In 2013, Utahn Todd Herzog made a shocking appearance on “Dr. Phil.” The winner of “Survivor: China” was so drunk and high he could barely walk, and the host declared, “ In my opinion, you’re killing yourself, man.”

Phil McGraw later added, “I’ve never talked to a guest who was closer to death.”

But, according to Herzog — an admitted alcoholic — he was sober when he arrived at the Los Angeles studio where McGraw tapes his syndicated daytime show. He said he found a bottle of vodka in his dressing room and drank it all, then took a Xanax he was handed before he went before the cameras.



His account is part of a Boston Globe investigation into the practices of the “Dr. Phil” show, which presents evidence that the production is less concerned with helping addicts than using them for ratings — and, in the process, endangering them.

“ You know, I get that it’s a television show and that they want to show the pain that I’m in,” Herzog told the Globe. “However, what would have happened if I died there? You know, that’s horrifying.”

Herzog was a polite, funny, 22-year-old flight attendant — a self-described “gay Mormon” — when he won a million dollars on “Survivor” in 2007. Interviewed a few months after his win, he was happy and optimistic about his future.

But he struggled in the aftermath and admits he was an alcoholic who needed help.

“ Dr. Phil” sent an intervention team to Utah, transported Herzog to Los Angeles and put him on the show. Representatives of the show told the Globe that allegations that Herzog was given vodka and Xanax before going onstage are “absolutely, unequivocally untrue.”

Herzog’s father, however, told the Globe that Todd was not intoxicated when he arrived at the studio; when McGraw used a breathalyzer on him during the taping, he blew a 0.263 — more than three times Utah’s current 0.08 legal limit for driving and more than five times the 0.05 limit that goes into effect in December 2018.