‘Survivor 51’ contestant cuts off part of thumb during show

A contestant on the reality television show “Survivor 51” sustained a serious injury, cutting off part of his thumb while chopping wood with a machete.

Professional wrestler Brady Booker, 27, suffered the injury earlier this year during filming of the show in Fiji, People reported. The graphic injury was shown during Wednesday’s episode of the competition show, in which the winner takes home $1 million.

The scene was shown while the Toka tribe was working around their camp on the Pacific island. Booker accidentally hit himself with the machete while chopping the wood, according to the magazine.

Booker wrestles under the stage name of Bodhi Hayward. He signed with WWE in 2021 and performed in the promotion’s NXT brand before he was released by the company.

“Survivor 51” host Jeff Probst wrote in his Field Notes from the show that the injury was not staged, Entertainment Weekly reported.

“Legit. Chopped. It. Off. As in, no longer attached to his thumb,” Probst wrote. “The crazy part is that even though Brady was in obvious pain, with blood pouring out, he was still aware enough to ask his tribemates to try and find the tip of the thumb in the dirt!

“They found it and put it in a shell to save for Medical.”

Fellow contestant Patt Cannaday is shown during the show holding the piece of Booker’s thumb in a seashell as they wait for medical help, People reported.

“I’m just trying to calm Brady down and also holding a portion of his thumb in a little shell,” Cannaday said during one of the show’s “confessionals.” “It was an experience unlike any other.”

Added tribemate Maggie Nestor, “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 injury, Booker was more concerned about being booted off the show, Entertainment Weekly reported. He did not have to worry, Probst wrote.

“No risk of having to pull him from the game,” he wrote. “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. Talk about a one of a kind ‘Survivor’ souvenir. Most players are happy with a treemail.”

After getting the all-clear from the show’s doctor -- “I would kiss you,” he said -- Booker said in a confessional that being allowed to remain on the show “was like a new life.”

“I just don’t want to be an idiot who lost the biggest opportunity of his life,” Booker explained to the show’s doctor.

Booker then asked the doctor to show the severed digit to Probst, which he did, People reported.

“Doc takes my thumb, puts it in that plastic bag and then just sticks it in his pocket,” Booker said. “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.”

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