‘Survivor’ Contestant Reflects on Bringing Jeff Probst to Tears: It ‘Broke Him’

The March 26 episode of “Survivor” featured a moment fans have not witnessed in 48 seasons: Jeff Probst was brought to tears. “Wow, this has never happened,” Probst admitted during the episode while getting choked up.

“It was crazy seeing Jeff cry — I’d never seen that,” Eva Erickson, the season 48 contestant at the center of the emotional moment, which included what she called an “autism episode,” told People. “He’s seen so many people and been through so much through all of years of Survivor, and now seeing that this moment broke him, I was like, okay, this is bigger than I can imagine.”

Survivor’s Eva Erickson Explains the Emotional Season 48 Moment

The moment, undoubtedly one of the most emotional in the series’ history, took place during an immunity challenge in which Erickson, 24, was under the pressure of securing safety for herself and her tribemates. A collegiate hockey player, Erickson struggled to complete the final portion of the challenge, which required navigating a ball through a table maze.

“I kept failing over and over again,” the Brown University PhD student recalled to People. “My brain just got put in this big cycle, and I’m stuck in a loop of ‘I can’t do it. Why can’t I do it? What’s going on?’. . . The second that I finished all of this stress and pressure that was overstimulating me just took hold of me, and I became ungrounded, and everybody around me didn’t know what was happening.”

The only person who did know was fellow castaway Joe Hunter, Erickson’s former teammate who found himself on an opposing tribe after the tribe swap. In the season premiere, Erickson had confided in Hunter alone about her autism and shared what to do if the competition caused her to become overwhelmed. After the challenge, the camera kept panning to Hunter, who clearly wanted to comfort Erickson but wasn’t able to since opposing tribes aren’t supposed to mingle, per the game’s rules.

“Joe, do you want to give her a hug?” Probst asked, breaking game protocol. Hunter quickly walked over and embraced Erickson the way she had previously instructed him to.

“You’re amazing,” Hunter told Erickson, alternating between hugging her and holding her hands. “You’re in a safe place.”

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“This compression helps calm me down, helps bring me back, get grounded, and this just works wonders on me in a situation like that,” Erickson explained to People. “And I was able to get my head out of that loop, like this loop that’s been spinning and spinning, now I’m able to break that and actually re-center myself and reset and rejoin the game.“

Jeff Probst Gets Choked Up During Season 48 Episode

Once Erickson rejoined her tribe on the mat, she opened up to the rest of the cast about her autism diagnosis. “Please, let’s take a step away from the game and understand that this is what I deal with, with my autism, and everyone who has autism should not be ashamed to ask for help and ashamed to receive it,“ she shared with the cast.

During the “Survivor” episode, Probst was brought to tears when he tried to summarize the moment’s impact. “There is a young girl or boy just like you watching right now going, ‘Hey, mom, hey, dad,‘” he said with his eyes welling up. “Now you got me. I’m a parent, too, and I do see it. Wow, this [crying] has never happened. But I see it too, and that’s why I love Survivor. I really do.”

Watching Probst’s emotion had an impact on Erickson, too. “Seeing Jeff get so emotional about the situation and thinking about his own family and his kids, that was the moment when it hit me, that this is a moment that is going to be remembered,” she told the publication. “It was a big thing for me, realizing, wow, I am actually representing so many people here, and seeing that reflected in how Jeff reacted to this, I was like, this is going to mean so much to so many.”

Survivor Contestant Eva Erickson Calls Joe Hunter Her ‘Superhero’

Erickson also shared some touching words for her castmate who helped her out. “I want to tell Joe that he’s my superhero. He is an amazing man, and I am so thankful I got to meet him through Survivor, and that this is someone who, regardless of what happens in the rest of the game, he will always have a place in my heart,” she told People. “He saw me in this hard situation — and he had the tools and knew what to do — and he acted on that.”