'Survivor' contestant who outed competitor loses his job

Jeff Varner, who outed fellow 'Survivor' contestant Zeke Smith as transgender. Photo by Jeffrey Neira, CBS via AP.

Greensboro, N.C. (AP) — "Survivor" contestant Jeff Varner who outed fellow competitor Zeke Smith as transgender on Wednesday night's episode of the CBS reality competition has been fired from his real estate job.

The Greensboro News & Record (http://bit.ly/2p5NiVA ) reports Varner was fired on Thursday from Allen Tate Realtors because he was "in the middle of a news story that we don't want anything to do with."

Varner made accusations of "a deception" before revealing that Smith is transgender on the episode. Varner was immediately criticized by other players. He repeatedly apologized, but was voted out of the competition.

Smith explained that he didn't mention that he was transgender because he didn't want to be known as "the trans 'Survivor' player."

He writes in The Hollywood Reporter that by calling him deceptive, Varner invoked "one of the most odious stereotypes of transgender people."

Copyright 2017 Associated Press. All rights reserved.

The Gayly – April 16, 2017 @ 7:15 a.m.