Support truly
independent journalism
Our mission is to deliver unbiased, fact-based reporting that holds power to account and exposes the truth.
Whether $5 or $50, every contribution counts.
Support us to deliver journalism without an agenda.
Louise Thomas
Editor
Colin Jost, who was in Tahiti as NBC’s surfing correspondent, has finally been sent home after a week of almost continuous injuries.
The Saturday Night Live cast member and Weekend Update host has been in Tahiti since 26 July as the channel’s “Olympics Surfing Correspondent”, providing viewers with updates on not only the athletes, but injuries that he’s suffered almost consistently since his arrival.
Jost, who is married to actor Scarlett Johansson, first cut his foot on the coral reefs almost immediately upon arrival. He shared a picture of his bloodied foot on his Instagram, with a caption saying: “This might ruin my WikiFeet score but I just arrived in Tahiti for the surfing Olympics and the reef was excited to greet me.”
“Well that’s going to ruin the tour,” commented one user, perhaps foreseeing Jost’s eventual exit.
He described the additional issues he faced to NBC’s sports commentator Maria Taylor, telling her that he’d been walking around as much as possible, “because if I stand still, ants begin crawling inside the wounds, which is not something I anticipated”.
Continuing to make jokes about his injury, he said in another broadcast that he had become a regular at the medical tent.
“It feels like being a war correspondent and saying, ‘Hey army, can I have a Band-Aid?’”
Shortly after this, Jost got a staph infection in his foot, and then woke up with an ear infection. Not letting this deter him, he still tuned in for an update from a pool, explaining that while he couldn’t get his feet and head wet due to his infections, his torso could still be submerged in water.
“I’m not on three different medications – four if you include Pina Coladas. My new goal is to leave here with as many infections as there are Olympic events,” he told NBC Olympics grandmaster Mike Tirico.
If his injuries weren’t enough, Jost also had to suffer the indignity of being made fun of by his colleagues Kevin Hart and Kenan Thompson, who were hosting the “Olympic Highlights” segment for NBC.
Hart and Thompson made fun of Jost for his broadcast, which featured local chickens, while the two reported from a studio in Los Angeles.
“You guys have the advantage of being in a studio, whereas I have a laptop that’s perched on top of a barbecue cooler. I’ve got chickens as producers, and there’s flies swarming around the camera,” Jost said.
NBC hasn’t announced why or when Jost left, but he has now been replaced with Australian weatherman, radio broadcaster and surfer Luke Bradnam.
Bradnam was already in Tahiti covering the sport for Australia’s Channel Nine and said he met Jost a few times but had no clue who he was.
“Initially, I didn’t know who he was. He just looked different to the rest of us. We’re all a bit weathered right, and he looked perfect,” Bradnam told Reuters.
“And then I said to one of the officials ‘Who’s that?,’ and she goes, ‘You know who he is.’ And I go, ‘I don’t know.’ She goes, ‘He’s married to Scarlett Johansson. He’s from Saturday Night Live.’”
Jost provided a health update on Instagram, explaining that “rumours of my death have been greatly exaggerated. Semis and finals of Olympic surfing happening right now in Tahiti”.
His update included an investigation into the “wall of skulls”, the name for the surf break where the surfing event is being held.
NBC announced back in June that the SNL star would be covering the Olympic surfing events in Tahiti, the largest island in French Polynesia.
“I’m honored to get to watch the best surfers in the world compete on one of the heaviest waves imaginable, and to help showcase the rich history of surfing in Tahiti,” Jost said at the time. “And my Writer’s Guild Health Insurance is excited to see what the coral reef does to my back.”
Surfing made its first appearance as an Olympic sport at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. This year’s surfing events were scheduled to run from 27 to 31 July.
