Celebrities like Kelly Clarkson and Snoop Dogg got paid good money to serve as Olympics correspondents, and it’s been pretty fun to hear what the non-athletes have to say about the gathering of the best in the world. Saturday Night Live’s Colin Jost, however, made headlines not for his commentary — as he typically would giving the “Weekend Update” with Michael Che — but for the multiple injuries and illnesses that caused him to get pulled out of Tahiti, where he was covering surfing. Jost has now provided fans with an update about his foot (it didn’t fall off) from a truly unexpected locale.
After arriving in Tahiti at the start of the Paris Olympics to be a surfing correspondent — yes, that’s a real job — Colin Jost revealed that he cut his foot on the coral reefs. Afterward he developed a staph infection and an ear infection, prompting his removal. The comedian wasn’t sent home, though, as he returned with an update from, of all places, Malta! As he explained on Instagram:
‘Dude, are you OK?’ That’s the No. 1 text message I’ve received in the past 48 hours. Usually followed by, ‘Heard your foot fell off.' Well I’m actually fine. And despite what big media conspiracies would have you believe, I wasn’t ‘sent home’ from the Olympics. NBC simply looked at my foot, declared me legally a leper and exiled me here, to the island of Malta!
It’s hard to say if Colin Jost’s situation in Malta was any better than his janky setup in Tahiti, which Kevin Hart and Kenan Thompson had a good laugh over when chickens kept walking in and out of the frame during an interview for the comedians’ Olympic Highlights show. Jost went ahead and saved them the trouble, though, joking that in Malta he was surrounded by thousands of British teenagers competing to see who could black out the fastest.
So why did NBC send Colin Jost to Malta? I couldn’t tell you after hearing his explanation, but I did laugh out loud when he said:
But the real reason I’m in Malta, of course, is because it was the site of 10 separate bubonic plague outbreaks, so they thought I would fit right in.
It really has been a rough couple of weeks for the surfing correspondent, and he hilariously exaggerated his strife by saying things like he had to trade feet pics for VPN access in order to get on Peacock to watch the surfing. His full update really is worth the watch below:
It’s safe to say this wasn’t the Olympic experience that he expected when the surfing fan signed on to travel to Tahiti for a couple of weeks, but after what sounds like actually pretty serious medical issues, it’s just good to see him doing OK — with both feet intact — and in good spirits.
The Olympics may have wrapped, but coverage is still available to stream with a Peacock subscription, and be sure to check out our 2024 TV schedule to see what else is coming soon.
