At the end of this week's immunity challenge, host Jeff Probst experienced his own Survivor first: an emotional display. And, he definitely wasn't alone.
Spoilers for Survivor 48 episode 5 ahead!
During a tight challenge, Vula managed to pull out their first win, but eyes weren't on their success. Rather, focus moved to the battle of Sai Hughley on Civa and Eva Erickson on Lagi as they fought to finish a maze and secure second place. And while both players found difficulty with the final obstacle in the challenge, it was Eva who was clearly struggling on multiple levels.
As she started growing frustrated with her inability to get Lagi's final ball through the maze, her entire tribe continued to support her, shouting words of encouragement. And after Vula scored the top spot, Eva's day one ally Joe Hunter could only stand by and watch, whispering his own motivating words.
And the entire beach let out a collective breath when Eva pushed through and completed the challenge before Sai, winning the fifth straight immunity for Lagi.
But the stress of the situation was too much and sent Eva into an episode—something she'd previously discussed worrying about with Joe who was visibly holding himself back from running to support her. While the entirety of the Lagi tribe did their best to help her through the panic, it wasn't enough.
Jeff noticed this and spurred Joe to go to Eva. He didn't even hesitate putting the game aside, running to embrace her as she'd informed him on day one was necessary in a moment like that.
Together, they worked through the episode, leading to a celebratory cheer when Jeff presented Eva with the second immunity idol.
Then, in a similar fashion to when he and Mitch Guerra shared a powerful dialogue about the player's stutter, Jeff leaned into the touching moment, allowing Eva the opportunity to share her perspective of the situation. She confidently stepped forward and opened up about her autism, explaining how her episodes come on, what they mean, and how Joe was the only one who knew how to help her.
"I've never viewed my autism as a roadblock to success. It's not something to work around, it's just part of who I am. There's nothing bad about it."
She then pleaded to all the other players to keep this moment outside of the game and not let Joe stepping over tribe lines change how they view him as a player because, "everyone who has autism should not be ashamed to ask for help [or] ashamed to receive it."
Everyone was clearly emotional as Jeff applauded Eva for her courage to play the game and for being brave enough to share her story.
"There is a young girl or boy, just like you, watching right now going, 'hey mom, hey dad—'" Jeff started before getting choked up and having to stop and collect himself. He explained, as a parent, moments like this mean the world and it's why he loves Survivor.
"Wow, this has never happened," Jeff said.
A beautiful moment surely heard around the world. Half the players cried, Jeff cried, I cried, my mom cried... and there's no doubt about this moment making the Survivor scrapbook as one of the most stirring of all time.
Watch the full interaction below.
Survivor 48 continues to deliver historic moments and next week will likely be no different. You won't want to miss what happens next! New episodes air every Wednesday at 8 pm ET on CBS and Paramount+.