NBA Champion Dwight Howard Says Filming Special Forces Was the 'Greatest Experience of My Life'

Pete Dadds/FOX

NBA champion Dwight Howard says his experience filming FOX's Special Forces was unlike any other.

Howard, 37, said filming the "super intense" series — which forced him and 15 other household names to test their mental and physical strength with a Special Forces team — taught him more about himself than he ever imagined.

"It was the greatest experience of my life," he tells PEOPLE. "I learned that I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me. That's the message that I've had since I was young, but now it resonates even more because of the things we had to go through [on the show]."

Pete Dadds/FOX

Howard says the experience was intense from start to finish, but the one challenge that stood out to him was when the group wrote death letters to family and friends.

"To write a death letter to your kids and to your family and friends, that takes a lot out of you. Moments like that really show you what type of person you are," he explains.

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Other challenges he endured included getting exposed to tear gas and "being set on fire," but Howard says the experience was just as mentally and emotionally challenging as it was physically. "It was all three wrapped into one," he says.

"Emotionally, you had to be able to take your emotions out because you need your energy physically and mentally to really do all the courses," he explains. "So all three combined was something that we needed to be on this show, and really for me, all three of those areas got lifted up during the show. I grew so much in those areas."

Pete Dadds/FOX

The NBA champion, who won a ring with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2020, is "beyond grateful" that FOX reached out to him for the show. "It really opened me up to another world and I'm just so thankful," he says.

Howard's gratitude reaches beyond his own benefit, though. He hopes the show will encourage viewers to embrace their own vulnerability.

"Now you get a chance to see me in all these different elements, you know, how I am when I'm happy, when I'm sad and when I'm mad. It's all these different elements of Dwight and I think it's beautiful because all of us have it inside of us. We just don't let it out."

Pete Dadds/FOX

The cast includes actors, reality stars, and musicians, but Howard doesn't think being an athlete gave him any advantage when it came to Special Forces.

"I don't think being an athlete had anything to do with it," he explains. "This really was the toughest, strongest test."

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Howard sees his Special Forces castmates as "family" now, he says. "Everyone bonded so well and it was through pain, through joy, through those tears, all these different things that we faced."

His castmates became so important to him during the process that Howard says he's planning to get a tattoo to represent each of them. "I want to get a tattoo of everyone on my body, they're my family now."

Howard says he and Spice Girls alum Mel B, in particular, grew close during filming. "We gravitated toward each other."

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Now that the process is behind him, Howard says he'd definitely consider going back for another round of Special Forces — with one change. "I would definitely do it again, but only in a warm place," says Howard. "If it was a cold place, I couldn't do it. The cold? No, no, no. It is super intense for me to be cold. I can't do that."

Despite the cold, Howard says he "enjoyed every moment" of the experience and looks forward to fans seeing "all these different elements of Dwight Howard."

Special Forces premieres Wednesday at 8/7c on FOX.