Article content continued

The hour of prime-time network TV morphed from reality show into a commentary on the #MeToo movement and the challenge in both reporting sexual misconduct and trying to address it.

Photo by Sonja Flemming / CBS

” ‘Survivor’ is a microcosm for our real world,” executive producer and host Jeff Probst told the Hollywood Reporter Wednesday. “Situations just like this one are playing out in offices and bars and colleges across the country and the world.”

“Survivor,” which has been on air since 2000, plops contestants onto beaches in far-flung locales, where they must survive for 39 days in the wilderness. They compete for rewards, like lavish meals or a night in a hotel bed, and for immunity from the weekly tribal council, where the players vote one contestant off the island and out of the show. When only two or three players remain on Day 39, a jury of previously cast-out competitors vote for who will win the game’s cash prize.

At the season’s open, which aired in September, Kim told everyone that she was a “germaphobe” and that she didn’t “like to be touched.” But her comments were primarily aimed at one person in her tribe: Spilo. The two had a one-on-one talk on the beach, where Kim asked him to keep his hands to himself. He seemed receptive, at first.

“I have to be open,” Spilo told Kim. “I don’t have to be like ‘Oh God, she doesn’t like me because I can’t hug her the way Janet can.’ I get it.”

Weeks later, Wednesday night’s episode confirmed that Kim felt Spilo had continued to violate her personal space – and that other women had also voiced frustration with his “touchy-feely” personality.