‘It just broke’: Survivor favourite exits the game after freak accident

Survivor favourite Ross was left screaming in agony after a challenge “technical fault” — and he tells news.com.au he has a long road ahead.

One of this season’s best-loved Australian Survivor contestants was forced to exit the show after suffering a horror injury mid-challenge that left him “screaming in pain”.

Big wave surfer Ross Clarke-Jones broke an ankle after tumbling to the ground when the rope he was swinging on during Monday night’s immunity challenge snapped.

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Ross crash lands into the dirt.

Janine Allis looks on in horror.

Speaking to news.com.au today, Clarke-Jones revealed that he’s still got many months of recovery ahead of him for the injury, which happened in early June. He’s still in a moonboot, and will have surgery to get pins removed from his ankle later this month.

“I’ve seen people getting hurt on this show before, but not due to a failure in one of the challenges. The rope broke. There’s rigorous testing, they use crash test dummies and take every precaution to make it safe, but this just happened, and it’s a bummer… it’s a bummer it was me,” he said.

An Endemol Shine Australia statement provided to news.com.au described the accident as a “technical fault” and reiterated the production’s focus on safety-testing each challenge.

“Endemol Shine Australia takes the health and safety of our Survivor contestants very seriously. Challenges are conducted under safety supervision and tested numerous times to avoid injuries. Contestants also have constant medical care from the series doctor and paramedics.

“Unfortunately during a challenge, there was a technical fault and Ross suffered ankle ligament disruption. He was given immediate medical attention onsite and taken to hospital for further checks,” the statement read.

Ross is helped off the course.

Clarke-Jones’ fellow contestants screamed in horror as host Jonathan LaPaglia rushed to his side, yelling to stop the challenge. Medics then rushed in, and LaPaglia helped them to hoist the injured player off the course.

Clarke-Jones told news.com.au that the pain was almost too much to bear.

“I was screaming in pain. It was a bizarre feeling – I’ve had little fractures but I’ve never broken a bone clean off, which is what I thought I’d done. The ligament damage was probably the worst of the pain,” he said.

Back at camp, his tribemates speculated about whether he would be able to return to the competition. But Clarke-Jones said that as soon as he learned the true extent of his injury, he knew his Survivor journey was over.

“You’ve got 24 hours to come back to the show, that’s the rule. But when I went to the hospital and they told me I’d broken my ankle, I thought, that’s it for me. I was on painkillers… I said ‘Just get me out of here, just get me home’. I didn’t really care about the game at that stage.”

Ross returns to camp to say goodbye to his tribemates.

Clarke-Jones said his future was still “a little uncertain.”

“I’ll be back to 100% probably by December, that’s best case scenario. I tried to have a little swim the other day, and I was scared of (hurting) my ankle… so there’s a few more months of rehab to go.”

He waved goodbye with a smile last night, but Clarke-Jones confessed he was “absolutely devastated” to be leaving.

“I’ve done some of the most physically demanding things in the world, surfing 80ft waves, but this Survivor experience is another level,” he said.

“Never say never – they say it’s a once in a lifetime opportunity, but maybe it’s twice in a lifetime. I’d love to go back.”

Australian Survivor airs 7:30pm Sundays to Tuesdays on Ten.