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Survivor contestants Missy Byrd and Elizabeth Beisel had some apologizing to do after last night’s episode.
After Kellee Kim shared her complaints about inappropriate touching from Dan Spilo with Missy, Missy and Elizabeth concocted their own fake story about Dan to help convince other players to vote him out. It ended up being Kellee herself who got the boot, and it made for a really unfortunate ending to a terrible story.
Viewers were outraged by Elizabeth and Missy’s behavior, and now the two women have posted lengthy apologies to Twitter, specifically addressing Kellee and Janet Carbin, who was affected by their plan.
“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,” Elizabeth wrote. “As a player, I am limited to my own experiences and knowing what I know now, my decisions would have been very different.”
She went on to say she was “sick to [her] stomach” to discover how much pain Kellee was in, and to explain that she does not take sexual harassment and assault lightly.
“After watching the episode, I am deeply ashamed with my actions and I apologize–they do not reflect my character and who I am in my day to day life.”
You can read her full apology below.
Missy also posted on Twitter, thanking Kellee and Janet for “being so courageous and leading by example.”
“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. “Due to the nature of Survivor, I was viewing the game through a small lens with a limited scope. I did not have all the information on the subject and I made a game move that was unjust.”
Jeff Probst and Kellee Kim have also weighed in after the episode, and CBS and MGM released a joint statement.
“In the episode broadcast last night, several female castaways discussed the behavior of a male castaway that made them uncomfortable. During the filming of this episode, producers spoke off-camera to all the contestants still in the game, both as a group and individually, to hear any concerns and advise about appropriate boundaries. A formal warning was also given to the male castaway in question. On Survivor, producers provide the castaways a wide berth to play the game. At the same time, all castaways are monitored and supervised at all times. They have full access to producers and doctors, and the production will intervene in situations where warranted.”
Survivor airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. on CBS.