‘Survivor’: Jeff Probst Defends Showing Gruesome Injury Footage

Survivor fans have had to repeatedly watch footage of contestant Matthew Grinstead-Mayle’s injury throughout Season 44 as he continued to recover. It’s a gruesome scene, featuring a stunning drone shot of his injury on Day 2. Host Jeff Probst defended including it, noting that producers owe it to the players to present an authentic take on their Survivor experience to the audience.

Grinstead-Mayle was injured after his foot slipped while climbing. He tumbled onto the rocky shore, resulting in a shoulder injury, cuts, and bruises. The scenes were caught with a drone and provided Survivor 44 with an unforgettable shot. “In many ways, that drone shot represents Survivor about as well as any shot could,” Probst told Entertainment Weekly on March 30.

The scene gives viewers a “great feel for the adventure” of the long-running series when Grinstead-Mayle decides to climb the rock. “You see the cinematic beauty of Survivor through our drone team’s quick reaction to get up in the air and capture the dramatic moment,” Probst said of the scene. “You feel the realness of the risks that come with living in a Fijian jungle. And you are reminded that every decision you make on Survivor comes with a consequence. Sometimes the results favor you, and sometimes they do you in.”

The scene was arguably more shocking than some of the gruesome scenes shown in fictional dramas. Still, Probst told EW CBS was “never concerned” about airing the scene. “Injuries are not common on Survivor, but they do happen, and we owe it to the players to represent their experience as authentically as they lived the experience,” Probst said.

Grinstead-Mayle continued feeling pain throughout the shoot in Fiji, so he withdrew from the competition, as seen in last week’s episode. In his post-exit interview, Grinstead-Mayle said he had no memory of the accident. He also admitted that watching himself getting hurt repeatedly was “not anything that I was looking forward to.”

“To be honest with you, the actual fall, I have no memory of it,” Grinstead-Mayle told Entertainment Weekly. “It’s completely blacked out of my mind. My memory is walking to the rocks and then my memory picks back up with me being in that pool of water. I’ve seen it a thousand times, but it’s almost like watching someone else because it’s completely blacked out of my memory. I see that is me, but I do not remember the fall.”

Although Grinstead-Mayle won’t get an opportunity to win, Probst praised him as “everything you hope for” in a Survivor player. He noted that Grinstead-Mayle had been “in the Survivor casting mix for years” and he “prepared so hard” for this opportunity. But after talking with the show’s doctor and producers, Grinstead-Mayle decided he couldn’t risk further injuring his shoulder.

“You want someone who will show up and give 100% every single day,” Probst told EW. “You want someone who knows the game and will play the game. You want someone who will be vulnerable. And you want someone who will be their most authentic self while doing it. Matthew embodies all of that. We loved having him on the show and we hated losing him.”

Survivor airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET on CBS. All 44 seasons are streaming on Paramount+. Bruce Perreault, Maddy Pomilla, Helen Li, Claire Rafson, and Sarah Wade are the last remaining Survivor 44 contestants.