SPOILER ALERT: Story contains key details about Survivor season
Survivor on Wednesday kicked its first-ever contestant off the series due to inappropriate behavior that happened behind the scenes.
Dan Spilo, a talent agent, was removed from the CBS show Survivor: Island of the Idols, host Jeff Probst said on Wednesday’s broadcast.
It comes just weeks after he was accused of sexual harassment and unwanted touching by a fellow contestant.
Probst said, ‘Ok, so I just spoke privately with Dan and I want to update you guys: A decision has been made and Dan will not be returning to the game.’
Moving on: Survivor has kicked its first-ever contestant off the series due to inappropriate behavior that happened behind the scenes, as Dan Spilo, a talent agent, 48, was removed from the CBS show Survivor: Island of the Idols
Probst said Spilo, 48, ‘won’t be coming back to camp,’ and ‘won’t be on the jury,’ adding, ‘He’s gone.’
After the broadcast, a title card read: ‘Dan was removed from the game after a report of another incident, which happened off-camera and did not involve a player.’
According to People, production sources said that Spilo’s actions took place amid the boat ride following an immunity challenge, and was witnessed by another cast member, but not filmed.
Accuser Kellee Kim took to social media to share a detailed response to the episode.
Framing her thoughts she said: ‘My thoughts on tonight’s episode of @SurvivorCBS and Dan Spilo’s removal for another incident of inappropriate touching.’
In her message she called of CBS for not taking immediate action.
‘Tonight, on CBS Survivor, Dan Spilo was kicked off for, once again, inappropriate touching. While Dan’s dismissal has validated the concerns that I raised from the beginning of the season, I wish that no one had been subjected to this type of behavior.
‘CBS and Survivor were on notice of Dan’s behavior from the very first days of the game. And, as Survivor fans know, shortly after I spoke up on camera, I was voted off the show. Since then, I’ve accepted genuine, heartfelt apologies from fellow castaways, but I’ve continued to feel disappointed by how this pattern was allowed to occur for so long.
‘While I wish many things had gone differently, I’m glad that my decision to speak up made a difference. What is most important to me now is how all of us — CBS, Survivor, other organizations, and all of us as individuals — decide to learn from this story and commit to take action.
‘Lastly, I am grateful to the many people who have reached out to me over the last few weeks to share their own stories and messages of solidarity. These messages, of being supported and believed, have been an incredible gift. Thank you. –Kellee”
Informative: After the broadcast, a title card updated fans on what had happened
Staying mum: Host JeffProbst was coy when asked about what happened by Entertainment Weekly Wednesday
Host Jeff Probst was coy when asked about what happened by Entertainment Weekly Wednesday: ‘The question is a fair and reasonable one,’ he told the outlet.
‘I’ve endeavored to be as forthcoming as possible with you regarding everything that has happened this season. In this situation, out of respect for privacy and confidentiality, I can’t say anymore,’ said Probst, who noted that Spilo was upset when informed of his ouster.
‘When we first told Dan we were pulling him from the game, he was not happy,’ he said. ‘We talked through everything for quite a while, and by the time he got on the boat to leave he had calmed down and was actually very respectful as he departed.’
The ejection came after Spilo was involved in an ‘inappropriate touching’ scandal among contestants in a bombshell episode last month.
On the show’s dramatic November 13 broadcast, MBA student Kellee Kim, 29, accused Spilo, 48, of sexual harassment saying he rested his head on her knee, brushed a lock of her hair with his hand, and placed his arm around her waist.
Two other female contestants Missy Byrd and Elizabeth Beisel also came forward to accuse Spilo of inappropriate touching.
However, their claims unraveled by the end of the episode when Byrd and Beisel confessed they made up their claims against Spilo as a part of their game strategy in the race for the $1 million prize. When the two women told Kim they were victims of Spilo’s unwanted touching, she burst into tears.
It’s over: While he was booted off the show, Spilo’s bio remained on its website Wednesday
History: The ejection came after Spilo was involved in an ‘inappropriate touching’ scandal among contestants in a bombshell episode last month
Irate: Probst noted that Spilo was initially upset when informed of his ouster
‘It’s super upsetting because it’s like you can’t do anything about it,’ Kim said, per the Washington Post. ‘There are always consequences for standing up. This happens in real life, in work settings, in school. You can’t say anything because it’s going to affect your upward trajectory. It’s going to affect how people look at you.’
Kim first revealed she felt uncomfortable about Spilo in the season’s first episode where the two had a one-on-one talk on the beach and Kim asked him to keep his hands to himself.
Though receptive at the time to her wishes, by Wednesday’s episode Kim made it seem like Spilo continued to violate her personal space.
‘This isn’t just one person, it’s a pattern. It takes five people to be like, “Man, the way I’m feeling about this is actually real. It’s not in my head. I’m not overreacting to it.” It’s like, no, he literally has done this to five different women in this game. That sucks. That totally, totally sucks,’ she said during the November episode.
Kim, empowered by her castmates’ allegations against Spilo, went to producers with her concerns. Show officials then addressed the unwanted touching off-camera with all the contestants and Dan received an official warning for his behavior. However, at the end of the episode, when it came time for cast members to vote someone off the island, Kim was given the boot.
Survivor contestant Kellee Kim, 29, accused opponent Dan Spilo, 48, of sexual harassment and unwanted touching during an episode last month
Two other female contestants Missy Byrd and Elizabeth Beisel also came forward to accuse Spilo of inappropriate touching. However, those the latter claims unraveled by the end of the episode when Byrd and Beisel confessed they made up their claims against Spilo in a bid to stay in the game
Beisel and Byrd who came to her with exaggerated allegations voted for her to be knocked off. They hatched their plan to take the target off themselves to stay in the game.
Beisel even admitted she didn’t feel comfortable with her embellished allegations again Spilo but said if she ‘can play up that card in whatever way possible, I’ll do it.’
‘Honestly, I’ve felt safe this entire time and if I had felt uncomfortable I would have said, “Please stop,”‘ she said, according to People Magazine.
Kim took to Twitter Wednesday and said that the agent was kicked off for ‘inappropriate touching,’ and that she’s ultimately glad she spoke up about him.
During the November episode, Spilo was able to apologize for his actions during the Tribal Council.
‘I work in an industry in which the #MeToo movement was formed and allowed – thank God – to blossom and become powerful and strong. My personal feeling is if anyone ever felt for a second uncomfortable about anything I’ve ever done, I’m horrified about that and I’m terribly sorry,’ he said.
‘If that person was Kellee – if Kellee ever felt that in the freezing cold rain, or in tight shelters… or in all the ways we have to crawl around and through each other in this game — if I ever did anything that ever even remotely made her feel uncomfortable, it horrifies me, and I am terribly sorry’
‘True, untrue, it doesn’t matter what I feel. It doesn’t matter whether I’m aware of it. It doesn’t matter whether I ever sensed it. It doesn’t matter whether I knew it happened or it didn’t happen. If someone feels it, it’s their truth.
‘I have a wife, I have been married for 21 years, I have two boys, I have a big business, I have lots of employees. I think what upset everybody here is that this has somehow turned into gameplay,’ he added.
Kim, empowered by her castmates’ allegations against Spilo, went to producers with her concerns. However, at the end of the episode, Kim was voted off the island
After the episode aired Kim tweeted that she’s ‘hurting and very sad’
Wednesday’s episode at first led to applause on social media for airing the allegations of sexual harassment
Spilo is a Hollywood talent manager and executive producer. This fall a show he executive produced called Sunnyside was cancelled on NBC.
The shocking episode was a commentary on the #MeToo movement sweeping the media world.
‘Survivor is a microcosm for our real world. Situations just like this one are playing out in offices and bars and colleges across the country and the world,’ executive producer and host Probst said to the Hollywood Reporter last month.
‘It’s new territory, and it’s offering us a chance to continue to examine how men and women treat each other and to learn how to respect each other,’ he added.
‘There is no denying that [Spilo] made some of the women, like Kellee, uncomfortable, and he needed to address it. But understandably, he also wanted to defend against other accusations that were not true and were simply gameplay.’ Probst concluded.
During Wednesday’s episode of Survivor, producers revealed they met with players individually after Kim reported Spilo’s alleged misconduct and cautioned them about personal boundaries
The show said producers met with Dan Spilo privately and issued him a warning for his behavior of alleged inappropriate touching
By the end of the episode watchers were furious that Kim was booted out. Former contestant Eliza Orling tweeted ‘I’m out after tonight. This felt…really gross’
Former contestant Eliza Orlins, who competed in the show in 2004 and 2008, condemned the show’s handling of the scandal as ‘gross’.
‘I’ve loved #survivor for so many years. Almost 20, in fact. And, for the first time ever, I think I’m going to stop watching the show. I’m done with this season. I have friends on season 40 so I’ll pick it back then, but honestly, I’m out after tonight. This felt…really gross,’ she said.
In Survivor, which has aired since 2000, contestants are stranded on beaches and forced to survive for 39 days in the wilderness and compete against each other in challenges. In each episode players vote contestants off the island and off the show. When the cast dwindles down to two r three remaining players, previously cast-out competitors vote for who will win the game’s cash prize.