Survivor Contestants Missy Byrd and Elizabeth Beisel Apologize for Faking Harassment
Paul Dailly
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Survivor contestants Missy Byrd and Elizabeth Beisel have opened up about their actions during the veteran reality series' November 13 episode, in which the pair used sexual harassment allegations to advance their respective games.
During the controversial installment, Kellee Kim opened up to Missy about inappropriate physical contact she'd experienced from Dan Spilo.
Dan's actions were caught on camera, and Kellee confronted him about it, leading to production stepping in to issue Dan a warning.
Missy turned to Elizabeth to fake a story with the intention of getting Dan voted out of the game. In shock scenes, they managed to turn Dan's close ally, Janet Carbin, against him.
Their plan did not work, however, and Kellee was the one sent packing at the tribal council.
There was an immediate backlash as fans and even former contestants debated what went down on social media, and now Elizabeth and Missy have apologized for their actions.
"After watching the episode, my eyes were opened to a completely different truth, and I received an abundance of information that I was entirely unaware of while playing the game," she wrote in her post. "I had no idea the severity of the situation."
She followed that up by apologizing to the people who got hurt as a result of her actions, including Kellee, Janet, and even Dan.
She apologized to the man at the center of the controversy for hurting his reputation with lies.
"Your reputation is never meant to be someone's stepping stone," she told him. "It is not a topic to be joked about or to be used as a tactical ploy."
— Elizabeth Beisel (@ebeisel34) 15 November 2019
Dan still faces claims of inappropriate behavior for his own actions, but both Beisel and Byrd used fake allegations.
That's why viewers at home were furious with them.
Most viewers agreed that the fake claims were damaging to women everywhere because they would weaken real claims.
As for Missy, she apologized, while also telling Kellee and Janet what she thought of them for standing up for what is right.
"I became so caught up in game play that I did not realize a very serious situation, nor did I handle it with the care that it deserved," she wrote.
Describing it as a "life changing moment," Missy then apologized to Kellee and Janet, as well as all women.
"Sexual assault is never to be taken lightly, and I'd like to apologize to any viewers that have been victimized," she wrote.
"I have done a lot of reflecting since the game and understand and accept the consequences of my lapse in judgment."
— Missy Byrd (@themissybyrd) 15 November 2019
Survivor host Jeff Probst spoke out about the controversy after the episode aired.
"This situation highlighted another layer of the changing dynamic between men and women: You don't have to feel unsafe to feel uncomfortable and making someone uncomfortable is not okay," he said in an interview with Entertainment Weekly.
He continued, "This is new territory for this important conversation, and my hope was that everybody could share their point of view, in an open forum, about what had gone down and we could get total clarity."
What do you think of the whole scenario?
Hit the comments below.
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Paul Dailly was an Associate Editor for TV Fanatic.Follow him on X.
