On last week’s nail-biter episode of the TV show Survivor: Game Changers, nothing was held back.

With the Nuku tribe facing Tribal Council and the elimination of a tribe member, Jeff Varner tried using very personal information he had on Zeke Smith to take off the heat he had on his back and put it all on Smith. Earlier in the episode, Smith and Varner had a bonding moment before the Tribal Council. Smith gave Varner the heads up that he was one of the contestants being eliminated because Zeke did not want to go totally behind his back.

Smith never mentioned himself as being transgender because he did not want to be known as “ the trans survivor.“ In fact, he did not want to be known as trans at all, but most importantly, Smith did not want it coming out like it did.

Smith was never upset at Varner for announcing his secret. Smith said he was proud about how he reacted to the situation instead of listening to his gut feeling telling him to run. ¨ I wanted the world to see how much I’d grown, and I also thought by showing what happened, maybe it wouldn’t happen to someone else, and something good could come of it.”

Smith remains proud of who he is and glad he might positively impact other people.