Though you might have long forgotten about it, “Survivor,” the reality TV show placing strangers on an island to compete against each other, is on its 34th season. While diehard fans stay up to date, “Survivor” typically doesn’t make front page news. When the relatively vanilla show is compared to other reality show programs such as “Keeping Up with the Kardashians” or “The Bachelor,” one could see why.
Wednesday night’s episode, however, sparked controversy when one of the contestants, Jeff Varner, revealed that his fellow survivor, Zeke Smith, is a transgender man. He did this in the ceremony to vote someone off, as incentive to choose Smith to be cast off. The entire situation was inappropriate and unfortunate for Smith. Though the other contestants immediately attacked Varner for his remarks and removed him, the damage was done. Smith was outed to a national audience.
After Varner was quoted saying, “there is deception here,” discussion immediately erupted on whether keeping a transgender status a secret could be considered deception. That argument has no merit, which Varner quickly realized in his apology. Being transgender isn’t a deception. It’s understandable for someone to want to keep that information private and that decision has no negative intentions toward anyone else. It is the individual’s decision to reveal that information and is frankly no one else’s business. None of the contestants should be privileged to that information, as someone’s transgender status does not affect their ability to compete in “Survivor.” All it means is that someone identifies as a different gender than the one they were born as. Gender has no effect on someone’s skill or competence. If Smith wanted to keep this private, he has every right to.
Varner intentionally, though not maliciously, rewrote Smith’s narrative on the show and in real life. Smith wrote in a column for The Hollywood Reporter that he did not specifically say in his video application that he is transgender. Considering his two season run, Smith didn’t want to be known as the one transgender contestant. He wanted to be judged based off his abilities rather than his sexual orientation. The consequences of Varner’s words are that Smith will forever be associated with this moment. He won’t be remembered as a “Survivor” contestant, but as the man who was outed on national TV. This is especially crucial considering the increased violence toward the transgender community. Perhaps some of his friends or coworkers aren’t fully aware of his situation. Now, the opportunity to tell them in a neutral, safe setting has been taken away from him. But Varner isn’t solely at fault. The show is equally as responsible because they made the decision to air this segment of the episode, to make this public.
As Smith points out in his column, there’s a huge difference in coming out as gay and coming out as transgender. People take coming out as gay as proving your authenticity and embracing who you really are. However, reactions to coming out as transgender aren’t as easily accepted. When individuals come out as trans, others become more doubtful of them and more uncomfortable, questioning who they really are. There’s an evident gap between LGB and T. The difficulties transgender people face are just becoming known at the national level. The conflict is now being amplified in a very public setting.
All contestants should know that when you enter to compete in a show like “Survivor,” you give up your rights to certain levels of privacy. “Survivor” in particular is an intimate show. Contestants are recorded at all hours of the day and are shown at their barest moments. There’s a possibility that whoever you are or whatever private information you wish to keep that way could become exposed to every audience member. It might not be fair, but that’s the trade off for your five seconds of fame. This isn’t to say that transgender people should be discouraged from auditioning, but there is certainly a lesson to be learned here.
All in all, Smith has been handling this situation quite well. This could serve as a lesson to people evaluating how reality television affects one’s privacy. Smith has taken the high road, using his platform and guest column to provide a deeper look into a national TV moment. He has dealt with this well, even if it wasn’t in an ideal setting. Zeke has made sure that he isn’t the victim, but the survivor.
