“Logo Text When the Survivor Medical Team Calls for An Evacation, It’s Never Taken Lightly and in Season 49, that Call Call After Contestant Jake Latimer Was Bitten, A Venomous Sna. The incident forced the Medical Team to Pull the “Shoe Bandit” from the Game, Marking The 20th Medical Evacuation in”, – WRITE: www.hollywoodReporter.com
WHEN The Survivor Medical Team Calls for An Evacation, It’s Never Taken Lightly and in Season 49, that Call Came After Contestant Jake Latimer Was Bitten by a Venomous Snake, A Sea Krait. The incident forced the Medical Team to Pull the “Shoe Bandit” from the Game, Marking The 20th Medical Evacuation in the CBS Reality Competition Show’s 25-Iear History An Danguing Reality. In an exclusive interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Survivor Showrunner and Host Jeff Probst Goes Behind the Scenes of the Emergency That Played Out On the Oct. 8 Episode.
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What’s The Protocol for Someone Getting Bitten by and Animal? Does the Player have to ask for help or is there immediatally someone from medical who is Called?
The Level of Involvement of Our Medical Team is Always Department on the Severity of An Injury. If is a small cut, then their involvement is minimal if at all all. But WHEN SOMETING TO SEVERE, LIKE A SNAKE BITE HAPPENS, OUR MEDICAL TEAM IS IMMEDIATELY INVOLVED. The Player Has No Say. Our Biggest Concern During Production Is The Integrity of the Game and Safety of the Players. In this Case, the Call to Medical Was Immediaate and the Responsse Was Just As Fast.
Hearing the Medical Team Ask As Jake Comes Up To The Dock On the Boat, “Is He Breating?” WAS A BIT TERRIFYING. What was going through your mind who you arrived because most times we see the Medical Team at the Beach and not at Base Camp?
The reason there was uncertainty about whather or not jack was breaking was because while jake was being transported by boat to bacecamp, we lost communication with them. SO WHEN they arrived, we didn’t know what kind of condition he was in. WHEN I REACHED OUR MEDICAL CENTER, IT WAS VERY CLEAR This Was As Serious as We Feare and that jake was in the absolute best care he Could he Could be. HE HAD OUR Full Team of Doctors, Nurses and Paramedics.

Jake Latimer (Center) Here with Contestants Matt Williams and Jawan Pitts On Survivor. Robert Voets/CBS © 2025 CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Was there any though about not having the immunity challenge? If the hina or uli tribe would have said they don’t want to do the challenge would it have been been skipped?
We Never Considered Not Running The Challenge. The Game Moves Forward. Always. But It Really Interesting Question WHEN YOU PUT IT IN THE HANDS OF THE PLAYERS. I don’t know how wewd have a handled your Imaginal Scenario. I Very Unlikely That We Wound Have Done Anything Differently, Buty Every Sitation i Special and I Wuldy Have Definitely Listed to Their Ideas and Taken It From There.
This is the 20th time that a player has beed medical evacuated from the game. What Makes This One Different and What do you thinkse evacuations say about how challenging Survivor is?
Well, One Way to Look at It Is This Is Our 20th Evacation. The Other Way to Look at It Is That of the 751 People Who Have Played Survivor Over 25 Years, Only 20 Have Been Evacuated. That’s just over two percent. WHAT Any Evacuation Says About This Game Is That Is Real. I Still Get Asked All The Time If Survivor is real. I DON’T KNOW IF THAT’S BECAUSE OF UNSCRIPTED SHOWS DON’T Feel Real and So People Assume Survivor isn’t, or if it just sems so unlikely that this kind of adventure show could actuly exist. But for anyone who still Wonders, that was a real sea krait, that was a real bit, and that was a very terrifying.
Tell US About the Safety Guide at Camp that Alex Mentioned. I don’t THINK MOST Viewers Know Anything about it or that It Even Even Existed.
We Always Give The Tribes a Safety Book that Highlights Things Like Wich Kind of Nuts or Berries Are Safe to Eat and Wich Are Not. It Also Includes Things Like Snakes to Watch Out for And Other Helpful Ways to Help Them Navigate The Jungle. What’s Most Interesting to Me Is How Few Players Ever Even Reference IT. I Similar to How Many People Show Up to Play Survivor WITHOUT HAVING EVER PICKED UP A FLINT. What It Always Reminds Me Is That Survivor is Ultimately A Social Game. If Your Social Game Is Great, Thon You Don’Te Have to Win An Individual Challenge, Make Fire, Find An Idol or Read the Safety Guide.
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New Episodes of Survivor Season 49 Air at 8 PM Wednesdays on CBS, Streaming Next Day on Paramount+.