It's Day 1 of Survivor 48. I have a front-row seat as I see Shauhin Davari land the final sandbag on a tiny platform, embraced by five equally muddy people around him. It was the clincher for an absolutely dominant performance by the Lagi tribe, one of the three groups formed from the 18 new players on the CBS reality show. While they were complete strangers until minutes ago, they celebrated their prize, a pot, flint, and machete. It wasn't much, but a small victory is a victory nonetheless.
It was mere moments, though, until the focus of the Survivor cast and crew turned from the thrill of victory to the agony of defeat for one particular player.
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As the challenge concluded, Kevin Leung cried out in pain. The opening fracas was a blur of mud puddles and near-vertical ramps. Lost among it all was financial analyst Kevin, who had been sitting next to the rest of his tribe, slumped up against a pole. Upon first glance, one would just assume it was adrenaline fading out and exhaustion kicking in. But Kevin made it clear at that moment that it was much, much worse.
In the version of events that made the edit in the two-hour premiere, we saw Kevin injure his shoulder mere moments into the challenge, seemingly as he was climbing out of the first obstacle: A muddy net. Throughout the competition, the camera would cut to him as he vocalized the discomfort he was in. As far as the fans know, that's the extent of Kevin's injury. But, in reality, the situation was much, much more serious.
Jeff Probst had just declared Lagi victorious in their first test as a tribe. And, without missing a beat, the host and executive producer, upon looking over at Kevin, yelled, "Medical!"
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It's been said before that anything in Survivor can change in an instant, and I experienced that firsthand. I vacated my post at the final stage of the challenge, heading farther away to stay out of line from the cameras that were filming the sudden emergency. The mood had gone from one of celebration–from both the players and production–into sobriety and anxiety. Would we be seeing one person's dreams of playing get snuffed out mere minutes into the game?
Luckily, Kevin was in good hands. Upon Probst's call, in swarmed Joe Rowles, or "Dr. Joe" as he's known from his on-screen cameos. The medical professional has popped up a number of times on the veteran reality series since 2015, not only treating contestants, but letting Probst–and the fans–in on both his diagnosis and prognosis. In his decade on the show, he has overseen some particularly harrowing situations, including one challenge in Survivor: Kaoh Rong that left a few contestants flat on their backs–and one nearly dead from heat exhaustion.
In this moment, Kevin's injury is less extreme by comparison, but serious nonetheless. Dr. Joe and his assistants immediately triage the situation, as he narrates his thinking out loud to Probst. He hands Kevin what looks from afar to be a green kazoo. In actuality, it's Methoxyflurane, an inhaled painkiller meant to reduce pain following trauma. Within his first inhale, Kevin's cries of anguish subside, his body becoming more relaxed.
From what he could assess, Kevin had dislocated his shoulder upon crawling out of the mud. The good news is, it's something that would not immediately remove him from the game. Dr. Joe proposed to Kevin that he try to pop it back in there in the moment.
"Do it," Kevin immediately and adamantly replied upon hearing the suggestion. "Do it now. Right now." There was zero hesitation in both his response and his tone.
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As out-of-nowhere as Kevin's injury was, it wasn't the first time that someone had dislocated a shoulder in an opening challenge. In fact, it was the third. Most memorably, Stephenie LaGrossa was a large contributor to the epic aspects of the opener of Heroes vs. Villains. The three-time player had her shoulder dislocate during an incredibly physical bout of wrestling, and proceeded to pop it back in herself. Only a few years ago, Daniel Strunk injured his shoulder falling on the sand during his first run on Survivor 42. The medical team was able to pop his shoulder back into place and have him continue in the game, something he was also hoping to do with Kevin now.
Dr. Joe and his assistant quickly, yet precisely, moved the shoulder back into place. Everyone in front of and behind the camera let out a collective sigh of relief. As Dr. Joe tested his range of motion in the newly realigned shoulder, Kevin took another inhale of the kazoo.
"Did we win?" he asked.
His response elicited a laugh from everyone. Though, in actuality, the question was sincere on Kevin's end. According to him, he had blacked out since injuring his shoulder. Even today, he has no memory of even saying that. But as he came back into consciousness, so did his range of movement. Dr. Joe provided the final word. Kevin shoulder would be sore and tender, and would need to be monitored to see if the injury gets reaggravated. But, at this moment, he was cleared to stay in the game.
To answer Kevin's question, his tribe unfortunately did not win the opening challenge. But he was the ultimate winner in getting to continue his million-dollar dream, with two shoulders intact.
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