'Survivor 47' star Kyle struggles after eating meat in exclusive deleted scene (original) (raw)

Survivor requires a lot of sacrifice to play. You have to sacrifice time with your friends and family back home. Some people sacrifice their jobs to head overseas. And pretty much everyone at one point in the game sacrifices their sanity.

However, Kyle Ostwald had another dilemma when he hit the Tuku tribe beach for Survivor 47, and that dilemma takes center stage in an exclusive deleted scene from episode 2. At the start of the scene, which takes place on day 4 of the game, we see Kyle and TK Foster go crab hunting — a pretty standard Survivor scene we have watched countless times over the years.

However, there is something different this time around, as Kyle is not planning to eat any of those crabs. That's because Kyle is a vegetarian and, as he tells his tribemate, doesn't eat anything that "don't grow in the dirt." But his lack of nourishment out on the island soon has Kyle contemplating an exemption once they start cooking up the crab. "I think I'm going to do it," he tells TK. "I haven't eaten a meat anything in, like, eight years."

Kyle Ostwald on 'Survivor 47'.

CBS

After being encouraged by TK and Gabe Ortis, Kyle begins eating the crab. "How's it taste?" Gabe asks.

"Like I'm doing something wrong," Kyle answers.

Even with support from his tribemates that he is doing the right thing ("This is nurturing you through your family," says Caroline), it is not long before Kyle starts regretting his decision. "Today, I broke down and I had a bite of crab," the player explains. "To go seven-plus into eight years with only eating things that were grown from the earth itself — I haven't harmed anything with a heartbeat in a long time — I finally felt so low to the point where I was willing to break that dedication that I had to myself."

It's a tough scene to watch, as Kyle wrestles with the battle between his morals and his need for sustenance. In the end, he takes his tribemates' words to heart.

Kyle Ostwald on 'Survivor 47'.

CBS

"I have family back home, people that I'm trying to inspire and people I'm trying to provide for, and I can't do it if I don't eat," Kyle says. "If I'm going to continue to provide for my family, and I'm going to have what it takes to go the distance, I'm going to have to do things that I'm not comfortable with. I have to do what I have to do for me, and to keep myself from diminishing to a point where I'm a liability to a tribe. I want my children, my fiancée to look like, 'Wow, you inspired me. I'm proud of you.'"

The entire sequence is the best insight we have had yet into this 31-year-old construction worker from Cheboygan, Mich. And while he struggles with the decision, Kyle does note that, "In the end, what happens on Survivor stays on Survivor." Except, of course, when cameras are around to capture it.

Check out the exclusive deleted scene for yourself at the top of the article.

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