Andrew East has made his reality television debut on Season 4 of Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test. As a former football player, he knows what it takes to put his body through the ringer physically, but the course is pushing him to a whole new level.
Although East has his own athletic accolades, he became a household name after marrying Shawn Johnson, who’s also one of the Season 4 recruits, in 2016. But what happened to East’s football career? Scroll down for everything we know about his life as a professional athlete and what he’s up to now.
What NFL teams did Andrew East play for?
Prior to his stint in the NFL, East played for four years at Vanderbilt University. He redshirted his freshman year in 2010, then served as the team’s long snapper in 2011, 2012, 2013, and as a postgraduate in 2014.
He signed with the Kansas City Chiefs as an undrafted free agent in May 2015, but was released by the team that August. In January 2016, East signed a reserve contract with the Seattle Seahawks, but was waived in March of that year. After he was waived by the Seahawks, East was signed by the Oakland Raiders in April 2016, but they waived him that August before the season began.
East signed with the Los Angeles Rams in March 2017, but was waived less than two months later. The Raiders re-signed him in July 2017, but waived him in September 2017, then signed East on a reserve/future contract in January 2018, and waived him again that April.
After being signed by the Jacksonville Jaguars in June 2018, East was waived the following month. He was allocated to the Memphis Express, a team in the Alliance of American Football (AAF) in November 2018. When the Washington Redskins’ (now Washington Commanders) long snapper was injured in December 2018, they signed East, but waived him in August 2019.
Throughout his time in the NFL, East played a total of three professional games.
Why did Andrew East retire from football?
East announced his retirement from football via a social media video in March 2022. “I realized that the best decision for me and the best next step for me is to retire from professional football,” he said in a faux press conference, noting that he spoke to family and mentors before making the decision.
“It’s onto the next chapter for me and I’m very excited for what that looks like,” he added.
Ultimately, he made his decision to pursue a different career path that fit more with where he was at in life with his growing family. East and Johnson are parents to three children born in October 2019, July 2021, and December 2023.
“The time has come where there’s more important things in my life,” East explained. “When I look at my new goals that I have as I’ve matured and as we’ve had children, there’s more to life. I’ve never felt more passionate about that now and I’m excited about how I can carry the things that I’ve learned into this new phase.”
He also added, “I think I knew it was time for me to retire when the passion for the sport really started to simmer. Did I stop getting calls from teams? Yeah. Was that a signal that maybe I should’ve hung it up a couple of years ago? Yeah. But now I truly feel like this is my moment and I can parlay this into what I’m passionate about now.”
What does Andrew East do for a living now?
East and Johnson are now full-time media and content creators. “We’re building out a platform where we can hopefully impact thousands of families in a meaningful way,” he explained in his retirement video. “That, to me, is my new mission.”
The couple began building their online following while planning their wedding in 2015 and sharing videos of the process on YouTube.
“For a while we were doing it just to have something to do because I didn’t have a job,” East explained. “But then we put out a couple videos where people started commenting very vulnerable and personal things not knowing anyone else was going through the same things as them. Our whole mission now is to help families become more connected and to be more hopeful.”
In his Instagram bio, East describes his and his wife’s brand as “family friendly, kinda cheesy, hopefully cute videos.”
East and Johnson have 1.7 million subscribers on YouTube. They also host the Couple Things podcast.
Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test, Season 4, Thursdays, 9/8c, Fox