A contestant on the American reality series Survivor has dramatically revealed a fellow contestant is transgender sparking widespread criticism that has rippled well beyond the show's audience.
It was an episode so unusual that the network, contestant Zeke Smith and GLAAD worked for "several months" between when it was taped and when it aired to allow Smith to speak his mind.
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"There is deception here. Deception on levels ... these guys don't even understand," contestant Jeff Varner told host Jeff Probst and the six other survivors at the show's tribal council, which concludes each episode with someone being voted off the island, and Varner was fighting to stay.
"Zeke, why haven't you told anyone you're transgender?"
![From left: Jeff Varner, Sarah Lacina, Zeke Smith and Debbie Wanner at a so-called tribal council on <i>Survivor</i>.](/web/20170416231816im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/v/k/u/a/9/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gvktov.png/1492182435529.jpg)
And like that, Smith, who apparently was working an alliance to take Varner out of the competition, was outed to the world. Varner exposed Smith, he said, because the secret "reveals the ability to deceive."
The rest of the group was shocked by Varner's insensitivity, and let him know.
"You should be ashamed of yourself ... for what you're willing to do to get yourself further in a game for a million dollars," said Ozzy Lusth, Smith's ally.
"That has nothing to do with the game, that's personal," a tearful Andrea Boehlke said. Later on in tribal council, conservative Midwesterner Sarah Lacina noted her own personal growth as she realised the new information didn't change how she felt about Smith.
![<i>Survivor</i> contestant Zeke Smith was outed as transgender by fellow cast member Jeff Varner.](/web/20170416231816im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/v/k/u/3/d/image.related.articleLeadNarrow.300x0.gvktov.png/1492182435529.jpg)
"Is it starting to hit you, the gravity, that you didn't just tell six people, you told millions of people?" Probst asked Varner as the latter appeared to regret what he'd done. "Is that what's happening, you're realising now?"
Varner said he thought "everyone" in Smith's real-life circles knew. "I thought he was just deceiving these people. It never dawned on me that no one knew. ... I'm just devastated." By the end of the council, he was in tears, as were several other contestants.
![Mana Tribe member Jeff Varner outed fellow cast member Zeke Smith as transgender.](/web/20170416231816im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/v/k/u/3/e/image.related.articleLeadNarrow.300x0.gvktov.png/1492182435529.jpg)
Smith, who has represented himself as a gay man for two seasons on the show, said he didn't broadcast anything else because, "I didn't want to be the trans Survivor player. I wanted to be Zeke the Survivor player."
Varner wound up being kicked off the island without need for a secret vote as the rest of the survivors made it clear they would be writing his name on their ballots. "Just grab your torch," Probst said.
In a Hollywood Reporter guest essay published immediately after the show aired, Smith relived the moments after Varner's question.
"I sat blank, almost in a trance, unaware of what happened around me, trying to form a plan," he wrote. "Survivor had spun out of control. That's the risk you take when you dance in the ethical borderlands, where you'll betray a friend, swear on your mother, and lie to a priest all before you eat whatever meager crumbs count as breakfast. In Survivor much is permissible which is typically objectionable, but there are limits, as there should be on a family-friendly reality show on network television.
"It's one thing to lie about someone sneaking off at night to search for hidden advantages," Smith continued in his essay. "It is quite another to incense bigotry toward a marginalized minority."
As Varner left the group, the two men exchanged a handshake and a hug and an "I'm sorry" and a "We'll be OK," but Smith said that he's struggled since that moment to forgive his former castmate.
"While I can reconcile the personal slight of him outing me, I continue to be troubled by his willingness to deploy such a dangerous stereotype on a global platform."
Varner spoke his piece in a Wednesday night post on Twitter.
"Let me be clear, outing someone is assault. It robs a strong, courageous person of their power and protection and opens them up to discrimination and danger. ... Zeke is a wonderful man and I will forever be amazed and inspired by his forgiveness and compassion," he wrote.
"Zeke Smith, and transgender people like him, are not deceiving anyone by being their authentic selves, and it is dangerous and unacceptable to out a transgender person," Nick Adams, director of GLAAD's Transgender Media Program, said in a statement. "It is heartening, however, to see the strong support for Zeke from the other people in his tribe."
The episode aired in Australia on Thursday night.