Last night, for the first time in the history of the series, Survivor removed a player from the game for what the show notes as “another incident.” But that’s a really ambiguous way of stating the truth, so let’s call it what it is—Dan Spilo was removed from Survivor because he allegedly inappropriately touched someone after being warned that his inappropriate touching was a problem. There’s something asinine about that: a two-strike rule for behavior that clearly crosses the line. Yes, an un-filmed second strike did lead to a removal, but it took nearly the whole game for what should have been resolved two weeks before.

Then again, Spilo’s behavior, its effect on fellow player Kellee Kim, and the person on the other end of “another incident” aren’t the first instances of harassment on the show. Survivor has always been a complex microcosm of the real world, but this is the first time the series has operated in a climate that demands that behavior is recognized. Unlike the real world though, Survivor's watchful eye could have policed the situation and stopped it from the get go. It did not. Survivor has a harassment problem—I hope this will serve as the final lesson that helps institute change.

Some Backstory on Survivor and Harassment

While this season is the first time that Survivor has taken action against a player for bad behavior, it's not the first time that the series has had a run-in with harassment. In 2004's Survivor: All Stars, inaugural winner Richard Hatch and Season One contestant Sue Hawk had a jarring run-in that involved Hatch rubbing his naked body against Hawk during a competition where contestants maneuvered around each other on balance beams. Even host Jeff Probst noticed Hatch's behavior, calling it out during the competition.

After his tribe lost the challenge, Hatch was subsequently voted out of the game for reasons beyond the inappropriate touching, but the damage on Hawk's end was so affecting that following the challenge, she removed herself from the game the next day after an impassioned speech in front of the cast.

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Further botching the incident, CBS's The Early Show (the same network that airs Survivor)had Hawk and Hatch on for an interview that aired two weeks after the episode's initial debut. Interviewer Harry Smith asked Hawk whether her reaction was prompted by exhaustion or hunger, and when she says no, Smith then tells her that "just to clear the air, you need to tell [Richard Hatch], for the record, for the audience, what you felt when whatever happened, happened." The interview continually paints Hawk as an irrational, tired woman who is repeatedly asked to explain her feelings.

The Lead Up

This season, multiple women had aired passing grievances about Dan Spilo's behavior, which involved prolonged massages, playing with women's toes, caressing their hair, and other unwarranted touching. The situation came to a head around Day 22, when contestant Kellee Kim confided in other women at the camp that Spilo's behavior had reached a tipping point. Production told Kim, who had aired her discomfort in confessionals, that if she had an issue, they would step in.

At that point, contestants were taken aside one by one and asked about their comfort levels. Spilo was allegedly spoken to about his behavior before continuing on with the game. Janet Carbin, an older player on the tribe aligned with Spilo, worked with Kim and said that for the sake of the women's comfort on the tribe, she'd align with the younger female contestants to vote him out. But when the vote happened that night, women who had voiced more casual grievances about Spilo turned their vote on Kim, leaving Carbin confused on just how guilty Spilo might have been. A discussion about believing women and burden of proof took place before Kim's exit that night, but ultimately, she was voted out that evening.

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The following Tribal Council, a discussion about #MeToo and Carbin's involvement unfurled, where contestants took shots at Carbin, alleging that her support for Kim was a tactical move, not a moral one. Since that episode, no further mention of Spilo's behavior has come up in aired footage.

The Botched Removal

With six people remaining in the game on Day 36, host Jeff Probst appeared at the contestants' camp with news that Spilo had been taken aside and removed, unable to join the small collection of late-vote-offs called the "jury" that decides the winner. Instead, he would be removed from the game entirely. Contestants were shocked by the decision, and the final card that aired before the episode's conclusion stated:

Dan was removed from the game after report of another incident, which happened off-camera and did not involve another player.

And that was that. Viewers wanted further explanation of what Spilo had done, assuming everything from another touching incident to potential indecent exposure. People was one of the first to reportedly confirm that the removal was tied to a touching incident that followed another challenge, where Spilo touched a member of production inappropriately while getting onto a boat off-camera. Probst told Entertainment Weekly, "With our contestants’ welfare at the forefront, we have spent a lot of time discussing every layer of the situation with human resources, diversity and inclusion representatives, show therapists, lawyers, publicists, and standards and practices."

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My thoughts on tonight's episode of @survivorcbs and Dan Spilo's removal for another incident of inappropriate touching. #Survivor39 pic.twitter.com/nfo9Q5ojLP — Kellee Kim (@kellee_kim) December 12, 2019

Kim released her own statement on Twitter late on Wednesday night, expressing her thankfulness for a final resolution, as well as gratitude for the kind messages she's received. That said, it all still feels incredibly botched. Again, a woman had the bravery to speak up about something wrong, and instead of taking that word at its face value and doing something with it, Survivor trudged forward until Spilo was allowed to commit the same infraction. By this time, Kim has already been ousted by her fellow tribe mates and fully discredited by some of her closest allies. It's another instance of the extent we'll go to protect anyone but the person who speaks out.

We deserve to have Survivor explain what happened with Dan Spilo for the sake of Kellee Kim, not for the further damnation of Spilo. We function in a society where victims wear scarlet letters until they're proven to be "worthy." We don’t protect them, instead placing the burden of proof on top of the exhausting emotional weight of having been subjected to bad behavior, so yes—America does deserve to know exactly what happened because it helps to absolve a woman of the dark mark unfairly placed on her for simply being a victim. Now that there’s enough proof for the powers that be, let’s protect the person brave enough to go public with the problem.

Survivor will air its two hour finale next Wednesday. The typically live reunion will be pre-taped this year, according to People, in light of the harassment case that has plagued this season.

Justin Kirkland Justin Kirkland is a writer for Esquire, where he focuses on entertainment, television, and pop culture.

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