The former contestant of “Survivor” Teeny Chirichillo has come out as a transgender.
The 24 -year -old wrote an essay for Cosmopolitan published on Wednesday and explained that his life “has been full of uncertainty” since it appeared in season 47 of the reality show last year.
“When I think about my future, there is a lot of blur. But there is an accumulation of life artifacts that has focused my identity, within the museum of my own transercise,” Chirichillo wrote.
The native of New Jersey remembered having made the decision to identify himself as non -binary and use his pronouns when he did the program because “he felt like a scary moment to leave.”
“Before flying, I made a decision: I was not ready to launch to label for the first time on national television,” Chirichillo shared. “And a small part of me feared that asking my tribe to use pronouns other than her/she would cause people to scare the brass. Maybe they are nervous about the hypothetical possibility of cancellation of the fans base for the list.
“It is an almost inevitable mistake for those who still learn. And maybe, I thought, that would be a sufficient reason to eliminate myself from the game,” he added.
Chirichillo said that while flying home from Fiji in June 2024, he faced “invasive” comments from online people after the trailer of season 47 fell.
“Duration on the 11 -hour flight, I took the debates about my pronouns, if” I would count “as a girl or boy or both or niard, if I had a penis, and (my personal favorite) if I had Taboy or not frequent tea,” “” “” “” “” “” “” ”
“The invasive questions about my biology, caused by my Androgynny, were not what made my shrink stomach sink, however, if those are the posts I return to,” he continued. “What dizzy was the pressure for me to represent as the first openly non -binary ‘survivor’ player.”
Chirichillo, who underwent the best surgery after filming the program, said they continued to fight with their gender identity while watching the season on television, before realizing that “he had been a man Trans Cabario.”
“I do not hope that everyone reaches the same level of ease with my genre that I have reached after a life of suppression and then explore childhood in my soul,” Chirichillo wrote. “But I know who I am.”
After the final of season 47 in December, Chirichillo spoke exclusively with the publication about the “incredible response” they obtained from fans for opening on their gender identity in the program.
“I am always grateful that it has been included in the program and that it really allowed Myelf to get that vulnerable because it is so authentic how I felt at that time,” he said. “And I will always have that to look back as I continue to grow and change.”
