Watch: 'Survivor' Star Zeke Smith Opens Up About Being Outed as Trans on Show

Three years ago, Zeke Smith was outed as transgender during an episode of the popular reality show "Survivor" and he is now reflecting on the moment, saying he would have been less accepted if he were a Black trans women because "the show was unequivocally made through a white male lens," NBC News reports.

His comments came during a virtual panel on how LGBTQ people and themes are represented on "Survivor"; the event was organized by the Soul Survivor Organization and hosted by "Rob Has a Podcast" and The A.V. Club.

"I both played the game and was treated afterwards with an abundance of white-male privilege," Smith said. "I think that because the show was unequivocally made through a white male lens, especially if you look historically at what we now know to be the culture of CBS. That is not a network that can have a critical look at stories outside of what they think is going to make a Midwestern mom comfortable."

Smith, who played on two different seasons of "Survivor," went on to say that is the sense through which "Jeff makes the show," referring to the show's longtime host and executive producer, Jeff Probst. He went on to say that Probst told him he shouldn't be worried about how audiences will view him when they learn he is trans because his own mother still rooted for him after she saw the episode where openly gay contestant Jeff Varner outed Smith.

"I remember in our conversations trying to make sense of what was about to happen to me," Smith said. "He was saying: 'You know, it's going to be OK. I've shown my mom the episode, and my mom is my barometer of how the rest of the world will react. And she likes you.' And nothing against Jeff's mom, she's a wonderful lady ... but I do think that shows how limited it [the show] is."

He went on to say that after he was outed, the cast and crew pretended the incident didn't happen and he "never felt so lonely."

"I wonder if my story would have had the same impact that it had in opening people's minds to transgender people if I were a Black trans woman," Smith went on to say. "I think that not being visibly trans provided me a lot of cover in my first season. I think that if I was not white, if I was more femme presenting, if it was known that I was trans, I think I would have been the first person voted out at the millennials tribe."

After the episode aired in 2017, Smith wrote an article about the incident for The Hollywood Reporter, saying, "I wanted the show to desire me as a game player and an eccentric storyteller, not as 'The First Trans 'Survivor' Player.'"

Other LGBTQ "Survivor" contestants appeared on the panel, including Brice Izyah, who was the first out Black man to compete on the show in 2014.

"Why do so many of us seem to go in the first few votes? Why are we always targeted first?" he said. "I think a lot of people have turned a blind eye to our existence. And so, going out there and being the only LGBTQ person – and just living our truth – if we're bothering you, we're just being ourselves. And I think we can pay the price for that."

Watch the panel discussion below.