Survivor all-star Christian Hubicki was kind to Jimmy Fallon, not even screaming at, threatening, or lunging toward the host who ruined his game on Survivor 50. Hubicki was a guest on The Tonight Show on April 23 to chat with Fallon about his ouster. On the celebrity-filled Survivor 50, Fallon is one of the notable people (alongside Billie Eilish and next week’s guest star MrBeast) Jeff Probst asked for a twist. During the episode that aired April 22, Hubicki ultimately voted himself out of the game due to the way Fallon designed a challenge. With his victim present, a chastened Fallon graciously played a clip of Hubicki yelling at him. “How dare you?” Hubicki said to Fallon while voting. “This idea that you had, it’s terrible. No more ideas from you. I look forward to your apology.” Then, Fallon apologized for real on The Tonight Show. “Now that we’re in the same place, all I have to say is: Christian, I’m so sorry,” he said. “I’m so sorry about this! It wasn’t supposed to be like this. It wasn’t supposed to be you. I felt so bad ’cause I love you.”
The twist happened on one of Survivor’s journeys, which take contestants out of the game for a brief period and onto an island where they complete tasks to either win and earn an advantage or lose and deal with a disadvantage. Hubicki went on a journey this episode designed by Fallon that was a puzzle, which, if completed, would earn him a public extra vote. But if he lost, he’d lose power over his own vote and be forced to vote for himself and tell everybody about it. Ultimately, the contestants opted not to eliminate their other target, Emily Flippen, and went for Hubicki because it was easy and he already had a guaranteed vote. Survivor experts were furious that Fallon’s badly calibrated challenge sent a fan favorite home.
Luckily, Hubicki got to have a good time with Fallon. He proudly recapped his own game, explaining how his background in robotics helped him in Survivor. “Being a science professor who does lecture-y things, you know how to start fires with glasses,” he said. “I did this on the first episode … You can use search algorithms to look for idols, which I’ve done.” Fallon then called him one of the best to ever play the game and said he should return to the show again. Most of the time, Survivor should stop listening to Fallon at all costs, but on this, he might be right.
