Survivor 39

Why Dan Spilo was removed from Survivor

Dan Spilo was removed from Survivor: Island of the Idols during the episode aired 11 December 2019, the first mid-game removal in the show's history. Producers had earlier warned him after Kellee Kim raised concerns about unwanted touching. CBS said the removal followed a separate off-camera report that did not involve a player.

Confirmed The warning, the removal, the CBS statement and the cast apologies are all documented. What the off-camera incident involved has never been stated by anyone.

Dan Spilo Dan Spilo Kellee Kim Kellee Kim Janet Carbin Janet Carbin Missy Byrd Missy Byrd

What the record shows

  • Confirmed Kellee Kim raised concerns about unwanted touching by Dan Spilo during filming of Survivor: Island of the Idols, and producers issued Spilo a formal warning.
  • Confirmed Spilo was removed from the game in the episode aired 11 December 2019. He is the first contestant in the American show's history to be pulled from the game mid-season.
  • Confirmed The on-screen card said the removal came "after a report of another incident, which happened off-camera and did not involve a player." That sentence is the whole official explanation.
  • Confirmed CBS has never identified the other party in the off-camera incident. Jeff Probst declined to do so, citing respect for privacy and confidentiality.
  • Admitted CBS and Survivor said in a joint statement that "there are things we could have done differently," and on 18 December 2019 announced production changes for season 40 onward.
  • Admitted Spilo issued a public statement on 18 December 2019 apologising for how his actions had affected Kellee Kim.
  • Admitted Missy Byrd and Elizabeth Beisel each said afterwards that they had exaggerated their own discomfort around Spilo as a strategic move. Both posted written apologies on 15 November 2019, two days after the episode aired. Lauren Beck also apologised.
  • Confirmed Janet Carbin acted on what Byrd and Beisel had told her and moved to vote Spilo out. Byrd and Beisel changed course, Kellee Kim was voted out instead, and Carbin was left exposed for the rest of the game.
  • Unverified No criminal charge, lawsuit or formal finding against Spilo has been located. Because CBS never described the off-camera incident, what it involved is not on the record at all.

Two incidents, not one

Most retellings collapse this into a single story, and the difference is the whole point. During filming of Survivor: Island of the Idols, Kellee Kim raised concerns about unwanted touching by Dan Spilo. Producers issued Spilo a formal warning and spoke to the cast about personal space. That was the first incident, and it was handled inside the game while the season was still running.

The removal was separate. In the episode that aired on 11 December 2019, the show cut to a card saying Spilo had been removed. There was no Tribal Council, no vote and no medical evacuation. Across 39 seasons of the American show, no contestant had ever been taken out of the game that way.

What CBS said, and what it did not say

The card read that Spilo was removed "after a report of another incident, which happened off-camera and did not involve a player." That single sentence is the entire official account. CBS has not described the incident, and Jeff Probst declined to identify the other person, citing respect for privacy and confidentiality.

So the widely repeated version, that Spilo was thrown out for what happened with Kellee Kim, is not what CBS said. CBS pointed to a different report, off camera, involving someone who was not a contestant, and then stopped. Nothing further has been established: no charge, no lawsuit and no formal finding against Spilo has been located. On 18 December 2019 Spilo issued a public statement apologising for how his actions had affected Kim.

The Tribal Council that cost Kellee Kim the game

The episode that aired on 13 November 2019 showed Kim talking with other women about her discomfort around Spilo. Missy Byrd and Elizabeth Beisel echoed that discomfort in those conversations. Janet Carbin acted on what she had been told and moved to vote Spilo out. Byrd and Beisel went a different way at the vote. Kim was eliminated, and Carbin spent the rest of her game isolated for having tried to protect the women who then left her stranded.

Two days later, on 15 November 2019, Byrd and Beisel each posted written apologies. Both said they had overstated their own discomfort around Spilo as a strategic move. Byrd wrote that she had viewed the game "through a small lens and with a limited scope." Beisel wrote that she was "deeply ashamed." Lauren Beck also issued an apology.

Two things about that need stating plainly, because secondary coverage got both wrong. Neither woman filed a complaint or made a formal accusation, so this was not a fabricated harassment claim. And none of it touches Kellee Kim's account. Kim's concerns were her own, they came first, and producers had already acted on them by warning Spilo.

The rules Survivor changed afterwards

On 18 December 2019, the night of the finale, CBS and Survivor issued a joint statement conceding "there are things we could have done differently" and listing changes starting with season 40. An additional on-site professional would be available as a confidential contact for anyone wanting to report a problem. Every cast would go through pre-production orientation covering personal space, unwelcome contact and how to raise it.

The sharpest change was a rule about the game itself: "Unwelcome physical contact and sexual harassment will not be tolerated in the competition." That closes off the tactic Byrd and Beisel apologised for using. CBS also said a third party would observe compliance. The statement is documented by contemporaneous reporting that reproduced it in full; no CBS-hosted copy has been located. It changed the rules going forward. It did not resolve, and was not offered as a finding about, any individual incident.

People in this story

Questions people ask

Why was Dan Spilo removed from Survivor?
CBS said only that the removal followed "a report of another incident, which happened off-camera and did not involve a player." The network has never described that incident or named the other party. The removal aired on 11 December 2019.
Was Dan Spilo removed because of Kellee Kim?
No. Kim raised concerns about unwanted touching and producers gave Spilo a formal warning for it, but he stayed in the game. CBS attributed the later removal to a separate off-camera report that did not involve a contestant.
Has any other Survivor contestant been removed from the game?
Spilo was the first in the American show's 39 seasons to be pulled from the game mid-season. Players had left before through quits, votes and medical evacuations, but never a production removal like this.
Did Missy Byrd and Elizabeth Beisel lie about Dan Spilo?
Both said afterwards that they had overstated their own discomfort around Spilo as a strategic move, and both apologised publicly on 15 November 2019. Neither filed a complaint or made a formal accusation, and neither statement bears on Kellee Kim's separate account.
What happened to Janet Carbin?
Carbin acted on what Byrd and Beisel told her and moved to vote Spilo out. They changed course, Kellee Kim was voted out instead, and Carbin was left exposed in the game for having tried to protect the other women.
What did Survivor change after season 39?
CBS announced an additional on-site confidential contact, pre-production orientation on personal space and reporting, third-party observation of compliance, and a rule that unwelcome physical contact and sexual harassment cannot be used as gameplay.

Sources

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