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In a confessional, the 40-year-old airline gate agent from Rhode Island explained that he was willing to put his own name down but didn’t want to “just quit.”
“I feel like just quitting is just ruining the game,” he says, before adding, “If you’re going out for medical reasons, that’s totally different.”
Antonson then revealed for the first time that he was experiencing “extreme pain” in his foot and leg after stepping on something in the ocean the previous day. The next morning, he told his tribemates that he thought he had “an infection up to my knee.”
In confessionals, some of Antonson’s tribemates express their doubts about his injury. Ori Jean-Charles told the camera, “My mom named me ‘Ori,’ not ‘stupid.’ You’ve been fine for the past 48 hours, but the day things don’t go your way, now all of a sudden, it’s a medical issue. My honest opinion is Rob is looking for an easy out.”
Probst and Dr. Barry from Survivor’s medical team arrive at the Savu beach, where they discuss the injury and do an examination. The doctor pointed out a small cut on Antonson’s foot but clarified that he wasn’t seeing anything concerning.
“What do you think infection-wise?” Antonson asked the doctor, who told him, “With cuts like that, there’s always that risk.”
The father of three then told Probst and Dr. Barry, “Infections scare the hell out of me. If this is something that could be an infection or something, then yeah, I would take myself out of the game. I’m not going to put my health at risk.”
After Probst and Antonson inform the rest of Savu of the choice, Jean-Charles said in a confessional, “You’re quitting. Let’s call a spade a spade.”
In his field notes from the episode, shared on the show’s Instagram account, Probst wrote, “Rob’s decision to voluntarily leave the game caught me off guard. He had said in interview that he stepped on something in the ocean, but never once asked for medical to check him out. That’s unusual, as we check in on the players quite frequently.”
“When we finally had Dr. Barry give him an examination at camp, Dr. Barry couldn’t find anything wrong with Rob. To be clear, that doesn’t mean he wasn’t in pain. It only means we couldn’t find any medical evidence of anything wrong.”
Probst added in his “personal observations” that Antonson “looked and sounded emotionally exhausted, which can happen to the strongest of humans.”
“Survivor humbles you very quickly and can get you in a variety of ways,” the Emmy winner added. “Days four, five and six are often VERY tough for players. This is a threshold point that you have to get past. If you can find a way through the desire to give up, you almost always find that second wind.”
Probst added, “Speculation from Rob’s tribemates was very clear — they believe he engineered a quit.”
https://people.com/jeff-probst-reacts-survivor-player-voluntarily-leaving-game-12162925
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Jeff Probst Reacts to Survivor Player’s Choice to ‘Voluntarily’ Leave Game Despite Being Cleared by Doctor…..