SPOILER ALERT: Story contains key details about Survivor season
Survivor will break precedence and end its season with a pre-taped three-hour finale due to concerns over sensitivity and security.
In the past the show has ended each of its prior seasons with a live reunion show from CBS Television City in Los Angeles.
However, following this season’s dramatic series that saw contestant talent agent Dan Spilo removed from set following allegations of inappropriate touching, the finale will be pre-taped so that contestants can feel comfortable and safe rehashing what went down on the island, according to Entertainment Weekly.
Despite being pre-taped, the finale will still take place in front of an audience, will have a “live” introductions and a reunion discussion after the winner is crowned.
The episode won’t broadcast live with its usual 10-second delay, but is anticipated to be aired in its entirety without edits. The season finale for Survivor: Island of the Idols is set to air December 18 at 8pm.
This week contestant Dan Spilo was kicked off Survivor, marking the first time ever a player has been booted from the show, after he allegedly touched a female production crew member’s leg in an off-camera incident, according to People Magazine.
Survivor will break precedence and end its season with a pre-taped three-hour finale due to concerns over sensitivity and security. The news comes after contestant Dan Spilo, a 48-year-old talent agent (left), was kicked off the show this week. He was previously accused of inappropriate touching by contestant MBA student Kellee Kim (right)
Show host Jeff Probst announced Spilo, a talent agent, was removed from set in Wednesday’s dramatic episode for an ‘off camera’ incident
Informative: After the broadcast, a title card updated fans on what had happened
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.
Show host Jeff Probst announced Spilo, a talent agent, was removed from set in Wednesday’s dramatic episode.
It comes just weeks after Spilo was accused of sexual harassment and unwanted touching by fellow contestant Kellee Kim.
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.’
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.’
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
Previous complaints: Kellee Kim (right) complained to producers about Spilo’s behavior following numerous incidents of inappropriate touching in an episode that aired in November, however he was allowed to remain on the show and she was ultimately eliminated by the tribe
‘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, 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.
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.
Kim wrote on social media on Wednesday: ‘My thoughts on tonight’s episode of @SurvivorCBS and Dan Spilo’s removal for another incident of inappropriate touching.’
‘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.
Complicated: 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
‘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’
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.
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 a November 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 Spilo privately and issued him a warning for his behavior of alleged inappropriate touching
By the end of the November 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.