“Survivor” Contestant Cuts off Part of His Thumb with a Machete in Gory On-Screen Injury

A contestant on Survivor 51 sustained a serious injury while chopping wood with a machete

Despite the severity of his injury, Brady Booker was highly concerned about being removed from the game

Booker also had a strange request for the doctor

Warning: This story contains spoilers for the Sept. 30 episode of Survivor.

Chopping off part of his thumb with a machete wasn't going to stop one Survivor 51 contestant from continuing in the game.

The graphic injury was shown in the Sept. 30 episode of the reality competition show, filmed in Fiji earlier this year. During a scene showing the Toka tribe working around their camp, 27-year-old professional wrestler Brady Booker accidentally hit himself with the machete while chopping wood.

Booker is seen with blood all over his hand before telling the rest of his team, "I'm missing a quarter of my thumb."

He then finds the missing part of his finger on the ground, which is shown in a close-up camera shot. Fellow castaway Patt Cannaday is seen holding the piece of his thumb in a seashell as they wait for the doctor, later saying in a confessional, "I'm just trying to calm Brady down and also holding a portion of his thumb in a little shell. It was an experience unlike any other."

Tribemate Maggie Nestor adds in another confessional, "I look at that hunk of meat — I mean, it's huge. And I'm like, 'He's out. There's no way he's going to stay in this game.'"

Despite the severity of the injury, Booker is immediately concerned about his ability to continue in the game. "Did I just knock myself out of the game?" he asks a producer, who focuses on calming the player down and keeping pressure on the wound.

When Dr. Barry arrives, Booker explains that he was splitting wood when it "lopped it off," before immediately adding that he felt well enough to continue competing, getting emotional.

"I just don't want to be an idiot who lost the biggest opportunity of his life," Booker tells Dr. Barry.

After taking a close look, the doctor informs Booker that they need to wrap some dressing around his thumb and give him antibiotics to prevent infection, but he can continue in the game.

"I would kiss you," Booker tells the doctor.

In a later confessional, the professional wrestler says, "When doc told me I can stay in this game, it was like new life. Sure, it's a little numb, but I can touch all the fingers, I can touch far end, I can clap, I can grab. Sure, brodie, pain exists, but I would rather feel pain than nothing at all."

Booker then has a strange request for the doctor: to show the severed piece of his thumb to host Jeff Probst . Dr. Barry replies, "That I can do."

Booker then narrates, "Doc takes my thumb, puts it in that plastic bag and then just sticks it in his pocket. It was one of the weirdest exchanges of my life, but one of the best exchanges of my life because at the end of it, I got to know I get to stay in this game."

In his field notes from the episode, Probst confirms that he took a trip over to the medical area to check it out. "Sure enough. That's the tip of a human thumb. Another Survivor first."

Probst also reveals that Booker had another request.

"Brady had a great sense of humor as he pleaded with our medical team to wrap the piece of thumb and put it in a cooler to save for him after the show so he could take it home," the Emmy winner wrote in the field notes. "Talk about a one-of-a-kind Survivor souvenir. Most players are happy with a treemail."

Booker and the Toka tribe go on to win both the reward challenge and the immunity challenge, meaning none of them would have their torches snuffed this round.

Booker's machete mishap wasn't the only injury in the latest episode of Survivor. On the Savu tribe, Kristin Flickinger injured her foot while competing blindfolded in the reward challenge. Probst writes in his field notes that she "injured and maybe even fractured her foot." However, the show's medical team determined it was "not serious enough to impact her abilities, so nothing to do on our end. Not in danger of being pulled. It's her decision if it becomes so painful she wants to leave the game."

Injuries have a long history on Survivor, with the first medical evacuation taking place in the second season, which aired in 2001. Michael Skupin passed out and fell into the campfire, leaving him with badly burned hands that required him to be pulled from the game to receive treatment.

Players throughout the show's 26-year history have been removed from the show due to infections, dehydration and injuries sustained during challenges, most recently when season 48 winner Kyle Fraser was removed from the landmark 50th season after hurting his ankle in the first immunity challenge, which was later revealed to be a torn ACL that required surgery.

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In season 49, Jake Latimer was pulled from the game after being bitten by a venomous sea krait — however, he sustained a dry bite (in which no venom is transferred) and made it home in time to welcome his first child.

"Let me tell you something, though. That Survivor medical team is something else. They were so good," Latimer told Entertainment Weekly after the episode of his injury aired. "And I'm not just saying that because I'm on the show, but they made me feel safe. But it was a lot. Like, I work in a prison, man. I've seen some scary things in my life. That has been the most scared I've ever been in my entire life. When you think that you're dying, it's a feeling that I'm never going to forget."

Survivor airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET on CBS.