Bob Harper Says “Traitors” ‘Changed the Way I Work Out’ After 2017 Heart Attack: ‘I Didn’t Trust My Heart Anymore’ (Exclusive)

Bob Harper is opening up about a transformative moment he experienced while filming The Traitors.

In an exclusive interview with PEOPLE alongside castmate Britney Haynes, the celebrity trainer, 59, shared that taking on one of the reality show's more physically taxing missions led to a key turning point in his emotional and physical healing journey following his heart attack.

In February 2017, Harper, who was 51 at the time, went into cardiac arrest during a workout. A pair of doctors, who happened to be at the gym at the time, performed CPR and ultimately saved his life. Harper later learned that he had experienced a widowmaker heart attack, which occurs when there is a blockage in the heart's largest artery.

Related: 'I've Cried A Lot Over My Broken Heart': Bob Harper Battles Depression After His Heart Attack

In the fourth episode of Traitors season 3, Harper and fellow players were challenged to carry Easter Island replica statues up a steep hill. The former Biggest Loser star found himself feeling winded and needing the help of his costars to complete the mission. He reflected on camera about having to "redefine who I am" since his health scare.

He tells PEOPLE it was a humbling experience that made him realize he is still coming to terms with his physical limitations. "That day really f----- me up," he recalls. "And I'll tell you, since my heart attack, I completely changed the way I work out. And for years all I've done is yoga."

But pushing himself on the show, he says, ultimately led to a significant mindset shift.

"Since Traitors and since that day, I have definitely changed the way I work out and I'm doing a lot more challenging things, which feels really good," he explains, while admitting, "But for the longest time, I didn't trust my heart anymore."

Harper says he "didn't want to push it" physically out of fear of another cardiac incident.

He credits Haynes, a former Big Brother contestant, for helping to lighten what was an emotionally heavy day of filming with a little humor.

"There was a funny moment during that mission. [Britney and I are] trying to carry this thing, which was really, really heavy. And at one point, we drop it down and we're both kind of breathing heavily and she looks at me and she was like, 'Do you think you can kind of fake another heart attack or something?' " he recalls.

"I was like, 'Let's just fake an injury and get out of here,' " Haynes chimes in. "They're going to helivac us out of here."

Joking aside, Haynes says it wasn't until later, when she saw the episode, that she understood the magnitude of Harper's experience during that mission.

"I loved watching it for a different perspective because honestly, when we were actually in it and doing it, I was having fun with you," she tells Harper. "We were laughing, we were joking about how hard it was. We were talking about faking an injury. So I wasn't seeing it through the lens of what an actual touching experience it was for you to have this realization of who you were versus who you are."

"[It] made me have a different appreciation for what was happening in the moment," Haynes adds.

Related: Biggest Loser Host Bob Harper Says Near-Fatal Heart Attack Changed His Mind About Marriage

Harper — who ended up getting "murdered" off Traitors in the Jan. 30 episode — previously spoke to PEOPLE about the emotions he grappled with following his heart attack in a 2020 interview. "People don't realize, until you are a survivor, the emotional struggles that you go through, the identity crisis," he said at the time. "I thought, 'Who am I if I'm not that guy in the gym that's throwing up tons of weight and pushing myself to these limits?' "

He also detailed his health scare and the aftermath in his book The Super Carb Diet, released in December 2017. He described experiencing depression, which he said "won the fight on most days."

“ 'My heart gave up on me,' repeated in my head. Rationally, I knew this was crazy, but I couldn’t stop it," he wrote. "My heart had been pumping away in my chest without any problems for years. It kept me running around as a kid all the way through my adulthood."

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"I’ve cried a lot over my broken heart since that February day. Now that it’s recovered I am trying to trust it again," he continued, noting that his cardiac rehab program "helped me through all these feelings."

Harper also reflected on how his heart attack gave him a new perspective on life. "I said on the Today show when I shared my story that I was not going to stress over the little things or the big things anymore," he wrote. "I said I would focus on the things that really matter in life. Friends. Family. My dog. Love. Happiness."

New episodes of The Traitors stream Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET on Peacock.

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