Survivor leaves viewers blindsided
Latest episode of reality show grapples with complexities of sexual harassment
It started on Day 1 of the latest season of Survivor, when a male contestant rested his head on a young woman’s knee. Later, it was a hand brushing aside a lock of hair, an arm around her waist.
Wednesday night, it all culminated with an extraordinary scene: 29-year-old Kellee Kim, an MBA student, accusing Dan Spilo, a 48-year-old Hollywood talent manager, of sexual harassment.
“It’s super upsetting because it’s like you can’t do anything about it,” Kim said. “There are always consequences for standing up ... You can’t say anything because it’s going to affect your upward trajectory.”
Viewers at first praised Survivor for seriously handling the allegation on air, but, as the episode drew to a dramatic conclusion, many were left horrified. That’s because two other women admitted to making up claims against Silo as part of their game strategy — a plan that resulted in Kim being voted off and her alleged harasser staying put.
“Survivor is a microcosm for our real world,” executive producer and host Jeff Probst told the Hollywood Reporter Wednesday. “Situations just like this one are playing out in offices and bars and colleges across the country and the world.”
At the season’s open, Kim told everyone that she didn’t “like to be touched.” But her comments were primarily aimed at one person in her tribe: Spilo. Kim asked him to keep his hands to himself. He seemed receptive, at first.
But Kim felt Spilo had continued to violate her personal space — and that other women had also voiced frustration with his “touchy-feely” personality.
“This isn’t just one person, it’s a pattern,” Kim told the camera as a producer interviewed her on the beach. “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.”
As Kim held back tears, a producer responded — a rare occurrence on a show where the production team is meant to be invisible.
“You know if there are issues to the point where something needs to happen, come to me and I will make sure that stops,” an unnamed producer says from behind the camera. “I don’t want anyone feeling uncomfortable.”
Kim told the show’s producers she didn’t want them to intervene because it might negatively impact her chances to win the game.
The show’s producers talked to the contestants individually and as a group about respecting “personal boundaries.” Spilo received a formal warning about his behaviour and the competition continued.
After the show’s two original tribes merged in Wednesday’s episode, Kim bonded with two women who had previously been her competitors after they told her Spilo made them feel uncomfortable. Together, they hatched a plan to vote Spilo off the island.
The women approached one of Dan’s closest allies, Janet Carbin, a 59-year-old head lifeguard. When the women emotionally told her how uncomfortable Spilo had made them feel, she agreed to vote him out. “Initially, my take on Dan was he was just an old-school guy that never really thought about what he was doing,” Carbin said. “In the offchance that Dan is totally innocent, he’s going to be devastated. It’s a tricky thing to have 100 per cent proof. You’re never going to get it.”
But when it came time to vote, Kim was sent home. And the other two women admitted they’d made up their claims against Spilo as a strategy to take the target off themselves.
The false allegations, mingled with legitimate ones from a victim who didn’t want producers to intervene, left the show grappling with the complex reality of sexual harassment. At first, many people cheered CBS and the showrunners for deciding to include Kim’s interview and the producer’s response. But as the episode wore on, some viewers turned sour.
“We all watched the episode, the producers even got involved and talked to Dan,” one fan wrote in a tweet. “These people are pissing me off. Janet is the truth.”
One former contestant said she was dismayed by the show’s handling of the situation. “I’ve loved #survivor for so many years,” said Eliza Orlins, who competed in 2004 and 2008. “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.”
Probst defended the show’s reaction. “We are witnessing a real and raw example of another layer of the changing dynamic between men and women: You don’t have to feel unsafe to feel uncomfortable, and making someone uncomfortable is not OK,” Probst told the Hollywood Reporter.
The Washington Post