Watch: 'Survivor' Player Outed as Transgender in Shocking Episode

In what might be the most culturally relevant, but also appalling, episode of "Survivor" in the reality show's 17-year run, a player was outed by a fellow contestant as transgender Wednesday night.

During the episode's Tribal Council segment - this is where the players hold an open forum before voting a tribe mate off the island - "Survivor: Australia" alum Jeff Varner found his back against the wall and was likely the one going home. After forming a bond with his teammate Zeke Smith, who played in "Survivor: Millennials vs. Gen X" last year, Varner tried to save himself by outing Smith as trans.

Varner, who is openly gay, first explained Smith had a secret alliance with another player and that he was hiding it from the rest of his tribe. But Varner made things personal rather quickly, taking things beyond the game of "Survivor."

"There is deception here. Deception on levels, Jeff, these guys don't even understand," Varner explains to "Survivor" host Jeff Probst. "There's more!"

Varner then turns to Smith and asks him: "Why haven't you told everyone you're transgender?"

After a bit of silence Varner, who is playing "Survivor" for his third time, adds: "What I'm trying to show is deception." But the rest of the tribe quickly turns on Varner, angrily explaining he took things too far.

"That's personal, you didn't have to do that," "Survivor" contestant Andrea Boehlke says.

"I'm not using that as anything negative," Varner says. "I argue for the rights of transgender people everyday in the state of North Carolina. I would never say or do anything to hurt anyone here."

Teammate Tai Trang, who is also gay, pointed out Varner outed Smith.

"I'm not outting him," Varner said.

The tribe argues that Varner did out him and it's up to Smith to come out when he is comfortable. Before Wednesday night's episode, Smith had identified as a gay man.

"In the two seasons I've played 'Survivor' I've told nobody," Smith says.

After more back-and-forth, with Probst grilling Varner on his decision, Varner starts to apologize.

"It's a game for a million dollars and I clearly have made the wrong choice tonight. And my conscience is in pain," he says. "I feel horrible; I didn't think that would be the reaction. I thought [Smith] was out and loud and proud about it and I didn't understand."

"If he was out and proud and loud about it, why did you make it a point that everyone would have to know?" fellow "Survivor" player Sarah Lacina says. "He's not out proud and loud."

"Jeff [Probst] I assumed that everyone in his world knew, so that's my ignorance," Varner later says. "I thought he was just deceiving these people. It never dawned on me that no one knew."

Probst doesn't bother holding a vote as everyone agrees Varner is the one to go.

Following the episode, Smith wrote a lengthy response in The Hollywood Reporter where he discusses being outed, being trans and how he feels about Varner.

"I looked to Varner, now the one hunched and quivering, and contemplated the backlash he would face. When he said what he said, he changed both of our lives forever," he wrote. "When he pulled me in for a hug, I felt compelled to reciprocate, both as a sign that I was willing to forgive him and that the shots he had fired missed.

"But, if we're being perfectly honest with one another, I've struggled with that forgiveness in the months following. I can't foresee us sipping martinis together in Fire Island," he adds. "While I can reconcile the personal slight of him outing me, I continue to be troubled by his willingness to deploy such a dangerous stereotype on a global platform.

"But forgiveness does not require friendship. Forgiveness does not require forgetting or excusing his actions," Smith wrote. "Forgiveness requires hope. Hope that he understands the injury he caused and does not inflict it upon others. Hope that whatever torments his soul will plague him no more. I have hope for Jeff Varner. I just choose to hope from afar, thank you very much."

Click here to read Smith's full piece.

Varner also responded after the episode, tweeting a statement regarding his decision to out Smith.

Smith was also part of another much-discussed "Survivor" moment last year when contestant Bret LaBelle, a police sergeant from Massachusetts, came out to Smith as gay.

Watch the Tribal Council segment from Wednesday night and Smith's touching moment with LaBelle below.