During Survivor: Game Changers the show was thrown one hell of a curve ball with the Jeff Varner tribal council. It was a tough moment for Zeke Smith, his entire tribe and the producers who had to decide how to handle the entire event. For my money, it was another moment for production to remind us how well they have been at handling sexuality on Survivor from the very beginning.
Think all the way back to Survivor: Borneo. Richard Hatch is cast as the “gay guy” on the season. Since Survivor is one of the first reality shows of its kind around, they almost have no road map to follow and have to blaze their own trail. Because of that, Richard is no stereotypical gay man and his sexuality does not define him as a player. Sure, there are passing mentions of his being gay through the Rudy Boesch friendship but it’s almost always from a positive angle that even 71 year old Rudy can learn acceptance through his new buddy. That said, looking at how Rudy speaks about Richard through 2017 lenses, there are obvious problems with his language, calling Richard a “fat queer” would not fly nowadays.
It’s a sign of great character development and exposition that Richard Hatch is never remembered as the gay winner of Survivor and simply as the first winner of Survivor. Richard was absolutely loathed by a large part of the audience but it was never because he was gay. It was simply because he was depicted as a cold hearted villain. His sexuality is a total afterthought and never comes to define him as a person. In 2000 this was especially monumental. It wasn’t out of place for sitcoms to make light of gay people and a large majority of people were learning about homosexuality through a show like Will & Grace. There should be major credit given to Survivor in how it handled its casting and opted to find a real human being to represent an important portion of the real world.
Another example of a strong character who is not defined by her sexuality is Ami Cusack from Survivor: Vanuatu. Unless my memory is betraying me, I don’t think there is even a hint that she has a girlfriend until the loved one visits when the audience finds out that her girlfriend will be her loved one. There is no huge announcement of “this is our lesbian contestant and you should be aware” and Ami is simply allowed to develop as a character naturally. She becomes the embodiment of the “girl power” alliance that is eventually undone by Chris Daugherty. She is the first villainess after Jerri Manthey’s AO reign and probably the show’s first breakout star post-All-Stars, something that was sorely needed. All of those things are independent of her being a lesbian and the show recognizes it as such. Similarly, Scout Cloud Lee on the same season is a lesbian, which is told to the audience in passing, and is never a part of her character other than having her girlfriend being her loved one as well.
It should also be noted that Ami does not label herself as a lesbian. She detailed in an interview with AfterEllen,
I don’t know if I would put a specific label on any of it. I mean, if I met the woman of my dreams and fell in love, I would stay with her, and if I met the man of my dreams and fell in love, I would stay with him. Like, I don’t know. “Bisexual” doesn’t really seem to fit me, and “lesbian” doesn’t really fit. I don’t know. I don’t know what I would classify myself [as].
Even in the early days of Survivor, the show was always careful about showing negativity towards homosexuality. The first time I can remember seeing anything negative about it was in Survivor: the Amazon. It was the argument between Roger Sexton and Alex Bell and gay marriage. Roger held the opinion that they should not be able to marry because it went against his religious beliefs, Alex felt the direct opposite. The reason why it was okay from production point of view to show these negative beliefs is because it directly helps in showing why Roger is ostracised from his tribe. He is seen as a bigot and depicted almost his entire time on the island as being completely unlikable. It’s okay for the one who is proven wrong to openly go against gay marriage because there is opposition coming from the majority. At no point does Survivor condone Roger’s words through editing which is the important part to consider.
For characters like Rafe Judkins and Todd Herzog, their sexuality even takes a backseat to their archetypes as the “superfans” of their seasons. They are both shown as very knowledgeable about Survivor and strategy and never linger on them as gay characters. Like Richard, Todd wins the game and is never thought of as a gay winner, simply as the guy who ran roughshod on final tribal council and stole a victory from the clutches of Amanda Kimmel.
While Survivor often avoids casting in stereotypical ways when it comes to the LGBTQ community, they sometimes swerve in that direction with mixed results. Brandon Quinton in Survivor: Africa was really the first “stereotypical gay man” that the show has put on a cast. He was also on a tribe with Frank Garrison who was a staunch military man who had never really dealt with a gay person in his life. There was a strong dislike between the two of them and it’s very obvious homophobia, or at least a lack of understanding gay people was at play. In a season filled with powerful rewards, Brandon and Frank share a movie date that may be right at the top of the list. They bond together as two human beings and Frank is able to see Brandon as a person and not as a gay person.
In the Back from Africa special, Brandon speaks to his role as an activist in the gay community. As a young, more flamboyant person, he never thought that he had seen anybody like himself on television and he wanted to go on Survivor as a way to show what he could do. Appearing in Survivor helped him become a role model for the LGBTQ community and his edit as a real person, with qualities and flaws, helped tremendously. On other shows he could have easily been a one-note character who made sassy comments and commented on the difficulties of being out in the wild but Survivor never took that route.
The obvious flipside to someone like Brandon is Colton Cumbie. He is another contestant that was cast as a stereotypical gay man and he was a gigantic flop as a character. Having faced homophobia as a gay man in the Deep South, Colton became jaded and ignorant as well. On both of his seasons, Colton came off as a privileged, ignorant and straight up detestable. While some of that may stemmed from his treatment as a gay person in his real life, the show never depicts him as being awful because he is gay.
Of course, not everything is always going to be picture perfect and that is true with Survivor’s depiction of homosexuality. One glaring example is in Survivor: Marquesas when Boston Rob gives his famous confessional about his new tribe,
Gabe is definitely a brainiac. Probably thinks he’s a lot smarter than he really is. When I first saw John, I knew he was a big time queer. He seems rough and tough over here, but he does all the cookin’, so I won’t be sleepin’ next to him. Not the first night, anyway. The General is big and tough, and wants everybody to know that. He’s probably got a little sausage. Tammy’s engaged. There’s not too much hope there. And Zoe. C’mon. Without a doubt, Zoe is the toughest guy on this tribe.
Yikes. The emphasis on the quotes being mine, there are obvious problems with a lot of the things Rob is saying in that paragraph. Up until that point, it had not been explicitly pointed out that John was gay, whether John wanted the audience to know or not, the producers airing this confessional essentially outed him. Rob is also using stereotypes to define someone he perceives as being gay for both John and Zoe being a “tough woman” which is obviously a terribly look on him. Knowing the presence Boston Rob has in modern Survivor, I am willing to bet the producers wish they could go back and not air this confessional.
Boston Rob is not the only person who has made problematic statements about gay people on the show. In Survivor: Palau, James Miller gets destroyed by gay man Coby Archa in a physical challenge. His response? “It feels terrible to have my butt whooped by a homosexual, you know? But a lot of gay folks are strong, man. They all workin’ out at the gym and all, you know? Damn.” In his own James way, he is trying to give Coby a compliment for being strong but it certainly does not come off that way. This is obviously a comment stemming from James’ lack of education about homosexuality and is not meant in a harmful way but airing stereotypical thoughts like these is not a way to further the education of sexuality.
Going back to Vanuatu again, while I praised the show for their handling of Ami and Scout, their handling of the appearance of their respective loved ones had some issues. The show barely showed them making any sort of physical contact and definitely never showed either Ami or Scout kissing their partner. This seems very obviously a strategic decision by show runners who might have feared backlash. Contrast that to Tai Trang’s loved one visit in Game Changers where his boyfriend Mark comes out. They share a loving hug and kiss and nobody lingers on it. It’s just two people who are in love doing what couples do.
Holding that thought, let’s fast-forward to more modern seasons, Survivor has evolved along with the entire world and has gotten even better at representing the LGBTQ community on the air. Think of how Bret LaBelle was handled as a character in Survivor: Millennials vs Gen X. In his pre-season press, there was mention that Bret was gay. That’s all we got from him in that sense, it doesn’t get mentioned on the show and Bret doesn’t talk about it. It only comes out on a reward with Zeke where they bond over their respective coming out stories. For Bret, an older gay man who never really had a chance to come out, Survivor gave him the opportunity to do so and they treat everything so wonderfully and respectfully.
Obviously, Zeke is another person the show did right by. They knew that he was transgender from his original season and they also knew that he did not want to be known as the trans Survivor player. Throughout Zeke’s entire first season, the topic never comes up and producers do not try to force it out of him. When Varner outs him on national television, the show, under Zeke’s guidance, does a great job of handling the entire situation, making it clear that Varner is completely off base for his actions and showing the rest of Zeke’s tribe in full support of his situation. What Varner did was stupid, gutless and cowardly but the show focuses much more on showing how brave, eloquently and fearlessly Zeke handles a difficult moment in his life.
It’s ironic, when you look at the Australian Outback, Jeff Varner receives the same treatment as Richard Hatch. Years later, he would be causing a crisis on the show and within the LGTBQ community but in AO, Varner is a fully fleshed out character who is more remembered for putting peanut butter ahead of a million dollars than being gay. Out of anybody, Varner should have understood how important it was to not have their sexuality define their character and yet look what he tried to do in Game Changers, thankfully Zeke and the producers were able to write their own narrative.
Of course, there are so many more examples that could be given, both good and bad, in terms of Survivor’s handling of LGBTQ contestants. Over the years, I think it’s clear that the show has done a lot more good than bad in how gay people are perceived on television. Whereas a show like Big Brother constantly looks for gay stereotypes, Survivor has made the effort to showcase multiple different personalities that happen to be gay and that makes a world of difference. Not everybody who watches the show has daily contact with an openly gay person who might give them perspective, if Survivor can at least help somebody educate themselves on sexuality, then it’s already doing the world a great service.
