Before You Send Your Hate Tweets to Jeff Varner, Consider This (Survivor Week 6)

Wednesday night was the most uncomfortable I have ever felt watching a Tribal Council, and the latest add to what is in my opinion, a string of bad episodes of Survivor in what has been a very disappointing season so far. The stretch continued Wednesday, this time however, veering off into uncharted waters.

We would not have gotten to such an uncomfortable place had Jeff Varner not taken us there, but here are some things that we should consider before we consider him a "life-ruiner" of Regina George proportions.

First, some background information. I spend time reading the Survivor message boards each week. There's a relatively sized Survivor online community, however I'm sure those numbers are dwarfed in comparison to the 10 million or so viewers Survivor churns in each season. I never read spoilers, however I was very aware that there had been much speculation over the last two seasons that Zeke was in fact a transgender man. There even had been a newspaper article written at his college about him when he was transitioning. The article appears to have since been deleted, but that didn't prevent people from copy and pasting and screen-grabbing the content necessary to back such a claim. (Why people cared so much about this, or did such in-depth research is beyond my knowledge).

For many fans, it wasn't a matter of if Zeke was trans, but if it would ever be addressed on the show. I'm pretty sure Probst even asked Zeke an open-ended question at the last finale about "change" or "metamorphosis," (which ultimately built up to Wednesday's episode themed around the subject). Nevertheless, some people weren't surprised at all by the bomb that Varner dropped in last night's Tribal Council, more so that he did it. The online community only reflects a small percentage of Survivor fans, so millions watching were actually blindsided. But at the same time, it wasn't like this was some top secret thing that nobody would ever find out about.

Remember, Zeke volunteered to go on Survivor. If you go on a reality TV show that millions of people watch, your life suddenly becomes a lot more public whether you like it or not. If he thought his life was going to be ruined by somebody finding out his past, he was well aware of the risk he was taking by becoming a public figure. 

It's important to listen to Varner's reasoning behind his decision and to understand the proper context. Varner is the only player to be brought back two times after missing the jury in both his attempts. After 15 years of watching Survivor from the sidelines, he was overjoyed to return for Second Chance, a mission that he once again failed, in a more embarrassing manner than the first. Varner knew fans would be skeptical over his classification as a "game changer"; he wanted to prove people wrong and live up to the potential he feels that he has. He was one tribal council away from finally making it to the jury, a clear goal he had for himself since the inception of Survivor 17 years ago.

This entire season, Jeff Probst has been pushing the narrative of "big moves!" and "live tribals!" He clearly wants to see crazy stuff happen, particularly at tribal council. If he didn't, the show wouldn't have had two tribes go to tribal together and there wouldn't be 20 different idols/advantages currently in play at the moment.

So Varner has a piece of juicy information that nobody knows about someone that has been continuously feeding him lies. It started at the Sandra vote and continued at the start of Wednesday's episode, when Zeke promised Varner a spot in the final three (a deal he didn't have to make and he clearly wasn't serious about). 

It's also worth noting that there have only been a couple of players that have returned to play before their season actually aired, Malcolm Freberg and yes, Russell Hantz. Russell wouldn't have been able to last as long as he did, had people actually seen the crap he pulled in Samoa (lying about being a victim of Hurricane Katrina, pouring out his tribemates' water bottles and burning socks to name a few). So here's someone on Varner's tribe that has spewed falsehoods to him and is clearly hiding something else. Varner knows of this juicy secret and wants to use it as some form of proof to instill distrust and stir something up at tribal council.

And this is where I think production could have stopped him.

Prior to the final commercial break before the vote, Varner mentions that he knows of a secret of Zeke's that nobody else knows. Well then, I would think the next question from the cameraman would be, "What is that secret?" to which Varner spills the beans. At this point, production should know what Varner is planning. If they don't want to out Zeke on national TV, wouldn't they talk him out of it? Provide the counterargument that Probst and Varner's tribemates brought on at tribal that made Varner realize, "This isn't a good idea"?

Unless, production actually wanted this to happen. Or, was okay with it happening.

The biggest offense that has been taken to Varner's claim was that he ruined Zeke's public life for all America, sharing a personal secret with millions of viewers watching at home. Well, what if he had ruined Zeke's public life to just six people living on an island with him, that may have had their own suspicions or assumptions already? CBS didn't have to actually air the comment that was made by Varner, if it was as horrible as Probst said it was.

Tribal councils go on a lot longer than we actually see on the show. In fact, this was a longer tribal council than usual. Varner claimed that it lasted over two hours and we saw a very edited version of it. Do you really think that the eloquent speeches that Zeke and Sarah gave flowed out of their mouths immediately? Varner also claims that we weren't shown a comment that Zeke made which prompted Varner to make his comment about deception that he would soon regret.

Varner has also proven to be a bit of a loose cannon in his recent Survivor history. He blew up his own game in Cambodia through a heat-of-the-moment outburst following an emotional challenge loss. We've all done and said things we truthfully don't mean to say and have had to suffer the consequences. However, our consequences don't often result in the loss of a job.

CBS could have easily had a vote and filled the segment with Probst asking generic tribal questions, leading to Varner's departure. There have been numerous alleged rumors, scandals and ugly situations that Survivor has cut out of the edit, swept under the rug and moved on from. These are things few people find out about and can seldom be confirmed. This could have been another one of those instances, if the crime was actually as bad as it was made out to be. But it wasn't.

Survivor ran with the premise of a transgender man being outed on national TV to the public, scolding the gay man that outed him, as if making an example of what no one should ever do in real life. Varner wasn't even allowed to vote and was never offered an opportunity to play an idol. Essentially Probst ejected him from the game for his comment. In my opinion it made for a less interesting tribal, as it could have been a prime opportunity for a blindside to be made while Varner digs his Survivor grave, maybe even becoming a goat someone could take to the end. 

The controversy has since gained national attention (just type "Ze" on Google and see what comes up) and Zeke has had an outpouring of support and love on social media. Zeke's taking interviews in bigger media outlets, and was even featured on The Talk Wednesday morning. It's put Survivor on the front page and gained outside attention, while crafting a tribal council that Probst deemed "beautiful." The show seems to be pretty happy with the outcome of what Varner did, and its enabled itself to be the good guy.

Here's what I think happened. The show approached Zeke after it had filmed and asked if he wanted the episode to air. I just can't picture Survivor airing something its tagging as so embarrassing and so destructive to one of its castaways without their consent. CBS could have stopped the bleeding and prevented all the non-internet fans from finding out. Zeke had to have been okay with this. It seems to be working out pretty well for him, considering the amount of love he's receiving and the fact that his number of Twitter followers has doubled since the airing of the episode, while receiving support from A-list celebrities such as Caitlyn Jenner. Right now Zeke is the most famous contestant on his season. So it can't be all bad, right?

If however Zeke was not okay with the clip airing, then CBS should be held accountable for exploiting this. It's hypocritical to scorn someone for outing someone else, while enabling it to actually be on national TV. In reality, Survivor benefited from the episode. Its result? Having articles such as this one written about it.

As for whether or not Varner did something out of malice? Once again it's important to consider the context. I am not a gay or transgender person. I don't know what it's like to live as one, nor have I ever met someone who is transgender. But Varner is openly gay and as he mentioned, he has worked to help many of his trans friends through various LGBT groups and events in the state of North Carolina, where transgender issues may be most prominent. All I know is that Varner is someone that knows a heck of a lot more about interacting with transgender people than I do.

It's also worth mentioning that Varner knows the history of reality TV. He knows there's never been a transgender Survivor contestant before, so he figures that Survivor is promoting the heck out of this premise, just as the same network pumped up having the first transgender contestant on Big Brother. He assumed that this is something all the viewers were aware of at home and Zeke is telling the cameras about his secret, especially considering that he's already played once before. Varner has no idea what the reaction to Zeke on Survivor will be, as it hasn't happened yet. The problem here? He miscalculated. But production could have stopped him.

Varner over-ambitiously made a mistake, and now is suffering the unfortunate consequences. My plea to you is to lay off of him, as the aftershock has most likely been the worst for him among any of the characters involved.