Jeff Probst has admitted Rob Antonson's decision to leave Survivor 51 completely surprised him.
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"Rob's decision to voluntarily leave the game caught me off guard," Jeff wrote in his "Field Notes" for the episode shared via Instagram.
"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."
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Rob's exit came one day after he tried to sacrifice himself at Tribal Council. His plan failed because contestants are not allowed to vote for themselves, and Ana Sani was sent home instead. When the Savu tribe returned to camp on Day 5, Rob isolated himself from the rest of the tribe.
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In a confessional, Rob, a 40-year-old airline gate agent from Rhode Island, claimed he did not want to quit. Instead, he attempted to justify his reasoning for trying to write his own name down on the parchment.
"I feel like just quitting is just ruining the game," he said, before adding, "If you're going out for medical reasons, that's totally different."
Rob then told viewers that he was in "extreme pain" after stepping on something in the ocean the previous day. By the following morning, he worried the injury had become "an infection up to my knee."
His tribemates were not convinced. Ori Jean-Charles said Rob had seemed fine until his plan at Tribal Council failed, and suspected he was looking for "an easy out" of the game.
"My mom named me 'Ori,' not 'stupid,'" he quipped to the cameras. "You've been fine for the past 48 hours."
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Jeff and Dr. Barry, a member of Survivor's medical team, later visited camp to examine Rob. The doctor found a small cut on his foot but said he did not see anything concerning.
Rob asked whether the wound could become infected, and Dr. Barry explained how cuts always carry some risk.
"Infections scare the hell out of me," Rob confessed. "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."
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While the examination did not uncover medical evidence of a problem, Jeff wrote in the "Field Notes" that the doctor's findings did not mean Rob wasn't hurting.
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Jeff also shared a personal observation that complicated the tribe's assumption that Rob had engineered his exit.
Jeff wrote that Rob "looked and sounded emotionally exhausted," which "can happen to the strongest of humans." The host added, "Survivor humbles you very quickly and can get you in a variety of ways."
Jeff went on to note that "days four, five and six can be especially difficult" and that players who push through that stretch "almost always find that second wind."
Rob's tribemates seemed convinced, however, that Rob had planned to quit. Ori made his own view clear after Rob's departure, saying, "You're quitting. Let's call a spade a spade."
Despite being early in its airing schedule, Survivor 51 has already featured multiple serious injuries.
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Brady Booker accidentally cut his thumb with a machete while chopping wood, and Kristin Flickinger hurt her foot during a blindfolded Reward Challenge. Both remained in the game.
Jeff said the medical team did not consider Kristin's injury dire enough to affect her ability to compete, though he noted that whether to continue was ultimately her choice.
Quitting has been part of Survivor since its early seasons. After two contestants voluntarily left during Season 45, Jeff said on Live with Kelly and Mark that players who quit would no longer have their torches snuffed.
"To get your torch snuffed, you got to play the game," Jeff said, according to Entertainment Weekly.
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Jeff seemingly gets annoyed when castaways quit because they stole a life-changing opportunity from applicants who might view playing as a dream come true.
Survivor currently airs Wednesday nights at 8PM ET on CBS, with streaming available on Paramount+.