The supersized Survivor 48 premiere was certainly one for the history books, but it looks like fans of the reality television series did not get to see the full story unfold…

During the Marooning Challenge, viewers saw Kevin Leung injure his shoulder to kick off his Survivor journey. Despite the injury, Kevin persevered, ultimately competing in the Immunity Challenge to follow, as well as an additional challenge to earn supplies for the Vula tribe: a flint, pot, machete and beyond.

How did he overcome his injury so quickly, you may ask? Well, Jeff Probst admitted in an interview with Entertainment Weekly that he received some unaired medical attention.

If you are just as curious as we once were, keep scrolling for all the nitty-gritty details.

Who Is Kevin Leung?

First and foremost, Kevin is a 34-year-old finance manager from Fremont, California, currently living in Livermore, California.

When he is not working, Kevin does a wide range of hobbies, from playing tennis to participating in Barry’s Bootcamp to trying to conquer escape rooms and beyond.

As far as his journey on the show goes, as mentioned during the Marooning, the “energetic, social and determined” castaway fell in love with Survivor after seeing Yul Kwon — a fellow Asian man — emerge victorious at the end of Survivor: Cook Islands.

Now, believing he has “the strategic, social and physical skills to do well on Survivor,” Kevin is confident he will take home the title of “Sole Survivor” and the million-dollar prize come Final Tribal Council. He gushed in his Survivor biography:

Hopeful to find an ally “who is flexible enough to look at all options” — all while playing a game like Survivor: David vs Goliath contestants Christian Hubicki, Nick Wilson and Davie Rickenbacker — will Kevin have what it takes to come out on top?

Well, let’s just hope that his shoulder injury does not hinder his game any further…

What Happened To Kevin’s Shoulder?

On Instagram — shortly after the Survivor 48 premiere came to a close, Kevin cleared up what happened to his shoulder during the Marooning Challenge.

In a lengthy Instagram caption, he began by discussing how exactly the injury occurred:

“Upon lifting the rope net with my right hand, I fell into the mud, and my right shoulder completely popped out of my socket, and that’s when I yelled ‘Ouch! My arm.'”

“I went into full panic mode because of the pain and dislocation that I actually blacked out from me slumped on the ground till the end of the challenge.”

He then transitioned to discussing what happened after the incident:

“Right after the challenge ended, I yelled out ‘Medical,’ and Jeff [Probst] and Dr. Will assessed my shoulder. They confirmed it was a torn, dislocated shoulder, and at the sand, Dr. Will put my shoulder back in the socket.”

“I actually was in so much pain they had to stick a medical kazoo in me to calm me down,” he continued.

While Kevin explained the story via Instagram, Jeff explained the story from his point of view via an interview with Entertainment Weekly, beginning by admitting that he did not anticipate an injury occuring that early into the competition.

“What’s interesting about Survivor is it’s so unpredictable that you can’t worry about trying to predict it, so I don’t ever even think there might be an injury. It never occurs to me, but in the back of my mind, I’m aware there could be an injury at any given moment,” he gushed.

The longtime Survivor host continued by detailing how he handled Kevin’s injury in particular:

“I slid the other players out of the way and called Dr. Will in, and at that point now you just lean in and go, ‘What’s happening?’”

“At that point, you don’t know. Is this a serious injury that might result in him being pulled out, like Matthew [Grinstead-Mayle] had to be pulled out a couple of seasons ago, or is this something you can fix quickly like we did with Stephenie LaGrossa?”

After popping his shoulder back into place, Jeff admitted that “he appears to be fine,” adding that the “Immunity Challenge was really physical, and Kevin was right there.”

Now, our fingers are crossed that his shoulder stays in place until the end of the beloved competition series…

Everything You Need To Know About Survivor 48

If you did not tune into the Survivor 48 premiere, the Vula tribe — consisting of Kevin, Justin Pioppi, Cedrek McFadden, Mary Zheng, Sai Hughley and Stephanie Berger — suffered a loss in the Immunity Challenge, ultimately attending the first Tribal Council of the season and sending the latter to Ponderosa (after some oh-so spicy discourse, of course).

After Stephanie’s elimination, 17 castaways remain to fight for the title of “Sole Survivor” and the million-dollar prize on Survivor 48. Said castaways are as follows:

Seemingly forming a strong bond with his Vula tribemates, will Kevin manage to use his strong social game to coast his way to Final Tribal Council, ultimately emerging victorious?

To find out for yourself, tune into brand-new episodes of Survivor 48 each and every Wednesday via CBS, or stream them the following day via Paramount Plus.

Survivor

Release Date

May 31, 2000

Network

CBS

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