Heading into the Survivor 48 premiere, fans were expecting to see a big injury with medical called in during the Marooning challenge. That was teased in the first look at Survivor 48, which was dropped during the Survivor 47 finale.
Well, we didn't get to see the injury or what happened. Jeff Probst even explained why that scene was cut from the premiere on the On Fire with Jeff Probst podcast. In Jeff's words, they were "20 minutes" over on the first cut of the season premiere, even though it was an extended episode, so they made the decision to cut the doctors examing Kevin's shoulder and popping it back into place.
Obviously, there is a limited amount of time set for each episode. There are so many scenes and events that the audience will never see or understand in Survivor, but we need to see the things that shape the game. In this instance, Kevin Leung's injury was that moment in the early part of Survivor 48.
For those who don't know, Kevin injured his shoulder during the first challenge. Later, we found out that he dislocated his shoulder, which is an incredibly painful and devastating injury. The shoulder needs to be popped back into place, but there's usually enough damage to the stretched ligaments and joint that you're shoulder continues to pop back out.
That's what Kevin was dealing with in Survivor 48, and we, the audience, barely knew about it. We could tell he was in pain. The tribe continually referenced it, but it just was not the storyline that it should have been.
After Kevin Leung was voted out in episode 2, "Humble Traits," he told Parade a little bit more about the injury. He was terrified that he was going to be pulled from the game. He was throwing up the ibuprofen because he couldn't keep the anti-inflammatory drug down without any food. He wasn't sleeping because sleeping with a recently dislocated shoulder is a nightmare.
Here's what Kevin told Parade:
"Steph mentioned it in her exit interview, my shoulder was a lot worse than what they showed. But because, like what you said, I didn't want my tribe to think that I was weak or that I was slowly getting medevaced. So I just held it together, put on a brave face and was like, 'If you're gonna play Kevin, like you need to act like you're 100% okay.' So I feel like I was playing two Survivors, one actual game, and then my own Survivor just being on the island."
Basically, what I'm trying to say is that it had a huge impact on the game, but the audience didn't really know about it. Kevin's tribe obviously felt a certain way about his injury, and that's probably why he was voted out.
I don't really understand why we didn't get to see Kevin's struggles. I don't like to see players struggle, but it seems shady not to share what he was going through and act like everything was fine. Kevin even said his shoulder kept popping out while he was swimming and trying to do the challenge. This storyline is much more compelling than basically anything we've seen so far.
It seems to have had a huge effect on Kevin over the last few days, too, following the premiere. He also opened up to Parade about his struggles returning home from the game with an injury and then not seeing it happen in the Survivor 48 premiere.
Here's what he told Parade:
"When I didn't see medical during the episode, it hurt a little bit. It's such a huge part of my journey, and just to have all that cut and people being like, 'You're whining over your shoulder,' I believed it. So when I read your article and I was able to share that, it really meant a lot."
Look, not everyone gets a good edit in reality TV. There's not enough time, but I do think Kevin has a point. It's almost irresponsible to leave out such a big storyline of the season, especially when it had such a profound impact on the player involved.
Even with his shoulder injury, Kevin was still one of the biggest threats on the Vula tribe. It's a real bummer he was voted out this early in the game.