Survivor's Eva Erickson Claps Back at RFK Jr.'s Claims Autism Claims

What Made ‘Survivor’ Host Jeff Probst Cry for the First Time in 48 Seasons

Survivor star Eva Erickson is standing up for her community.

After President Donald Trump’s Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. made several controversial claims about autism, including that it “destroys families,” at an April 16 press conference, the CBS competition series' first openly autistic contestant pushed back.

"I'm Eva from Survivor 48," the 24-year-old, who is competing on the ongoing season 48, began in a selfie video shared on her Instagram April 18. "Let me show you how wrong RFK Jr. is about what someone with autism can achieve in their life."

In her video, Erickson included audio from the press conference in which Kennedy referred to a newly published Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that found that autism rates in U.S. kids has risen. Among his many comments were noting that there are autistic children who will "never hold a job, they'll never play baseball, they'll never write a poem, they'll never go out on a date."

Amid Kennedy’s words, Erickson, an engineering Ph.D. candidate at Brown, showed photos of herself and her family, including images of herself at a graduation ceremony and playing hockey on her school’s club team.

"RFK Jr. can kick rocks," the Minnesota native said. "I know what I'm capable of. People with autism are stronger than he believes, and I'm proud to represent this community."

E! News has reached out to Kennedy for comment but has not heard back.

Following backlash over his comments, made during Autism Acceptance Month, the politician clarified on Hannity April 17 that he was referring to the "more than 25 percent of people who have severe autism" in his remarks.

(While the recent CDC report does not reference children with profound autism—those who are nonverbal or minimally verbal and/or had an IQ lower than 50—a 2023 study cofunded by the CDC suggested that 26.7 percent of kids diagnosed with autism had profound autism.)

Erickson brought host Jeff Probst and viewers to tears during the March 26 episode, when she opened up about being diagnosed with autism as a 1-year-old. 

And though she has never viewed her autism as a roadblock to success, she still struggles.

"I have these things called 'episodes' where when I get extremely overstimulated. I will get ungrounded and I'll lose control of myself," she continued. "Everyone who has autism should not be ashamed to ask for help and ashamed to receive it. So thank you all for allowing this to happen."