There was a lot to process in the first episode of Survivor 48, but eagle-eyed fans quickly picked up on the fact that one key moment from the premiere promo was conspicuously missing from the episode – and now the show’s longtime host has confirmed CBS indeed cut a major moment from the premiere.
During the first challenge of the new season, we watched as Kevin Leung injured his shoulder while navigating one of the course’s obstacles. The editing of the episode saw Kevin push through and complete the challenge before then setting out for redemption in a second-chance challenge that allowed him to fight to win his tribe's supplies. This seemed to hint that the injury perhaps wasn’t too bad, after all, if Kevin’s injury was severe, wouldn’t have Jeff Probst called for the medical team?
In the episode, Probst is never seen calling in medical nor do we see Kevin receive any treatment for the shoulder injury. However, fans were quick to realize that the original promo for the premiere included a brief moment in which Probst is seen stopping a challenge and calling for the medical team after a player (who we now know to be Kevin) collapsed onto the beach during the challenge. You can watch the moment in the promo below just before the 1:40 second mark:
As it turns out, Kevin’s injury was worse than the show’s editing let on as medical was indeed called in to evaluate his injury during the opening challenge. According to reports from Entertainment Weekly, Probst had to stop the challenge and call in the medical team after Kevin expressed to him that he was in serious pain. The Survivor medical team was brought in and had to pop Kevin’s shoulder back into place as a result of the injury he sustained during the challenge. So why tease the stopping of the game for the medical treatment of a player only to exclude the moment from the episode?
Well, it turns out that at the end of the day, the creative team behind the show felt that there was no point in including the moment in the show as it did not have any repercussions on the Tribal Council vote.
“This first episode is so packed that our very first cut was very long, and you have to get Survivor to time. 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,” Probst said of the decision.
Fortunately for Kevin, the injury was not too severe and he recovered pretty quickly from the injury which played a part in the editing choice made by the show. After all, why overhype an injury that turned out to be more of an annoyance than something that is going to have a major impact on his game and the season itself?
“In Kevin's case, he did recover pretty quickly. I'm not saying it wasn't bothering him, but it was not so severe. We've seen in seasons past where you think the player is now not able to help their tribe, but this was more of an annoyance. So the decision to pull it came from the fact that yes, it's dramatic and it speaks to how intense Survivor is, but in terms of everything else that was happening, it was not that impactful,” Probst added.
While it is annoying that the show chose to include Kevin’s injury and the clip of Probst calling for the medical team in the Survivor 48 promo, it honestly is likely for the best that the show chose to not make a big deal about the injury if it’s one that isn’t likely to have an impact on Kevin’s gameplay this season which seems to be the case. After all, if the injury were to hinder his efforts in challenges and create issues for his gameplay, it’s likely the producers would have included the moment to help viewers realize the severity of his injury.
Instead, they edited the moment out which to us seems to suggest Kevin’s game won’t be hindered by the shoulder injury and leaves us excited to see where the rest of the season will take him!