Survivor's Lewis Kelly made my stomach turn with this "wtf" story about just how hungry contestants get. I'd suspected things could get dire when I've seen players give up immunity for food, but never in a million years did I think people would consider eating food they pooped out.
As we watch him try to win it all on the 2026 TV schedule, Lewis recalled a shocking story on TikTok in which someone in the tribe made a wild suggestion after Sharonda came back with corn. He explained below:
As you know corn does not fully digest when you poop. Someone in our camp noticed that we were pooping out corn kernels and thought that we could reuse them. Wanted us to pick them out of our poo, wash them, and reboil them in a pot and see if we could get a second use out of them...That merge feast came at the perfect time I have to say.
Keep in mind, Survivor contestants are getting fed more these days than they were a long time ago. I just can't imagine who was suggesting that they genuinely pick corn out of their own fecal matter, combine it, and then boil it to serve in another meal. Literally every time I type that out, I get the urge to vomit, so I'm not sure how anyone could legitimately consider it.
Sharonda received the corn when the Dina tribe was still together, which leads me to wonder who among them suggested such a wild thing. The only thing I can think of is that Danny Kilby has gone on the record about his love of pooping in the ocean, and how it may be his preferred way of doing that. Is there any connection between these stories? We can only speculate.
It's stories like this that make me empathize more with Survivor contestants when they crash out over not being picked to eat an Applebee's reward. I would've never thought food could be such a factor, especially when the game was reduced to 26 days, but Lewis just drove home for me how desperate things can get.
The good (and perhaps most important) part of the story is that it seemed like no one was actually game to do it. Had that post-merger feast never happened, however, we might've heard about some Brodys chowing down on some "recycled" corn in a later meal. And here I thought grubs were the grossest thing someone could eat when playing Survivor.
As disgusting as it was, I do love hearing cast members tell these stories from Survivor 51 that we didn't see in the episodes. With only 90 minutes (including commercials) to tell the story each week, it's totally understandable that something like this would fall by the wayside. Had the tribe actually gone through it and done it, however, I would be upset if it was left on the cutting room floor.
Survivor continues on CBS on Wednesdays at 8:00 p.m. ET. With the remaining cast formed under one tribe, I can't wait to see what new alliances are forged. I'm also so invested in trying to figure out who won this season, because I'm still not entirely sure who is getting the winner's edit.
