Survivor In The Media

[Al Herkimer]

57 minutes ago, ByaNose said:

If they don’t come out with the 411 on everything at the reunion they are totally screwed. 

They aren't totally screwed, even if they mishandle the reunion.  The ratings are fine.  People who don't watch the show have a general sense that there was a mishandled #metoo moment but nobody's boycotting or marching in the streets.  People who watch the show and are angry about how it was handled might be a little angrier if it's not covered well in the reunion - and again, I don't see how it can be, without Dan's presence - but most of them will come back for the  long-dreamed of All-Winner's season.

Edited December 15, 2019 by Al Herkimer

[RescueMom]

OK, here is something fun and positive for a change this season! Angelina Keeley started a non-profit, and she is auctioning off 15-minute Skype calls with a ton of current and former survivors to raise money for her charity. She has a few pretty big name past-season Survivors on there: Lex,  Rob C, Ciera, and Abi-Maria for a  few examples.  Janet, Tommy, Chelsea, and Lauren from this season are on there so far (she seems to still be adding more).

Ready to Run Charity Auction

Edited to add: Elaine is on there now too! 

Edited December 15, 2019 by RescueMom

[JudyObscure]

On 11/26/2019 at 1:12 PM, fishcakes said:

 I didn't like her during the Amazon season, but I'm not going to crap on her now because she acted like a brat on a TV show more than 15 years ago.

19 years ago must be okay though.

On 11/28/2019 at 11:46 AM, fishcakes said:

Ha, Dr. Sean is the original "this one never knows anything."

[fishcakes]

4 hours ago, RescueMom said:

She has a few pretty big name past-season Survivors on there: Lex,  Rob C, Ciera, and Abi-Maria for a  few examples.  Janet, Tommy, Chelsea, and Lauren from this season are on there so far (she seems to still be adding more).

I'm tempted to bid because I would love to talk to Lex to see if he's still bitter, but if he didn't have a blue mohawk when we Skyped, I'd be disappointed.

I have zero memory of Chelsea. I Googled her picture and I would swear I have never seen that person before. Then I read her thread (which I even posted in!) and I still can't remember a thing about her. Apparently she had a showmance with Dean but said she didn't? Even that detail doesn't trigger anything. What a terrible, strange season this has been.

[Ms Blue Jay]

On 12/14/2019 at 9:12 AM, RescueMom said:

I am honestly appalled at how many reputable media outlets have had stories about what Varner thinks when he flat-out says on Twitter that he has not watched the majority of the season (including the early episodes with all of the footage of Dan being handsy and Kellee telling him to stop and him continuing).  

His Twitter is appalling, too. He's all "If you knew what I know you would understand" while refusing to actually say anything of substance. It is such a pathetic, blatantly attention-seeking behavior, and he's getting exactly what he wants - attention. I have zero tolerance for people who post shit like "worst day ever!!" on their social media just to get people to beg them to elaborate. That is what Varner is doing, and it is gross.

Varner is so weird.  A bunch of Survivor fans, including myself, have been blocked by him on Twitter.  I did an easy search for his name on my Twitter feed and have never mentioned him by name once.  I doubt I'm missing anything of value.

I have definitely supported Zeke and Kellee in my tweets, though, so who knows.

[LadyChatts]

2 hours ago, fishcakes said:

I'm tempted to bid because I would love to talk to Lex to see if he's still bitter, but if he didn't have a blue mohawk when we Skyped, I'd be disappointed.

I have zero memory of Chelsea. I Googled her picture and I would swear I have never seen that person before. Then I read her thread (which I even posted in!) and I still can't remember a thing about her. Apparently she had a showmance with Dean but said she didn't? Even that detail doesn't trigger anything. What a terrible, strange season this has been.

I would love to bid on Reem because, it's Reem.  Chelsea was one who talked a big game going in, was practically invisible the whole time she was on the show, and got blindsided with an idol in her pocket because the group needed to break up her and Dean's imaginary showmance.  And somehow they thought she was more threatening than Dean I guess.  Which, I don't know how Chelsea would have played in the long run but they were right about Dean not being a threat.  I'm shocked she has as many bids as she does.

I don't remember Bradley from Ghost Island, but I feel like I should.

Quote

Varner is so weird.  A bunch of Survivor fans, including myself, have been blocked by him on Twitter.  I did an easy search for his name on my Twitter feed and have never mentioned him by name once.  I doubt I'm missing anything of value.

I have definitely supported Zeke and Kellee in my tweets, though, so who knows.

It's probably your support of Zeke that got you blocked.  I had been a Varner fan since his days on Outback, and always felt for the guy that he seemed to get the short end of the stick during his time in the game.  And when the Zeke incident happened, something about it felt weird.  It could be that I've watched this show too long that I couldn't help believe producer manipulation was involved.  But he's really gone off the deep end with his support of Dan.  Especially admitting he didn't watch the episodes in question that started all of this with Dan.  I just figure if you're going to go all in with your defense of someone, maybe first know what your talking about, and perhaps find someone more worthy of the defense.

Edited December 15, 2019 by LadyChatts

[JudyObscure]

5 minutes ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

Varner is so weird.  A bunch of Survivor fans, including myself, have been blocked by him on Twitter.  I did an easy search for his name on my Twitter feed and have never mentioned him by name once.  I doubt I'm missing anything of value.

That's scarey. Do you use the same name you use here? Do you suppose any of those people read this message board? If so I'd be very afraid for myself because I've criticized at least half of them at one time or another.

2 hours ago, fishcakes said:

I have zero memory of Chelsea. I Googled her picture and I would swear I have never seen that person before. 

Same here. I even read her bio and it brought nothing back, just a laugh that her pet peeve in life is some kind of shoe.

I think Erik is sweet for taking part in the charity considering how much the show has made fun of him.

[RescueMom]

32 minutes ago, JudyObscure said:

I think Erik is sweet for taking part in the charity considering how much the show has made fun of him.

Erik has always seemed like the sweetest guy and always has a great attitude about the grief he gets. I follow his Twitter, and he said his Skype chat would be at least an hour long and his dogs would probably make an appearance.  Kass is matching donations to a point plus has said she'd give a Skype chat to anyone who bid over a certain amount. Lots of them are offering to critique audition tapes for the winner. It's pretty fun to follow along and see all of the positivity. I needed that badly after the turn this season took.

[simplyme]

41 minutes ago, JudyObscure said:

I think Erik is sweet for taking part in the charity considering how much the show has made fun of him.

Erik has always been my Survivor crush because he seems like such a genuinely nice guy.

[himela]

I think you would like this podcast regarding the Dan situation. There's a lawyer analyzing how he thinks things went, what the producers may be afraid about and why the show was edited this way.

http://www.purplerockpodcast.com/purple-rock-survivor-podcast-island-of-the-idols-episode-12-just-go-for-it/

[RescueMom]

10 minutes ago, himela said:

I think you would like this podcast regarding the Dan situation. There's a lawyer analyzing how he thinks things went, what the producers may be afraid about and why the show was edited this way.

http://www.purplerockpodcast.com/purple-rock-survivor-podcast-island-of-the-idols-episode-12-just-go-for-it/

Thank you, will definitely listen!!

[himela]

2 minutes ago, RescueMom said:

Thank you, will definitely listen!!

You're welcome. Just wanted to add that they curse a lot so please be advised. :)

[RescueMom]

10 minutes ago, himela said:

You're welcome. Just wanted to add that they curse a lot so please be advised. 🙂

Makes me want to listen to it even more!

[Lantern7]

Reality Blurred: Andy goes off on the show again, brings up possible turning point. I think the “exit” of Brandon Hantz probably qualifies . . . also, it would be apt that a permanent plunge would involve Philip Shepherd, as least to me.

[dbell1]

14 minutes ago, RescueMom said:

Makes me want to listen to it even more!

My kind of poster! 

[Eolivet]

What a fascinating podcast @himela. It made me both angrier and less angry at the same time. If you don't have 59 minutes of time, the lawyer said this was textbook sexual harassment (assault), which the show failed to correct. And that means anyone affected, directly or indirectly by that inaction could sue them for either costing them money or for emotional distress. The people they could potentially be sued by include:

--the crew member

--Kellee

--Janet

--Missy and Elizabeth (for intentional infliction of emotional distress, due to the harassment they've received for their actions when the show did not remove Dan)

--Molly

--Jamal

--and Dan

The lawyer says the season's been edited this way to counter a defamation lawsuit by Dan, who he thinks has sued the show. It sort of answered my question about why there was so much Dan in the show -- because they needed to be as transparent about what happened as they could (so they wouldn't have to call people back to testify for a lawsuit).

It confirmed that this was a production failure so massive, they could be facing millions of dollars in lawsuits. Meaning they will never admit fault, because they legally cannot (unless an apology is a condition of a settlement).

I was vindicated, and frustrated by listening to this, and would be curious what others thought. But it unfortunately implied that the reunion show will be a massive tap dance, and any apology we get will be years down the road.

And they addressed one thing that has bothered me so much about this past episode: the show doesn't care about the contestants. They failed to protect them in favor of "the show must go on." They failed so hard, it could cost them millions of dollars.

I suppose that should be a consolation, but honestly, I'd trade all that only to be able to trust the show again.

[watchingtvaddict]

3 hours ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

Varner is so weird.  A bunch of Survivor fans, including myself, have been blocked by him on Twitter.  I did an easy search for his name on my Twitter feed and have never mentioned him by name once.  I doubt I'm missing anything of value.

I have definitely supported Zeke and Kellee in my tweets, though, so who knows.

I know there is a twitter app where you can block people who follow transphobic accounts, or white supremacists, or Joe Rogan (you get the idea). So maybe he added an app that blocks people who like Zeke and Kellee. 

I wouldn't take it personally.  

Edited December 15, 2019 by watchingtvaddict
changed wording

[Ms Blue Jay]

I do not and couldn't care less.

[ByaNose]

I also was confused as to why Dan got so much airtime. I guess if he had gotten voted out instead of Kellee they might have dodged a bullet but he wasn’t and he was in a major alliance thus safe. Then the editors had to keep showing him......I guess. He was on our screens but he never lead the charge so they were able to minimize his impact but then all of the sudden production couldn’t take it anymore and then got rid of him. At the time I think they thought we’ll show what he did and be covered. What they didn’t count on was the reaction that the fans and media had with TPTB lack of urgency from the get go which happened on Day 1. Somehow they thought airing the Kelly confessional and “the talks” they had with the cast was sufficient. It was botched from the start. I’m dying to see the train wreck reunion on Wednesday. 

[Jobiska]

1 hour ago, Eolivet said:

If you don't have 59 minutes of time, the lawyer said this was textbook sexual harassment (assault), which the show failed to correct. And that means anyone affected, directly or indirectly by that inaction could sue them for either costing them money or for emotional distress. The people they could potentially be sued by include:

Thank you so much for the summary.  I can't focus on podcasts but was very interested in the content.

[LadyChatts]

Can I ask why Molly would be someone that would sue?  I honestly forgot there was a Molly on this season, I had to go look her up.

[Nashville]

21 minutes ago, LadyChatts said:

Can I ask why Molly would be someone that would sue?  I honestly forgot there was a Molly on this season, I had to go look her up.

Because:

1. Sexual harassment can impact not just the direct participants (ex. Dan/Kellee), but anybody/everybody else having to function in the immediate vicinity of the harassing behavior - aka a “hostile work environment “.  
2. A hostile work environment could therefore conceivably be claimed by any member of the original Vokai tribe.
3. Molly was a member of oVokai, and the initial allegations of Dan’s harassment went back to the very first days of the season - before Molly’s eviction.  
4. Molly could therefore claim with some justification that she was subjected to the hostile work environment, even if for the briefest of times.

[KaveDweller]

1 hour ago, LadyChatts said:

Can I ask why Molly would be someone that would sue?  I honestly forgot there was a Molly on this season, I had to go look her up.

I think Molly and Kelly talked in the first (second?) episode about not liking Dan's touchiness and Kelly was relieved it wasn't just her that was uncomfortable. Not that she was glad Molly was uncomfortable, but I think knowing she wasn't alone is what made her talk to Dan at the beginning and say hands off.

[peachmangosteen]

19 hours ago, LadyChatts said:

I don't remember Bradley from Ghost Island, but I feel like I should.

He sucked lol.

Thanks for the recap @Eolivet because I wasn't about to spend an hour listening but I did wanna know about it. I agree with you that I now feel better and worse about the whole thing lol.

[Hanahope]

15 hours ago, Eolivet said:

The lawyer says the season's been edited this way to counter a defamation lawsuit by Dan, who he thinks has sued the show

I totally believe that Dan's lawyers have threatened litigation and may have even drafted the Complaint and sent it to CBS/TPTB.  However, I don't think it has been filed yet with a Court..  Once it is filed, it becomes a public document, anyone can pay to    get a copy from the court (and sometimes can get it for free).  If he had filed a Complaint, some reporter would have found it and published it.

Edited December 16, 2019 by Hanahope

[peachmangosteen]

3 minutes ago, Hanahope said:

I totally believe that Dan's lawyers have threatened litigation and may have even drafted the Complaint and sent it to CBS/TPTB.  However, I don't think it has been filed yet with a Court..  Once it is filed, it becomes a public document, anyone can pay to    get a copy from the court (and sometimes can get it for free).  If he had filed a Complaint, some reporter would have found it and published it.

Thanks for this info. I bet Dan sent something to TPTB pre-airing and that is exactly why they showed so much of him; to show him that they have plenty of proof of what he did.

[fishcakes]

19 hours ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

Varner is so weird.  A bunch of Survivor fans, including myself, have been blocked by him on Twitter.  I did an easy search for his name on my Twitter feed and have never mentioned him by name once.  I doubt I'm missing anything of value.

I read the thread someone posted here where he was defending Dan and he's such a petty little ass. Most people were pretty respectful to him, but if they asked a question he didn't like (like, "how can you have an opinion when you didn't watch the episodes where Dan was touching Kellee?") he would reply by mocking their follower count or go pull something completely irrelevant from their feed to attack them with. He can't reply on substance so he resorts to insults and blocking.

[Eolivet]

Thanks @Hanahope — appreciate the clarification between drafting and filing a lawsuit. The way the lawyer talked, it seemed the show was reacting to something more formalized than the basic “I’m gonna sue!” threat.

Oh, and another fun tidbit: it’s very possible that the harassment of the crew member occurred after the F7 immunity challenge (not the F6 one) and the show was like “well, we can’t deal with that now, we have a tribal council to do!” That they let Elaine get voted off, let Dan vote (!) and THEN pulled him after talking to everyone. There’s no way to prove it either way, but that makes them look even worse, so I honestly tend to believe it.

[Koalagirl]

In case anyone was wondering, this confirms Dan will not be on the finale.

https://people.com/tv/survivor-incident-that-got-dan-spilo-ejected-from-show-was-just-the-final-straw-source-says/

[Kaiju Ballet]

17 minutes ago, Koalagirl said:

In case anyone was wondering, this confirms Dan will not be on the finale.

https://people.com/tv/survivor-incident-that-got-dan-spilo-ejected-from-show-was-just-the-final-straw-source-says/

It also identifies Janet as the cast member who witnessed Dan touching the crew member's leg.

Also--apparently the mess isn't squarely on production. CBS execs seem to have hampered production's ability to do something about Dan earlier. hen again, this is according to unidentified sources in production.

[DEL901]

19 minutes ago, Koalagirl said:

In case anyone was wondering, this confirms Dan will not be on the finale.

https://people.com/tv/survivor-incident-that-got-dan-spilo-ejected-from-show-was-just-the-final-straw-source-says/

It also confirms Janet was the witness. 

[Lsk02]

It bothers me that People and other media outlets keep quoting Dan’s apology during the show with no context. For those reading in the media who don’t watch, or I guess may be foggy on the episode, it was like pulling teeth to finally get that out of Dan. And came after a long line of “I’m so sorry if when it was freezing outside and we were all shivering you felt like I moved to close to you” BS, along with grabbing Noura to demonstrate how innocent his touches supposedly were. After that whole tribal council, the apology he finally spit out at the end meant nothing. But reading those articles, it could pass as appalled at how others viewed him. 
 

Edited December 17, 2019 by Lsk02

[Eolivet]

And I'm back to the white-hot rage:

The debate involved producers of the show as well as executives at CBS, a second source tells PEOPLE. “When a situation arises, everyone wants to do the right thing,” the second insider explains. “But there was a difference of opinion of what should be done.”

a.k.a. "we were more concerned that Dan would sue about being removed than we were about protecting contestants from sexual harassment." Screw every person involved who prioritized the show's bottom line over the contestants' well-being.

[Lady Calypso]

2 hours ago, Kaiju Ballet said:

Also--apparently the mess isn't squarely on production. CBS execs seem to have hampered production's ability to do something about Dan earlier. hen again, this is according to unidentified sources in production.

I can believe it. Unfortunately, I believe that the execs at CBS have a much bigger voice than the production people. It's unfortunate, since the CBS execs aren't privy to everything going on and can only get either second hand information or anything aired on camera, so they don't exactly get why this is a big deal. 

Obviously production has a hand in this, but I knew that the CBS execs would have to be involved somehow. They are still the higher ups and, besides someone trying to physically harm another contestant, I can see where the execs would say "let's just not kick him out." And it sucks. It just totally sucks, and that shouldn't have happened at all. Why does it always just resort to physical violence before someone is removed? What the hell was their plan on what should have been done if it wasn't kicking Dan out early on when it started happening? Because what they did was nothing until Kellee was in tears and a producer finally had to get his team to coordinate a half assed vague talk with everyone....and that didn't even work. They had the proof from those incidents! They had proof AGAINST Dan.  

Dan decided to set his sights on the crew members instead, so clearly their plan to wait and see didn't work at all. I feel bad for everyone behind the scenes that were completely supportive of Dan's removal and screw everyone else who decided to keep him in until nearly the very end of the game. The fact that it seems like the environment of the season got THAT bad, according to that third production source, is appalling. 

[meatball77]

This is super minor compared to what has happens on Big Brother (every season) that they've just ignored or used for the publicity.

I think they're not unhappy about this.  It's bad press but they are going to get great ratings on Thursday.

[LanceM]

Three more women have accused former Survivor Africa player Silas Gaither of rape.

Edited December 17, 2019 by LanceM

[simplyme]

18 hours ago, DEL901 said:

It also confirms Janet was the witness. 

Either I'm missing where it does that or that's now been removed.

Edit: It's been removed. I can see in the Google search results where it named her, but it's not there now. It just says one of the contestants witnessed it.

Edited December 17, 2019 by simplyme
update

[himela]

4 minutes ago, simplyme said:

Either I'm missing where it does that or that's now been removed.

I did see it earlier and now it's indeed removed.

[Special K]

Yes, I saw it earlier as well and it said Janet was the witnessing party.

[ByaNose]

I'm confused by the timeline. When we last saw Dan he was at Tribal Council where Elaine was voted out. Then we next see the tribe in the daytime (morning I guess) and, Dan was removed from the game. All the articles said the latest incident happened on a boat after a challenge. What challenge was this? Was this before Tribal Council but he wasn't removed until the next day? Just curious.

[violet and green]

On 12/16/2019 at 2:47 PM, LadyChatts said:

Can I ask why Molly would be someone that would sue?  I honestly forgot there was a Molly on this season, I had to go look her up.

Molly was the other woman who spoke to Janet about Dan's problematic touching in the first episode.

1 hour ago, ByaNose said:

I'm confused by the timeline. When we last saw Dan he was at Tribal Council where Elaine was voted out. Then we next see the tribe in the daytime (morning I guess) and, Dan was removed from the game. All the articles said the latest incident happened on a boat after a challenge. What challenge was this? Was this before Tribal Council but he wasn't removed until the next day? Just curious.

The episode started with Night 32, coming back from the tribal where Dean blew up any hopes I had of Tommy going, and Noura called out Elaine's idol.

(Then this, that and the other and then Elaine was voted off Night 35?)

It said Day 36 as Jeff came up to tell the tribe, who were just about to make their morning coffee, that Dan was gorn.

Edited December 17, 2019 by violet and green
edit to add

[DEL901]

1 hour ago, ByaNose said:

I'm confused by the timeline. When we last saw Dan he was at Tribal Council where Elaine was voted out. Then we next see the tribe in the daytime (morning I guess) and, Dan was removed from the game. All the articles said the latest incident happened on a boat after a challenge. What challenge was this? Was this before Tribal Council but he wasn't removed until the next day? Just curious.

They also said that there was a lot of hemming and hawing and consultations with the executives in LA and lawyers, not to mention interviewing the players and finding out if any had witnessed the incident (which it turns out Janet did).

[himela]

1 hour ago, Special K said:

Yes, I saw it earlier as well and it said Janet was the witnessing party.

Which means that there are people out there, may them be journalists or podcast people or prior survivor players or whatever, who KNOW more than what we do and this pisses me off. I mean, if the cast can talk to Varner or a person from an online magazine or whoever, why don't they do it "off the record" and then "let it slip" or something?

[LadyChatts]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/tv/news/survivors-dan-spilo-breaks-silence-on-his-behavior-on-the-show-i-am-deeply-sorry/ar-BBY5P2x?ocid=spartandhp

Dan speaks, however brief.  Basically he's sorry.

Edited December 17, 2019 by LadyChatts

[Rachel RSL]

21 hours ago, Lsk02 said:

It bothers me that People and other media outlets keep quoting Dan’s apology during the show with no context. For those reading in the media who don’t watch, or I guess may be foggy on the episode, it was like pulling teeth to finally get that out of Dan. And came after a long line of “I’m so sorry if when it was freezing outside and we were all shivering you felt like I moved to close to you” BS, along with grabbing Noura to demonstrate how innocent his touches supposedly were. After that whole tribal council, the apology he finally spit out at the end meant nothing. But reading those articles, it could pass as appalled at how others viewed him. 
 

Not to mention, the article (or any of the articles) conveniently leave out the parts where Dan kept snarling "You're really not gonna let this go?!" before he gave his fake-ass non-apology.

19 minutes ago, LadyChatts said:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/tv/news/survivors-dan-spilo-breaks-silence-on-his-behavior-on-the-show-i-am-deeply-sorry/ar-BBY5P2x?ocid=spartandhp

Dan speaks, however brief.  Basically he's sorry.

Ugh!  He's still acting like this was just a simple misunderstanding with Kellee, completely ignoring ALL the other complaints we saw several other women make about him.

[fishcakes]

From the article @LadyChatts linked to:

Quote

As for the incident that led to his removal, according to multiple sources, Spilo insisted that the contact was inadvertent and accidental as he lost his balance while trying to get into the boat.

I feel like I've read this in a half dozen places and the thing is, I can believe that he slipped getting onto the boat and that grabbing the crew member's leg was an accident. Dan's a shitheel, but he doesn't seem stupid. He had to know that if he continued to assault women, especially one who would have zero reason to protect him as another castmember worried about her game might have, there would be consequences. (Then again, I don't know how predators' minds work so maybe he just couldn't control himself.) But either way, I DON'T CARE. If he got ejected for accidentally touching someone after NOT getting ejected for intentionally groping several other women? HA HA HA HA HA SUCKS TO BE YOU SPILO.

[ProfCrash]

3 hours ago, DEL901 said:

They also said that there was a lot of hemming and hawing and consultations with the executives in LA and lawyers, not to mention interviewing the players and finding out if any had witnessed the incident (which it turns out Janet did).

That was over the Kellee mess. At least, that was my impression. I think Production might have been ready to toss Dan with the Kellee mess and the Execs disagreed. Dan stayed with a warning. The second he violated that  warning he was gone.

4 hours ago, ByaNose said:

I'm confused by the timeline. When we last saw Dan he was at Tribal Council where Elaine was voted out. Then we next see the tribe in the daytime (morning I guess) and, Dan was removed from the game. All the articles said the latest incident happened on a boat after a challenge. What challenge was this? Was this before Tribal Council but he wasn't removed until the next day? Just curious.

I think it was after the final 6 immunity challenge because Elaine mentioned the Jury being confused about missing a tribal. I can’t believe that it would take that long to make a decision after the warning was given back at the merge. I suspect we will find out tomorrow, if they don’t show the final 6 reward it was after the final 6 immunity. They won’t show anything with Dan tomorrow because it will confuse people.

2 hours ago, LadyChatts said:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/tv/news/survivors-dan-spilo-breaks-silence-on-his-behavior-on-the-show-i-am-deeply-sorry/ar-BBY5P2x?ocid=spartandhp

Dan speaks, however brief.  Basically he's sorry.

He is an ass.

[LadyChatts]

24 minutes ago, fishcakes said:

From the article @LadyChatts linked to:

I feel like I've read this in a half dozen places and the thing is, I can believe that he slipped getting onto the boat and that grabbing the crew member's leg was an accident. Dan's a shitheel, but he doesn't seem stupid. He had to know that if he continued to assault women, especially one who would have zero reason to protect him as another castmember worried about her game might have, there would be consequences. (Then again, I don't know how predators' minds work so maybe he just couldn't control himself.) But either way, I DON'T CARE. If he got ejected for accidentally touching someone after NOT getting ejected for intentionally groping several other women? HA HA HA HA HA SUCKS TO BE YOU SPILO.

This is kind of what angers me about the whole thing.  They remove him for an incident that may or may not have been an accident, but at the very least could be argued was one.  And it was a producer, on day 36.  Yet they couldn't take it upon themselves to remove him when he was violating other contestants, who were too afraid of what it would do to their game, and who had to be in his presence 24/7.  We got one big episode out of it, then they act like nothing happened, until this.  

I agree with those who say CBS may not be terribly sorry for how this was handled, because, as the saying goes, "there's no such thing as bad publicity."  Thought I think sooner or later these reality shows are going to find that out the hard way.

[KaveDweller]

5 hours ago, himela said:

Which means that there are people out there, may them be journalists or podcast people or prior survivor players or whatever, who KNOW more than what we do and this pisses me off. I mean, if the cast can talk to Varner or a person from an online magazine or whoever, why don't they do it "off the record" and then "let it slip" or something?

Media outlets and podcast people don't want to piss off CBS because they don't want to lose access to cast members for interviews and things. Or open themselves up to a defamation lawsuit.

I agree it's very frustrating though.

1 hour ago, ProfCrash said:

That was over the Kellee mess. At least, that was my impression. I think Production might have been ready to toss Dan with the Kellee mess and the Execs disagreed. Dan stayed with a warning. The second he violated that  warning he was gone.

My impression was there was hemming and hawing after Kellee and then again after the thing with the crew member. I didn't get the sense they booted him right away after that. I thought it happened after the previous challenge and they waited until after tribal to remove him.

[Eolivet]

1 hour ago, LadyChatts said:

I agree with those who say CBS may not be terribly sorry for how this was handled, because, as the saying goes, "there's no such thing as bad publicity." 

I get that, to a point, but increased publicity would usually lead to people becoming curious about a show and then checking it out -- thus leading to increased ratings or visibility.

But I can't feasibly see anyone, anywhere ... ever going, "Wait, Survivor had someone sexually harassing women? And people were mad at the show for how they handled it? You know, I think I might check that out."

I think the goal is the opposite: to get people to stop talking about this, to make this go away and most importantly, to keep existing viewers (versus attracting new ones as a result of publicity). And what they really hope is that viewers will confine their anger to this season, not direct it towards the franchise as a whole. Although now that super-early premiere date for Survivor 40 sure makes a lot more sense.