Survivor 44 episode 5: Why did Matthew leave the game?
We know that on many levels, the reasons behind his exit are fairly obvious — he was hurt! The shoulder injury he suffered was causing his tremendous pain. It’s hard to call this a “quit,” given that he did genuinely want to be a part of the show moving forward.
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However, Matthew is still gone, and speaking to TVLine, he explains that what really happened behind the scenes was collaborative in nature. This is important to see, given that we didn’t actually see his exit on-screen.
There was a large conversation that happened between me, Jeff and Dr. Will. Obviously, they edit it down to the portion that they do. Dr. Will basically wasn’t going to give me an option to stay in the game, my injuries were so bad. We didn’t know the extent of my injuries. He couldn’t give me an X-Ray or an MRI out there. All he knew is it was bad. There was a conversation where he was like, “Your injury is so bad I’m going to pull you from the game.” So me, wanting to be in control, I said, “This is my journey, I have to do the right thing for myself, and I’m going to pull myself from the game. I need to seek medical attention and I can’t heal out here.” So that’s the portion that you don’t really see, is us coming to a joint decision. That this is what needs to happen. It was heartbreaking for me, obviously, but at that point I couldn’t raise my arm over my shoulder. I was in so much pain that sleeping wasn’t an option. It was really difficult. I couldn’t lay down. It was not the route I wanted to go, but it was the route that I needed to go.
We don’t think anyone would blame Matthew for wanting to go out on his own terms, and we do hope there is a chance for him to come back down the road. He notes in this same interview that his injuries were more substantial than were shown out there, and of course made worse by him participating in some challenges. He required a lot of surgery and recovery time, but is on the mend.
Ultimately, what we appreciated most about his as a player was his willingness to mix things up and even be a villain here and there — which honestly just made him more endearing. (We dove into this more in the video above, and we’ll be back to break more down next week.) It is Survivor! Anything goes.
Now, the show must go on, and we tend to think things are only going to get crazier.
Related – The merge is coming on Survivor next week
What did you think about Matthew as a player on Survivor 44?
Let us know all of your thoughts right now in the comments! Once you do just that, remember to come back for some other updates. (Photo: CBS.)