Colin Jost Demoted from 2026 Olympics After Surfing Stint in Tahiti (Video)
At the Paris 2024 Olympics, in which the surfing portion of the games was held 10,000 miles away from the City of Lights, Saturday Night Live comedian Colin Jost was sent to Teahupo’o, Tahiti to cover surfing. But now, it appears he’s been demoted.
For the 2026 Milan Cortina winter Olympics, Jost was not sent to Italy – nor one of the many auxiliary locations for various sporting disciplines.
Instead, he was sent to Lake Placid, New York. Nowhere near Europe or the 2026 winter games, for that matter. Check out his “on-the-ground” report below.
Colin Jost joined Mike Tirico in studio to tell us all about his experience with bobsled, his thoughts on Klaebo, and of course...#crotchgate.
— NBC Sports (@NBCSports) February 15, 2026
???? Primetime in Milan on NBC and Peacock pic.twitter.com/oKMHXJoziI
“I’m not in Italy, I can tell you that,” Jost said to NBC, the United States’ coverage hub for the Olympics. “They put people all over Italy. I don’t know what I did to anyone at NBC, but it’s wonderful to be joining you here remotely.”
Regarding his past assignment in Tahiti, Jost added:
“I’m not much closer to the active Olympics than I was in Tahiti. Then, I was 10,000 miles away from Paris. Now, I’m only 4,000 miles away from Italy. So, I’m inching my way closer.”
Regardless, like he attempted surfing (and got injured) while in Tahiti, Jost got the opportunity to try bobsledding in honor of the Olympics and his reportage.
While in Tahiti, with SURFER on the ground, we snuck an interview with the Saturday Night Live star…although such access was strictly taboo by the draconian rules of the Olympic officials. Here’s a snippet from our conversation:
“I was a really big swimmer growing up. I was a competitive swimmer. But I didn’t know anyone who surfed. Then, in my early 20s, one of my best friends at SNL grew up in Huntington [Beach]. He started taking me out surfing, and I started going out to Montauk. Eventually, I got a place out there. Or I would go to Puerto Rico, and just go surf whenever we had off weeks from SNL. And now, I’ve been surfing probably almost 20 years."
Dashel Pierson
Maybe come 2028, when the Olympics will be held in Los Angeles, and surfing will take place at Lower Trestles, Jost will be back on-the-ground (officially) once again.