It was an awful thing he did, and it absolutely sucked for Zeke. However, in hindsight it was honestly handled perfectly. All five of the other tribemates immediately and unequivocally stood up for Zeke. Jeff did as great a job of facilitating honest conversation as anyone could ask. Not holding a vote was a strong conclusion to the Tribal.

It showed people something (a normal Trans person) many may not have have ever seen on TV before. The editing has none of the cringe we get from these forced "human" moments of the modern season. Zeke got to open up to everyone else the very next episode, and talked about how a lot of good might come of the situation.

And frankly watching it in 2023 I'm not sure we've advanced at all as a society. The rhetoric around Transgender people in America is much more violent than it was even 5 years ago. This may have been a high point for this type of thing. Finally, let's keep in mind that this happened in a tribe with four men, all of whom are LGBT. Representation matters, and it's a lot more interesting to have the conversation when people who are in the community have a say

Varner fucked up. Survivor did not...especially if you compare it to how they handled season 8 and 39.