Colin Jost‘s experience covering Olympic surfing in Tahiti might not be worthy of a gold medal.
Jost, 42, was tapped to be a correspondent for the 2024 Paris Olympics, reporting live from Tahiti during the surfing competitions. It didn’t take long for things to go south after the Games officially kicked off on July 26.
Speaking to NBC Sports broadcaster Maria Taylor on July 28, Jost gave a candid update on how he was enjoying his assignment. “I apologize that we were a little delayed getting to you. You’re not gonna believe it based on this yard full of chickens, but we had some technical difficulties,” the Saturday Night Live star said with a laugh, gesturing to the birds behind him.
While Jost called the start of his Olympic experience “a total joy,” he acknowledged that there were some unexpected “obstacles” along the way. “For example, before you came to me, I had gotten some open wounds on my foot from hitting the coral reef,” he explained.
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The injury itself wasn’t even the worst part. “I actually have been walking in place in this yard because if I stand still, ants begin crawling inside the wounds,” he continued. “Not something I anticipated.”
Surfers from around the world competed in a number of qualifying rounds leading up to the medal events on August 1, which will feature quarterfinals, semifinals and medal matches for both men and women. The Olympic committee selected Tahiti as the location for surfing, which made its debut in the Tokyo Olympics, in an effort to highlight French territories around the globe.
“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,” Jost said in a statement ahead of the 2024 Games. “And my Writer’s Guild health insurance is excited to see what the coral reef does to my back.”
Scroll down for a recap of everything that’s gone wrong for Jost during his Olympics coverage:
The Foot Injury (and the Ants)
“This might ruin my WikiFeet score but I just arrived in Tahiti for the surfing Olympics and the reef was excited to greet me,” Jost captioned an Instagram photo of his bloody foot.
In an on-air update, Jost confessed that he didn’t anticipate the added challenge of avoiding ants crawling on his injured toes. “I’m apparently going to a medical tent after this, which is very exciting,” he joked.
He went on to share yet another photo of his wounds via Instagram, writing in the caption, “You know it’s going great when you’ve been to the Olympic medical tent more than any of the athletes.”
The Water Warning
“Earlier, I was talking to [NBC’s] Mike Tirico in the water, where I was standing,” Jost told Taylor in a live update. “And while I started talking to him, someone came by and talked to one of our producers and said, ‘Hey, what’s he doing in there? Doesn’t he know there are stonefish right there?’”
Jost informed viewers that a person stepped on one of the stonefish one day prior, adding, “It was so poisonous [that] he had to be medevaced off the island.”
He revealed, “They withheld that information from me until the interview was concluded.”
The Chummy Sharks
“My producers are great,” Jost told Taylor when asked what activities he’s gotten to enjoy while in Tahiti. “I was put into water with a bunch of reef sharks and then they literally chummed the water. All the sharks came to me and I was told, ‘Don’t worry, they’re only 5 feet long. Don’t worry, they’re like dogs.’”
Jost wasn’t exactly reassured. “If I saw a bunch of 5-foot dogs and there was just a bunch of loose steak on the ground, I wouldn’t have been like, ‘I’m at ease!’”
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The Toe-hiti Saga Continues
Sharing another update with Taylor on July 29, Jost revealed that he’d become “very familiar” with the medical staff. “They started saying, ‘We need to see you every day.’ At first, I was like, ‘Oh, my God, guys, I like you too,’” he said. “And they were like, ‘No, it’s because the infection hasn’t improved.’”
Jost pointed out that the doctors are “native French speakers,” which provided another layer of difficulty.
The Commentator Critics
When asked whether he was getting any tips from fellow correspondents, Jost replied, “Well, all the real surf journalists have certainly approached me, and they’ve all asked me, ‘Why are you here?’ which is reassuring.”
Jost insisted that he didn’t take the gig for the pay, teasing, “I’m actively losing money being here, I guarantee it.”
The comedian noted that “all journalists should feel more comfortable” after the mixed reviews on his commentary. “Do I have a joke? Yeah, I’m here,” he said. “Colin Jost is a surf correspondent, that’s the joke.”
The Ear Infection
While lounging in the water on July 30, Jost filled in Tirico on his latest Tahiti troubles. “I woke up this morning and discovered that I had added ear infection to my growing list of ailments,” he revealed. “So I’m now on three different medications — four if you count piña coladas.”
Jost teased that his “new goal” for his time covering the Games was “to have as many infections as there are Olympic events,” adding, “I’m hoping that then I could be high enough on medicine that when I get to Paris, I could compete in Olympic breakdancing.”
Per doctor’s orders, Jost was unable to get his bandaged foot wet and also couldn’t put his head in the water. “To me, that doesn’t mean that my torso and waist can’t still enjoy the pool,” he explained before being delivered a fresh piña colada.
The Technical Difficulties
Jost gave TikTok users a glimpse of the “satellite engineering” used to broadcast his coverage from Tahiti. “NBC has pulled out all the stops,” he said in the July 30 upload, gesturing to the old satellite dish behind him. “They’ve got the latest and greatest in technology, as you can tell just by banging on it.”
Showing another angle of the device, Jost teased, “We’re gonna be able to beam this to you in HD … as soon as I figure out how to connect this loose piece of string to this open piece of rust.”
The Condom Cruise
During an episode of Olympic Highlights With Kevin Hart and Kenan Thompson, Jost described the wild living situation for the surfers. “Some are staying with families here … but then there’s a whole group of athletes that are also staying on this kind of weird cruise ship that’s just parked out in the harbor.”
He added, “They always talk about the Olympics Villages and how many condoms they give out for all the athletes. With the cruise ship, I’ve been going by on a jet ski and sort of just [throwing] condoms … like a Sex Santa.”
The Departure
Jost left Tahiti one week before the Olympics closing ceremony, with Australian weatherman Luke Bradnam taking over coverage for the semifinal and final surfing competitions. He revealed in a video shared August 11 that he was recuperating in Malta.
“‘Dude, are you OK?’ That’s the No. 1 text message I’ve received in the last 48 hours. Usually followed by, ‘Heard your foot fell off,’” Jost said in an Instagram video. “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 was the site of 10 separate bubonic plague outbreaks, so they thought I would fit right in.”
Jost congratulated surfers Caroline Marks and Kauli Vaast on their gold medal achievements, adding, “I would like to sincerely thank the people of Tahiti for their warmth, their generosity, their hospitality and for only occasionally looking at my foot and whispering, ‘Chupacabra.’”
