Seasons 1 to 11

The rats, the pig, and the goat: Survivor's animal killings

Survivor's castaways ate rats in Borneo's third episode, broadcast June 14, 2000, and PETA protested outside CBS's Manhattan offices. Michael Skupin killed a wild pig on camera in the Outback episode broadcast February 15, 2001. No goat was ever killed on Survivor: Africa. That belongs to Survivor: Game Changers.

Confirmed The Borneo rats, the PETA protest and Michael Skupin's pig are established by contemporaneous reporting and by the episodes themselves. Two claims that travel with this story are wrong: no goat was killed on Survivor: Africa, and the Guatemala chicken was killed by visiting Mayan ceremonial participants, not by contestants.

Michael Skupin Michael Skupin Sandra Diaz-Twine Sandra Diaz-Twine Stephenie LaGrossa Kendrick Stephenie LaGrossa Kendrick Danni Boatwright Danni Boatwright

What the record shows

  • Confirmed On Survivor: Borneo in 2000 contestants trapped rats, first as fish bait and later for food, and ate them in episode 3, "Quest for Food," broadcast June 14, 2000. PETA criticised the season and protested outside CBS's Manhattan offices.
  • Confirmed Michael Skupin killed a wild pig with a knife in the Survivor: The Australian Outback episode broadcast February 15, 2001. Queensland government officials and the RSPCA said they would review whether the state's Animal Protection Act had been breached, and no charge or finding has been reported.
  • Confirmed PETA complained about the pig and asked CBS to preserve the unedited tape, suggesting that a tame pig had been placed in harm's way. CBS denied that.
  • Confirmed No goat was killed on Survivor: Africa. Goats appeared in the "Get Your Goat" immunity challenge and were not harmed. What Africa does contain is castaways drinking cow blood and the Boran tribe killing and eating a chicken it won in a challenge.
  • Confirmed The goat killing belongs to Survivor: Game Changers in 2017. It was not shown on air, and Sandra Diaz-Twine disclosed it afterwards.
  • Confirmed On Day 37 of Survivor: Guatemala a visiting Mayan family performed a ceremony that included sacrificing a chicken as an offering. The contestants did not kill it. Stephenie LaGrossa, Lydia Morales and Danni Boatwright later ate it and Rafe Judkins abstained.
  • Unverified No animal-killing incident on Survivor: The Amazon is recorded in any source reviewed here, including a 2024 season-by-season survey of the show's animal-killing history. Nothing supports the claim, so it is not made on this page.
  • Unverified No charge, prosecution or regulatory finding is verifiable in any of these incidents. Reporting dated February 23, 2001 records only that Queensland authorities would look into the pig killing, and no outcome could be located. The often repeated claim that the outcry changed Australian law is also unverified.

Borneo: the rats and the protest outside CBS

The first season of Survivor put starving people on a beach in 2000 and let the audience watch them get hungry. Contestants trapped rats, at first as bait for fishing and later as food, and they ate them in episode 3, "Quest for Food," broadcast June 14, 2000. That episode is where the show's reputation for eating what it catches begins.

PETA criticised the season over the rat trapping and protested outside CBS's Manhattan offices. That protest is the reason this is a controversy and not just a survival detail, and it set the pattern for everything that followed: an animal dies on camera, an animal welfare group objects, and the network keeps the footage in.

The Outback: Skupin's pig and the Queensland review

In the episode of Survivor: The Australian Outback broadcast February 15, 2001, Michael Skupin killed a wild pig with a knife. It is the single most cited animal killing in the show's history and it aired in full.

Queensland government officials and the RSPCA said they would review whether the killing breached the state's Animal Protection Act. That is where the trail ends. Reporting dated February 23, 2001 records only that authorities would look into it, and no charge, prosecution or regulatory finding has been reported since. Skupin was not charged, and nothing located here establishes that any law was broken.

PETA also complained and asked CBS to preserve the unedited tape, suggesting that a tame pig had been placed in harm's way. CBS denied that. The suggestion has never been substantiated, and it should not be repeated as though the killing was staged.

There was no goat in Africa

The single most common error in this story is a goat killing on Survivor: Africa. It did not happen. Goats appear on that season in the "Get Your Goat" immunity challenge, where they are herded, and a contemporaneous recap of the episode records no animal being harmed.

The goat killing people are thinking of is from Survivor: Game Changers in 2017. It was not shown on air. Sandra Diaz-Twine disclosed it after the season, which is why it exists in fan memory without a matching scene.

Africa does have two things worth naming, and neither is a goat. Castaways drank cow blood, and the Boran tribe killed and ate a chicken it had won in a challenge.

Guatemala: who actually killed the chicken

On Day 37 of Survivor: Guatemala a visiting Mayan family performed a ceremony that included sacrificing a chicken as an offering. The distinction matters and it usually gets lost. The contestants did not kill the chicken. Members of the visiting family did, as part of the ceremony.

What the castaways did was eat it afterwards. Stephenie LaGrossa, Lydia Morales and Danni Boatwright ate the chicken. Rafe Judkins abstained.

What the umbrella framing gets wrong

Survivor's animal incidents are usually collected under a heading like "contestants killing wildlife." That framing does not survive contact with the list. Several of the animals were domestic, including the chickens and the goats. In Guatemala and in Vanuatu the killing was done by local people rather than by castaways. The Borneo rats and Skupin's pig are the cases where a contestant killed a wild animal on camera.

One more claim should be dropped rather than softened. No animal-killing incident on Survivor: The Amazon turns up in any source reviewed here, including a 2024 survey that walks the show season by season. And the story that the Australian outcry changed Australian law is unverified; no source consulted here supports it.

People in this story

Questions people ask

Did Survivor contestants eat rats in season 1?
Yes. On Survivor: Borneo in 2000 contestants trapped rats, first as fish bait and later for food, and ate them in episode 3, "Quest for Food," broadcast June 14, 2000.
What happened with Michael Skupin and the pig?
Skupin killed a wild pig with a knife in the Survivor: The Australian Outback episode broadcast February 15, 2001. Queensland officials and the RSPCA said they would review whether it breached the state's Animal Protection Act, and no charge or finding has been reported.
Was Michael Skupin charged over the pig killing?
No. Reporting from February 23, 2001 says only that Queensland authorities would look into the incident. No charge, prosecution or regulatory finding has been located, and nothing here establishes that any law was broken.
Did PETA protest Survivor?
Yes. PETA criticised the first season over the rat trapping and protested outside CBS's Manhattan offices. It later complained about the pig and asked CBS to preserve the unedited tape, suggesting a tame pig had been used. CBS denied that.
Did a contestant kill a goat on Survivor: Africa?
No. Goats appeared in the "Get Your Goat" immunity challenge and were not harmed. The goat killing was on Survivor: Game Changers in 2017, was not shown on air, and was disclosed afterwards by Sandra Diaz-Twine.
Who killed the chicken on Survivor: Guatemala?
A visiting Mayan family, as part of a ceremony on Day 37 that included sacrificing a chicken as an offering. The contestants did not kill it. Stephenie LaGrossa, Lydia Morales and Danni Boatwright ate it and Rafe Judkins abstained.

Sources

Checked on 2026-07-26. If something here is wrong or out of date, we want to know: get in touch.