Foot update! Colin Jost shares how his 3 toes are doing after surfing accident in Tahiti
After Colin Jost shared news — and behind-the-scenes pictures — of his gruesome foot injury, the "SNL" star is giving an update on his recovery.
Jost, 42, who was covering Olympics surfing for NBC in Tahiti, said in a video posted to Instagram Aug. 11 that he's received concerned texts since he shared a picture of his bandaged toes.
“‘Dude, are you OK?’ That’s the number one text message I’ve received in the past 48 hours — usually followed by, ‘Heard your foot fell off,’” Jost said reporting into a microphone, flashing images of text messages on the screen.
“Well, I’m actually fine,” he continued. “And despite what big media conspiracies would have you believe, I wasn’t sent home from the Olympics.”
Jost joked that, instead, NBC examined his foot and declared he was a leper and exiled him to the Mediterranean island Malta.
Noting the casino behind him, where he’s “blown the hundreds of dollars I earned as a surfing correspondent,” Jost said the actual reason for his visit to Malta is that the island was the site of “three separate Bubonic plague outbreaks.”
“So they said I would fit right in,” Jost added, somewhat laughing.
The comedian joked that, despite his injury, he was still able to catch USA’s Caroline Marks and France’s Kauli Vaast take home their respective golds at the Games. Jost added that he even swam to a nearby yacht to use its VPN to log into Peacock in exchange for “feet pics.”
“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,’” he said, referring to the vampire-like beast told in folklore.
“But rest assured, my foot is pretty much totally fine,” Jost added. “Even though I’m not letting you look at it.”
On July 29, Jost shared a photo of his left foot with three bandaged toes.
“You know it’s going great when you’ve been to the Olympic medical tent more than any of the athletes,” he wrote in the caption.
Jost then revealed that he injured his foot on some coral not long after touching down in Tahiti, sharing a photo of his raw, red toes on Instagram.
“This might ruin my WikiFeet score but I just arrived in Tahiti for the surfing Olympics and the reef was excited to greet me,” he wrote in the caption.
Jost, who’s an avid surfer, injured his toes while attempting to catch a few waves of his own, he shared in an interview over the weekend with NBC Sports’ Mike Tirico.
“I did pretty well until the first wave and then I ended up standing on the coral reef,” he said. “Much like the coral reef safety expert, but without coral shoes on. So I got a little scraped up.”
Local medical staff are still closely monitoring his injury, the comedian said in another recent interview with NBC Olympics Late Night host Maria Taylor.
“They started saying, ‘We need to see you every day.’ At first I was like, ‘Oh my God, guys, I like you too!’” Jost said. “And they were like, ‘No, it’s because the infection hasn’t improved.’”
Jost revealed another detail about his condition in a joke later in the interview: “Why did the chicken cross the road? To peck at the staph infection in my foot.”
A staph infection is a general term for an infection caused by Staphylococcus aureus, a type of bacteria that can live on the skin.
Staph infections of the skin can occur when Staphylococcus bacteria enter the body through a cut, according to the Cleveland Clinic. Staph infections are often treated with topical or oral antibiotics. Left untreated, a staph infection can be serious or fatal.
Jost hasn’t shared what type of coral was involved in his injury, but in general, cuts and scrapes from coral may lead to inflammation or infection and “may take weeks or even months to heal” according to Divers Alert Network, a global dive safety organization.
Before heading to the Olympics, Jost joked about injuring himself in the coral reef.
“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 news release in June. “And my Writers Guild Health Insurance is excited to see what the coral reef does to my back.”
Jost has been covering Olympic surfing in the coastal village of Teahupo’o in Tahiti, which is part of French Polynesia.
The surfing competition kicked off on July 27 with both men’s and women’s rounds, but was postponed Tuesday due to surfing conditions.
This article was originally published on TODAY.com
