Survivor Season 49 Contestant Missed the Birth of His First Child Due to Filming
Survivor season 49 contestant Jake Latimer chose to remain on the show rather than attend the birth of his first son.
“I offered [my wife] the choice to leave,” Latimer, 36, shared with Entertainment Weekly during an interview in April, published on Tuesday, September 9. “I told her, ‘This is our child. You’re alone here.’ She’s from Australia, so she doesn’t have anyone here in Canada.”
His wife seemed comfortable with his decision to stay and compete in the upcoming season, which is scheduled to debut later this month.
“She insisted, ‘No, you pursue this. It’s your dream, go for it, and whatever you earn is mine,’” he recounted.
Survivor host Jeff Probst was informed about Latimer’s situation but stated to EW that no leniency was shown due to the contestant’s impending fatherhood.
“The rules on Survivor are quite straightforward,” Probst, 63, mentioned in that same April interview. “There’s absolutely no news allowed about anything occurring in the world or your own family, unless it’s an emergency. Then we give you the option to leave the game if you wish.”
Latimer appeared unfazed by the show’s guidelines.
“I would love to hear about my baby’s health, but at the end of the day, they can’t give me special treatment and not provide updates to others about their families,” he stated. “I’m approaching this with the mindset that no news is good news.”
Latimer shared that he and his wife faced over four years of difficulty conceiving. After exhausting various options, they had “given up” on fertility treatments, leading him to apply for Survivor.
“While I was in that process, she became pregnant, and now our first child will arrive while I’m here on the island,” he explained.
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The baby was expected around May 11, but Jax Paul Kenneth Latimer arrived a few days early. Latimer announced in a May 16 Instagram post that his son was born on May 2.
According to Probst, Latimer had a “very emotional” motivation for joining the show.
“He would watch Survivor with his father, who was rapidly losing his eyesight,” Probst explained. “They believed this would be the last season his dad would be able to see. For Jake, it was a deep conflict: welcoming a new child while knowing his father wouldn’t be able to see him play again.”
Survivor season 25 premieres on CBS Wednesday, September 24, at 8 p.m. ET.
