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Survivor contestant Zeke Smith was forced to reveal he was transgender after fellow contestant Jeff Varner outed him to the other tribe members.
During tribal council Varner told Survivor host Jeff Probst he had a feeling he was going home.
But before any tribe members had a chance to vote, Varner tried to convince the other contestants Smith was deceitful.
‘There is deception here. Deceptions on levels, Jeff, that these guys don’t even understand,’ he said.
‘Why haven’t you told anyone that you’re transgender?’
The contestants were outraged at Varner’s outburst and Probst decided to immediately boot him off the island.
‘We don’t need to vote, just grab your torch,’ he told Varner.
Afterwards, Varner tweeted his apology.
Smith explained to his fellow tribesmen why he chose not to tell them he was transgender.
‘One of the reasons why I didn’t want to lead with that is I didn’t want to be, like, the trans Survivor player. I wanted to be Zeke the Survivor player,’ he said.
Probst spoke about the situation in an interview with Entertainment Weekly: ‘In 34 seasons of Survivor, I have rarely, if ever, personally commented on what is said or done in the game. But this is a unique situation that falls outside the normal boundaries. I cannot imagine anyone thinking what was done to Zeke was okay on any level, under any circumstances, and certainly not simply because there was a million dollars on the line.
‘I think the response from the tribe, as it so often does, mirrors what the vast majority of society will feel. You just don’t do that to someone.’
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