Survivor 48 episode 5: Joe on helping Eva, emotional moment

We know that Survivor 48 episode 5 produced a handful of big moments, but ironically, the most memorable one was not Tribal Council. Instead, it was seeing Eva share her story after breaking down during the immunity challenge. She explained having autism and how Joe was the only person who had known about it. By virtue of that, he was also the person who helped her in a moment sure to bring tears to viewers’ eyes all over the country.

So what was it like for Joe to be a part of this moment, but also experience it after the fact? Well, we’re glad that CBS did make him available for interviews in advance.

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In a new interview with TVLine, Joe explained the challenges that came with being in this moment:

Even though I had talked to her about her autism and what she needed, I hadn’t seen an event, so we didn’t get into the description of what this would look like. And I never really thought about it. It’s also difficult in the beginning because you’re processing. “Is this a moment that I’m in need, or is this just her?” Because she’s so talented, she’s so amazing. [But] those challenges are so difficult. Is it just a human being working through a challenge? Do I just jump in and and then it’s like, “What are you doing?” So it’s this moment of being surreal, like, “I think this is happening?” So in the beginning, it’s just witnessing another human being go through pain. It was excruciating. You just want to stop the pain, but you also want them to get through it and be successful. So there was this moment of, “I just wanted to be right next to her, to just soothe, is what I wanted to do. And it was brutal. I’m so thankful that Jeff allowed that to happen later, but it was very difficult to watch.

There was so much grace that came in the aftermath of this moment, with the biggest one perhaps being the entire Lagi tribe rallying behind Eva, and then her forming a bond with Star by the end of it. We’ll see what still happens within the game, but this is something everyone will remember for quite some time.

Related – Be sure to get some more information at the next Survivor 48 episode

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