'Survivor' player says a fresh pair of underwear was rubbed into dirt before she was allowed to wear them
- "Survivor" players get one pair of underwear to last over 30 days, and sometimes get replacements.
- Player Lauren-Ashley Beck said she got a new pair after her UTI, but they were put in dirt first.
"Survivor" players typically get one pair of underwear that's meant to last them up to 39 days — and one former castaway said being offered a replacement came with a dirty catch.
In a TikTok posted on Wednesday, "Survivor: Island of the Idols" contestant Lauren-Ashley Beck responded to a question from a TikTok user who asked about the "38 day panty situation."
In her reply, Beck said that players do wear underwear "for 38 days straight" and that she "got a UTI on, like, day 32 along with a couple of other women."
"They did have new underwear for us, but you know, to throw in a little razzle-dazzle, they stepped on them in the dirt and then made us wear them," Beck said in the video.
The lack of swimwear or extra underwear can increase the risk of contracting a UTI for players with vaginas
Other players from Beck's season, Janet Carbin and Karishma Patel, also previously told Insider they got urinary tract infections on the show. All three players said they received antibiotics.
Beck said she suspected they contracted UTIs "because we had to wear the same underwear as a swimsuit."
Insider has previously reported on the potentially life-threatening consequences of wearing the same clothes and underwear for an extended period of time.
Clinical professor and OBGYN Dr. Leah Millheiser said people with vaginas are at an even higher risk for infection after wearing dirty, wet clothes for prolonged periods.
"When you're wearing the same pair of underwear, you're probably being exposed to a lot more bacteria even if you have a typical amount of discharge," the OBGYN said.
Beck told Insider she and her castmates chose swimsuits for the show and did a photoshoot in them, but that they didn't receive them for the game.
Beck, Carbin, and Patel competed on "Survivor" in 2019. The last time swimsuits were seen in gameplay in recent years was "Ghost Island" in 2018.
The show has not said why swimwear was removed from the show, and Insider previously debunked the rumor that it had to do with a suggestion from actor and director Tyler Perry.
In October, on "Rob Has a Podcast," four-time "Survivor" player Parvati Shallow said she wasn't given a swimsuit on her 2020 season, "Winners at War," and was told producers felt it was "more authentic-looking" for contestants to be in their underwear.
Players have said that getting a new pair of underwear can be nearly impossible
Former castaways have said the crew does occasionally replace clothing items, but Carbin said she thinks showrunners did so extra rarely on "Island of the Idols."
"On our season, they decided even more so not to replace underwear," Carbin said. "I was getting holes in my underwear and they said 'it's not affecting anything' and I 'couldn't exchange it.'"
Eventually, Carbin said, she was got a second pair of underwear after "begging for the exchange" because of the number of holes in the garment.
Fellow "Island of the Idols" contestant Elaine Stott told Insider she also received replacement underwear on their season after over 30 days into the competition because she "had lost so much weight that they wouldn't stay on" and mentioned "hygiene" to showrunners.
"People don't want to talk about it, cause it's disgusting, but that is like health shit," Stott told Insider. "You legit get your period. You legit could get a yeast infection and you're probably more susceptible to it out there than anywhere else."
CBS and Lauren-Ashley Beck did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.