Kate Gosselin’s estranged son Collin makes shock return to reality TV

Kate Gosselin’s estranged son Collin is making an unexpected return to reality TV. 

The former child star, now 22, is one of the celebrity cast members on the next season of Fox’s Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test.

In an awkward turn of events, Kate actually starred in the first season of the compeтιтion series back in 2023, but was the first contestant eliminated.

The 51-year-old is now bracing for the release of Collin’s bombshell memoir, which promises to lift the lid on their estranged relationship and his tortured childhood in the spotlight.  

Collin joins fellow reality stars like Real Housewives of Beverly Hills alum Brandi Glanville, father-daughter duo Mauricio Umansky and daughter Alexia, and Selling Sunset’s Breana Tiesi on the upcoming fifth season of Special Forces. 

Other cast members include Full House alum Candace Cameron Bure, actress Ruby Rose, disgraced politician George Santos, Baywatch icon David Charvet, comedian Hannah Stocking, and actor Oliver Hudson.

Kate Gosselin’s estranged son Collin is making an unexpected return to reality TV in the next season of Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test

In an awkward turn of events, Kate actually starred in the first season of the compeтιтion series back in 2023, but was the first contestant eliminated

Sports figures round out the rest of the cast, including Super Bowl champion LeSean McCoy, Olympian Maxim Naumov, NBA legend Matt Barnes and boxer Alycia Baumgardner.

According to Fox, season five of the series will premiere on September 24.

Collin’s bold reality TV comeback comes as he prepares to release his tell-all memoir, In the Shadow of Eight: Surviving the Reality of My Childhood, which drops October 13.

While it’s unclear what exactly will be featured in the book, Collin has promised to lift the lid on what it was really like growing up on reality TV as part of one of America’s most infamous families.

He previously lashed out at mom Kate in a 2023 documentary with Vice TV and then again in a shocking interview with The Sun in 2024, in which he accused his mother of abuse and of alienating him from his siblings. 

Collin also revealed that Kate had him insтιтutionalized in a mental health facility when he was 11 after he was diagnosed with autism, ADHD, and bipolar. 

Kate refuted Collin’s allegations of abuse in a statement to People at the time, saying, ‘My son Collin, whom I love with all my heart, has received multiple psychiatric diagnoses over the years.

‘For the safety of myself, his brothers and sisters and for his own well-being, he was placed in a facility following years of outpatient treatment which proved insufficient for his needs.’ 

Collin’s bold reality TV comeback comes as he prepares to release a tell-all memoir about growing up in the spotlight on TLC’s Jon & Kate Plus 8

In the Shadow of Eight: Surviving the Reality of My Childhood drops October 13

Collin was later re-diagnosed as an adult and was found by a clinical psychologist not to have any current psychiatric or behavioral issues.  

‘Kate had no idea this book was in the works,’ an insider recently told the Daily Mail. 

‘Collin hasn’t spoken to his mother since she abandoned him in an insтιтution as a young child. She didn’t expect any of this to ever come out. Now she’s spiraling because she knows it’s about to hit the fan.’ 

Kate has already told people around her that any wild accusations against her are based on ‘zero facts’, but Collin is claiming that he has ‘the evidence to back everything up’ in his book.

All of the alleged abuse happened after Kate ended her acrimonious decade-long marriage to ex-husband Jon in 2009, when she gained primary custody of all eight of their children and starred in six seasons of the rebranded Kate Plus 8 reality TV show on TLC.

Kate, who is completely estranged from Collin, has denied his allegations of abuse

Jon & Kate Plus 8 vet Collin Gosselin makes another shocking allegation against his mom

Jon was later granted full custody of Collin in 2018 and his 22-year-old sister Hannah in 2016.

Collin is also estranged from his 22-year-old siblings Aaden, Alexis, Joel, and Leah as well as his 25-year-old twin sisters Madelyn and Cara who also starred in Jon & Kate Plus 8, which aired for five seasons on TLC spanning 2007-2010. 

Kate was recently asked by a TikTok user why she hasn’t looked to take legal measures against Collin over the allegations that he’s made against her.  

She responded, ‘I can’t because I’m a public figure. Rules are different unfortunately. Or I def would! The rules are different for ppl in the public eye.

‘I consulted a high power LA attorney (you’ve definitely heard of him) years ago when other ppl were putting crazy stuff out there and that’s what he said. The courts don’t honor it if you’re in the public eye.’