Kate Gosselinis stepping way outside her comfort zone.

The formerKate Plus 8star is opening up about her experience competing on FOX’s gruelingSpecial Forces: World’s Toughest Testreality series.

“It was intense,” Gosselin, 47, tells PEOPLE of the show, which sees 15 other celebrities — includingJamie Lynn Spears, theSpice Girls’Melanie “Mel B” BrownandReal Housewives of Atlantastar Kenya Moore — undergo demanding training sessions and dangerous challenges based on the experiences ofan elite team of ex-special forces operatives.

She admits, “I knew I was crazy going into it, but as afraid of it as I was — because I kept trying to be like, ‘No, no, I can’t do that!’ — then I’d find myself awake at night being like,But what if I could?”

Pete Dadds/FOX

Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test: Kate Gosselin. Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test, will make its series premiere, a two-hour special event, Wednesday, Jan. 4

“I really secretly wanted cool mom points, especially from my boys,” she says. “I mean, obviously if I was in my 20s, I’d have a better chance of whipping it. But I knew, given my age, I mean let’s be real, how far could I go? I knew my mental determination could take me [far], but my physical status, I’m not physically running marathons currently. So that part was really worrying, but at the same time, just even giving it a shot I thought would bring me some cool mom points.”

Gosselin also notes she drew on her experience giving birth to her sextuplets during the competition.

“I really did want to test my mental ability,” she says. “I mean I had six babies, which that was pure mental, not giving up. I was on bed rest for 24 weeks total and sitting in the hospital for 10 weeks. Every day I [said] out loud to myself, ‘You cannot give up.’ It was a mental and physical game.”

Gosselin continues, “That’s when I learned how really you can talk yourself in or out of anything. Your brain is so much more powerful than we give it credit for. So that part, I already had a taste of having been pregnant with them and literally crying because I felt 85 but knew I couldn’t give up because it would be to their detriment really if they were born too early. So that part I knew I had clicked into a little bit and I really wanted to see how far I could take that.”

SPECIAL FORCES: WORLD’S TOUGHEST TEST: L-R: Kate Gosselin with Director Staff Billy in SPECIAL FORCES: WORLD’S TOUGHEST TEST premiering Wednesday, Jan. 4

Other stars joining the series includeHannah BrownfromThe Bachelorette, Olympic freestyle skierGus Kenworthy, NBA playerDwight Howard, former Trump aideAnthony Scaramucci, 7th Heaven actressBeverley Mitchell, Olympic gymnastNastia Liukin, former professional soccer playerCarli Lloyd, famed pastor and R&B starMontell Jordan, former MLB playerMike Piazza,Dr. Drew PinskyofCelebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew, former NFL starDanny Amendolaand celebrity chef Tyler Florence.

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Special Forces: World’s Toughest Testpremieres Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET on FOX.

source: people.com