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Colin Jost found himself in the middle of all the action while covering the Paris 2024 Olympics in Tahiti, going so far as to suffer a toe injury.
The Saturday Night Live star, 42, is currently stationed in Teahupo’o, Tahiti, where he is providing live coverage of Olympic surfing for NBC. Jost has been delivering his coverage barefoot, which seems to have resulted in a few injuries.
On July 26, the comedian took to Instagram to share a graphic photo of his cut-up toes covered in blood. He jokingly captioned the photo: “This might ruin my WikiFeet score but I just arrived in Tahiti for the surfing Olympics and the reef was excited to greet me.”
Jost explained that he caught his foot on some coral while attempting to catch some waves for himself, he told NBC Sports reporter Mike Tirico on July 27. “I did pretty well until the first wave and then I ended up standing on the coral reef,”Jost said. “Much like the coral reef safety expert but without coral shoes on, so I got a little scraped up.”
The “Weekend Update” host later revealed that he even sought medical attention for his toe injury on the grounds of the Olympic surfing competition in Tahiti.
“It’s a weird feeling when you’re in the medical tent way more than any of the athletes,” Jost said during an interview with NBC Olympics Late Night host Maria Taylor. “The medical staff at this point, they know my name. They’re very familiar with my badge ID number, they know I’m allergic to penicillin.”
Jost also shared that medical staff told him his “infection hasn’t improved,” before he made a joke about his condition: “Why did the chicken cross the road? To peck at the staph infection in my foot.”
A staph infection of the skin is caused by a bacteria known as staphylococcus, which can enter the body through a cut or wound, according to the Mayo Clinic.
On Monday, Jost posted an update on his toe injury to his followers. In a photo shared to Instagram, his three toes were seen wrapped in gauze. “You know it’s going great when you’ve been to the Olympic medical tent more than any of the athletes,” he captioned the post.
In June, NBC announced that the SNL star will 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, before making a prediction about his fated foot injury. “And my Writer’s Guild Health Insurance is excited to see what the coral reef does to my back.”
His stint as commentator may not come as a surprise to some fans, considering Jost has been an avid surfer for more than two decades. He first began to surf in his early 20s, when a friend from SNL taught him, Jost told Surfer magazine. Now, he catches waves in Montauk, New York, where he shares a home with his wife, actor Scarlett Johansson.
Surfing made its first appearance as an Olympic sport at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. This year’s surfing events are scheduled to run from July 27 to July 31.
