In a deeply personal and powerful revelation, Survivor season 47 contestant Teeny Chirichillo has come out as trans, sharing his journey publicly for the first time. The 24-year-old reality TV star opened up in an essay for Cosmopolitan, writing, “I don’t expect everyone to reach the same level of ease with my gender that I’ve arrived at after a lifetime of suppressing and then exploring the boyhood in my soul. But I know who I am.” Chirichillo reflected on his time on Survivor, recalling how fans speculated about his gender identity while he was still figuring things out himself. He said, “My lack of clarity seemed to bleed through the screen and infect all of the commentators of the show with the same confusion I was feeling inside.”
Though he was labeled “she” on the show, he noted that many podcasts spent time wondering how Teeny identified, often landing on the neutral they/them. Chirichillo remembered feeling pressure to represent as the show’s first openly nonbinary contestant, despite still being in the process of self-discovery. Now, with clarity, he writes: “I had been a closeted trans guy.” And with a nod to his younger self, he concluded: “As I adjust to life on the flip side of living one childhood dream, what I really want is to give the Teeny who wore all Tony Hawk line boy clothes to elementary school a fist bump and tell him that we’re back.” For the LGBTQ community, it’s another moment of visibility, honesty, and courage, reminding us all that the journey to self can be messy, brave, and beautifully human.
