Major spoilers for CBS' Survivor. If you haven't seen last night's episode, you may want to come back later.
While we live in a society with certain rules, all bets are off when you're playing CBS' hit reality series Survivor (which is currently the midst of its whopping 34th season). The contestants on Survivor are encouraged to use all types of deception to outwit, outplay, and outlast the other castaways, in addition to actually surviving on an island. Part of the survival aspect includes hunting and fishing, so the contestants can get some protein in their system and perform well in the challenges. This season saw one tribe capture a pair of goats, only to apparently let them free due to their moral code. But that might not be the whole story.
Last night's episode saw two time Survivor winner Sandra Diaz-Twine voted off the island for the first time. And while doing her exit press, she revealed that her tribe may not have actually let the goats live after all. She told THR:
We actually kept the goats for overnight and they were like 'Baaaaaa...' all night long. And so the mom, she wasn't eating the food we were giving her. She wasn't drinking the water. She wasn't letting the baby nurse. And the baby was tied up too right next to her. J.T. made a rope. And then they were getting tangled around each other or the tree. So then the next day is when we decided, 'Okay, let's get rid of them.' Mind you, I'm not a farmer. I'm not the guy who said, 'Well, guys, we have to eat the baby first because it's not nourishing and it will die, and the meat is tender.' You know, like, 'The meat is more tender on the baby than the mama so the baby has to go first.' I'm just repeating everything I'm hearing, and then they just catch me off guard, you know? But, I would have to say that the next episode when you got to see us eating these big pieces of meat? That is not fish and that is not chicken. And that's the last I'm going to say about that. And I didn't have nothing to do with it because I was at a confessional! I come back to camp and there it is and after I saw that episode I was like, 'Lord I'm going to take the shit for that one too.'
Oh damn. Looks like the Survivor editors sold us some serious lies, because contestants Sandra, Jeff Varner, JT, and company actually did and kill and eat the goats that they captured.
Ordinarily the killing of an animal for food on Survivor wouldn't make audiences even blink an eye. But things changed two seasons ago during Survivor: Kaoh Rong. Fan favorite Tai (who is also playing this season) spent the full 39 days caring for a chicken that was originally meant to feed his tribe. Naming it Mark and even training it, the idea of killing the chicken for sustenance became inconceivable by the game's end.
And things were made more extreme when singer/songwriter Sia randomly crashed the live reunion two seasons ago to award Tai for his humanitarian efforts... with $100,000. That chain of events made this season's goat scene such a big deal, and is likely why Survivor editors pretended that the group didn't eat the little guys. But Queen Sandra has another plan, and blew that cover story up.
Survivor Game Changers airs every Wednesday on CBS. Although now you'll have to watch with 100 percent less Sandra... and goats.
