Trista Sutter Says She ‘Regrets’ Leaving Special Forces & Shares How It’s Impacted Her Marriage (Exclusive)

In an interview with TooFab following the latest episode of FOX’s reality series, The Bachelorette alum explained why she decided to throw in the towel and how she is feeling about it now.

“At the time that I left, I was at peace. Like truly, I was at peace. I felt like I got so much out of just two days and my body was telling me, ‘Maybe you shouldn’t continue because you have reached your limit today. Like, you were pushed to the brink of, it was very scary to the point where I was turning blue and lethargic and lockjaw and couldn’t lift my head.”

Sutter was seen struggling in Episode 2 where the group was challenged to sit in the sea, link arms and rock back under water repeatedly. They were then pushed to duck and bear-walk across the sand, lifting sand bags over their heads, and sprinting back to the cars with their backpacks.

The 52-year-old was clearly being pushed to her breaking point. The Directing Staff (DS) even yelled at her to “go home,” however Sutter fought back and said she was not ready to leave as she pulled herself up the sandhill holding her backpack.

“I just kind of felt like a burden,” she continued. “In between the tasks was really, really hard for me running from place to place with like a backpack that’s essentially a third of my weight. And I find myself regretting it a little bit, even though I was at such a place of peace. I really, truly kind of wish that I had kept going.”

Following the beach challenge, Sutter went back to the campsite for the rest of the night. Once she woke up on Day 3, she decided to give back her number and leave the show.

Along with with missing out on the tasks, Sutter added that leaving early also made her miss out on the “camaraderie” with the other recruits.

“The bonding that they were able to create, even more so after the second day, I have a little bit of FOMO for that. I would have loved to continue to bond with these incredible people and share more of the experience. In the moment, I was at such a peaceful place and I really felt like I got so much out of those two days and I didn’t want anyone to have to worry about me or my back anymore.”

She then compared her experience with the other recruits, wondering why she couldn’t push herself more.

“It is really interesting that, why do I have this regret? And is that a normal human reaction whenever you finish something, like, that impactful to your life that you just want more of it? I don’t know. Is it because it’s a reality show and I’m seeing it replay and I have to go back there and then see what everyone else is going through and why couldn’t I have pushed myself more? Like, Jordan pushed herself. Like, Kyla pushed herself. I woke up just with this peace over me,” Sutter continued.

While she may have regrets about leaving, her husband Ryan Sutter is incredibly “proud” of the mother-of-two’s accomplishments.

“I kind of wanted to do the show so that he [Ryan] could live vicariously through me in a weird way,” Sutter explained before adding that it would be a “bucket list” experience for Ryan to partake in as he always wanted to be in the military.

“Of course, I just wanted him to be proud of me and my kids. And he’s been really proud of me. He knows all the details. I called him the second that I could when I was finished. He knew my struggles with worry going into it. Just the fact that I got through what I got through, he’s definitely very proud of me,” Sutter continued.

When we spoke to Sutter before the series premiered, she put the rumors to rest about those cryptic posts from Ryan while she was away filming. 

In fact, Sutter shared with TooFab exclusively about how the reality television show has actually made her marriage stronger.

“I feel like whenever you put yourself or you go through a challenging time, thing in your life, a challenging moment, a challenging era, challenging time, whatever, you come out of it with a perspective. And my perspective coming out of it was that I really, truly am incredibly blessed. I have a wonderful husband. We have a wonderful life. We have two beautiful kids who are teenagers and sometimes the days are not really fun, but we are so blessed to have so much love in our lives, so much laughter,” she told TooFab exclusively.

Back in May 2024, the 50-year-old shared a handful of posts on Instagram, in which he discussed his wife’s apparent absence in the captions. The posts sparked rumors about why Trista was away from her family, including speculation that she and Ryan were having marriage troubles.

Check out TooFab’s full interviews with Trista at the top of this post to see more, including who gave her some words of advice during the challenge.