I make. I had a very big self-realization moment.”

While having a breakthrough, Bure got very emotional.

“I cried through the whole thing,” she says. “It was pitiful because they take that bag off your head, you’ve got those lights, and I really look like a scared little child, and I just started bawling. I’m going through perimenopause, and then my hormones were like this because you’re not allowed to be on any medication and bring anything — I have things that help adjust my hormones, and I didn’t have them. So I feel like my estrogen and progesterone and probably testosterone, they were all off the charts, and so I was a hot mess in that interrogation room.”

In a trailer for the season, Bure is shown on the verge of quitting.

“I would say my teammates stopped me,” she says. “They were really encouraging. Someone [said], ‘Just sleep on it. Don’t quit now. Just sleep on it, wake up, have a fresh morning. If you want to go in the morning, go in the morning.’ That sounded very rational to me. So that’s what I did. I slept on it, and some sleep, even when it’s not very much, it does give you a new perspective.”

Special Forces airs on Fox at 9 p.m. ET.