Probably not what Colin Jost pictured when he got assigned to cover Olympic surfing. Photo: Colin Jost // Instagram
Teahupo’o may be known as the wall of skulls, but recently it claimed a few phalanges. While there has long been talk of whether the notoriously dangerous break would pose a threat to some of the less experienced Olympic athletes, so far the brunt of the reef’s destructive force has been borne by Weekend Update anchor Colin Jost.
A month ago, Jost got the assignment of a lifetime, serving as NBC’s correspondent for the Olympic surfing event. “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,” he said in a press release. “And my Writer’s Guild Health Insurance is excited to see what the coral reef does to my back.” The last part of that statement turned out to be more prophetic than the comedian probably would have liked.
Shortly after arriving, Jost went surfing with Carissa Moore and John John Florence. Obviously, they didn’t hit up the main peak, as that would probably kill him, but he did paddle out and manage to catch a few kinder and gentler waves. Though the experience seemed to be positive, it appears that this may have been the start of Jost’s troubles. Later, he posted a photo of his reef cut-covered feet to Instagram, with the caption, “This might ruin my WikiFeet score but I just arrived in Tahiti for the surfing Olympics and the reef was excited to greet me.”
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Though his tone was playful to begin with, in a later interview, Jost seemed to be going through some legitimate distress. “I had gotten some open wounds on my foot from hitting the coral reef,” he told Maria Taylor of Late Nighter, “I have been walking in place in this yard because, if I stay still, ants begin crawling inside the wounds…which was not something I anticipated.”
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After visiting the medical tent, he found out that the injury was actually much worse than just ant bait. A miserable-looking Jost explained to Taylor in another interview that the wound had developed a staph infection. Not only that, but the rather serious condition was not improving, and would require daily attention from Olympic medical staff.
Luckily, the comedian seems to be taking the injury in stride. When asked for a joke to lighten the mood, he replied, “Colin Jost is a surf correspondent, that’s the joke.”
