Jeff Varner will probably never forget his time on "Survivor: Game Changers." After all, his recent conduct has managed to get the former news anchor fired from his brand new job in real estate. It all came after Jeff decided to use his transgender cast mate Zeke Smith as bait to take the spotlight off himself.
The outing of Zeke Smith
Zeke Smith was cast on "Survivor" in 2016 and competed on the CBS reality show without letting the world know about his transgender status. All was good until his cast mate decided to use information about Zeke's transition to out him on national TV, a move that backfired wildly.
Earlier in the day, Zeke warned Varner that he was going to be in the hot seat and faced elimination from "Survivor: Game Changers." So when he was right and it was really looking like Jeff Varner was going to be the next elimination, he decided to use Zeke Smith's secret to his advantage and asked him in front of the others, "Why haven't you told anyone you're transgender?"
Zeke Smith had already made it through 52 days of "Survivor" between his appearance last season and again during this current one without anyone bringing up the fact that he is transgender. It's not known if the other "Survivor" cast members knew and just didn't bring it up or if they never even suspected.
When Jeff Varner outed Zeke Smith in front of the rest of the "Survivor: Game Changers" cast, it solidified their decision to oust him rather than turning them all on Zeke.
The irony in all of this is that Varner is gay and should have known better than to let loose with the secret that Zeke was keeping from everyone else since it wasn't his business to tell.
Zeke Smith's response after being outed on TV
Zeke Smith has never been secretive about being a transgender man. He recently spoke about being outed on "Survivor: Game Changers" by Jeff Varner.
Zeke said that he wanted to be known for his gameplay and not for being the CBS reality show's first transgender contestant.
It turns out that CBS producers and host Jeff Probst already knew that Zeke Smith is transgender and had already talked about how that information might be shared with the world. After Jeff Varner attempted to use that information to Zeke's detriment and his own advantage, Zeke has been able to share openly about his experience.
Jeff Varner loses his job after 'Survivor' outing
After desperately trying to throw Zeke Smith under the bus in order to save himself, Jeff Varner learned that his actions would have repercussions that went beyond his appearance on a reality show. Upon learning about what he'd done, the real estate company that Jeff had been working for recently decided to terminate his employment.
Just one day after the "Survivor: Game Changers" episode where Jeff outed Zeke was aired, Jeff was fired from his real estate job at Allen Tate in Greensboro, North Carolina. When talking about his firing, Jeff said that he was told by his former employer that he had found himself "in the middle of a news story that we don't want anything to do with" according to the News & Record.
Zeke was understandably shocked when Jeff took the opportunity to out him for being transgender on TV. The two had formerly been friends while filming the latest season of "Survivor" together. Considering Varner is openly gay, he probably figured his "friend" would respect his secret but it just goes to show that anything goes when it comes to competing on reality TV. In the days since Zeke was outed, many have expressed their outrage at Varner, not Zeke, for betraying him and for putting such a personal bit of information out there in his desperate attempt to stay in the game.
