‘Survivor’ Player Gets Hurt Instantly in First Season 48 Challenge

Survivor 48 kicked off with an injury, and most of it got cut. The CBS reality competition series premiered its newest season on Wednesday, Feb. 26, and filled with plenty of drama, puzzles, and intense challenges. There was a challenge so intense that castaway Kevin Leung injured his shoulder while going under a muddy nut during the opening marooning challenge, with much of it getting axed from airing, according to Entertainment Weekly.

The publication was on set in Fiji when it happened just minutes into the game, revealing that the challenge had to be stopped by longtime host Jeff Probst since Kevin was “in so much agony” because of his separated shoulder. The medical team had to be brought in to pop his shoulder back into place. This is just the latest injury on Survivor and it won’t be the last, but Probst told EW that it’s just the way of the game.

“What’s interesting about Survivor is it’s so unpredictable that you can’t worry about trying to predict it,” he said. “So I don’t ever even think there might be an injury. It never occurs to me, but in the back of my mind, I’m aware there could be an injury at any given moment. Kevin kind of surprised me because I happened to be standing near him when he suddenly said, ‘I’m in pain, I’m in pain.’ And I said, ‘Can you hang a second? Can you wait a second? ‘And he said ‘No.’ I was like, ‘Okay, so he’s really in pain.’”

At that point, Probst was unsure of Kevin’s condition as the rest of the players were told to stop competing. “I slid the other players out of the way, called Dr. Will in, and at that point now you just lean in and go, ‘What’s happening?’ Because at that point, you don’t know,” Probst said. “Is this a serious injury that might result in him being pulled out, like Matthew had to be pulled out a couple of seasons ago, or is this something you can fix quickly like we did with Stephenie LaGrossa?”

Kevin took it like a pro, especially after Dr. Will gave him an inhaled pain medication and was basically as good as new. As for why it was in the Season 48 teaser and not in the premiere, “Kevin had a shoulder injury that was severe enough that we had to call in medical,” Probst shared. “We stopped down the challenge. They said he was fine to carry on. It did hurt, and I think it limited him in the challenge, and we fully intended to put it into the episode, which is why we put it in the promo in the first place.”

“This first episode is so packed that our very first cut was very long, and you have to get Survivor to time,” he continued. “And so you start asking yourself a series of questions, and the first one is: What can we cut that does not impact the vote? And that’s where your most painful cuts are going to come, but you have to be able to make them. And ultimately, Kevin’s injury didn’t directly impact the Tribal. If Kevin’s voted out, it’s not because of his shoulder. It wasn’t serious enough to impact him that way. So that’s why we removed that scene.”

New episodes of Survivor air on Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET on CBS.