There was shocking news at the end of the Survivor: Island of the Idols episode last night — as CBS revealed that castaway Dan Spilo had been removed from the show.
The episode went as most have gone this season, with the castaways playing for the Individual Immunity and then someone getting voted out at Tribal Council. But it was the final moments that will have fans buzzing today.
Dan Spilo removed from Survivor
A full recap of the episode is available, where it is revealed that someone new was voted off the island. But that’s not the real kicker. That came after Tribal Council when host Jeff Probst showed up at camp to speak with the contestants.
He revealed that Dan Spilo had been kicked off the show. A message aired by CBS at the end of the episode appeared to imply that this was linked to what took place earlier in Season 39.
It seems that the earlier claims against him, compiled with something else that took place off-camera, led to his dismissal by producers.
Below is what CBS viewers were shown:
Dan literally did something behind the scenes and had to be removed.
This is why he should have been removed earlier in the game. #Survivor pic.twitter.com/iZqlCSAOvg
— Survivor Reddit (@Survivor_Reddit) December 12, 2019
So why now? That’s a question that will hopefully get answered by producers at some point in the future. However, whatever led to his dismissal was a well-kept secret from the general public, especially as a lot of drama came out on social media this season.
It’s curious that it took this long for Dan Spilo to be removed from the show and it will likely end up leading to more negative press over how long producers allowed him to remain out there.
This certainly sets up some interesting scenarios as the rest of the season plays out, as there are now just five people left competing for the $1 million prize. They are Lauren Beck, Janet Carbin, Dean Kowalski, Tommy Sheehan, and Noura Salman. Who thought Noura could make it this far?
A big takeaway here is that Dan will not be representing the show as part of the jury. Instead, the show rolls on without him, so it should be very interesting to see how this is addressed during the season finale.
Survivor airs Wednesday nights at 8/7c on CBS.
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