Outlast has been polarizing since its launch, frequently accused of rewarding ruthless behavior and blurring the lines between reality TV and reality. The latest installment, Outlast: The Jungle (essentially Season 3), is no exception – but this time, the internet’s fury is squarely focused on Team Charlie and former NFL player Wes Saunders.
Former NFL Player Wes Saunders Is Causing Concern Among Viewers
While the ex-Pittsburgh Steeler was expected to possess a level of endurance and physicality given his background as an NFL pro, I don’t think audiences expected Wes to have such a controversial personality. As part of Team Charlie, Wes has assumed the position of leader, and everyone has fallen in line – except Sarah Awad, a former rugby player, in the earlier episodes before she is forced to leave their camp.
Viewers in the Ready Steady Cut community have found Wes’s behavior toward Sarah concerning and are surprised Netflix allowed him to continue on the show.
“Wes has such a nasty spirit. The entirety of Charlie do. I don’t feel bad for Leiya though. She must’ve thought she was going to be the exception when she saw him act like that to Sarah just because she could make a fire.”
Wes’s behavior toward Sarah, and eventually Leiya, has viewers questioning the athlete’s attitude toward women. Given the way the Netflix series is edited, it is hard to argue with this debate. Once Sarah leaves their camp and joins another, Wes appears to have the same problem with Leiya straight away, and the men seemingly team up with him to apply pressure on her. It is the equivalent of high school bullying.
“I am on episode 4 of season 3, and wonder what the fuck Netflix is thinking. Team Charlie is just run by the NFL dude that lays around and doesn’t let anyone, but the guys talk.”
Other viewers have also suggested that Wes is misogynistic. At the start of the series, the pain point that triggered the arguments between Wes and Sarah was Wes’s contribution to the camp; he always seems to be resting while Sarah does all the heavy lifting to ensure the camp is in order and they have the things they need.
I’ll be frank – I found Wes’s laziness and attitude toward Sarah quite odd and problematic, but their arguments with each other were equally childish and could have easily ended if either decided there was no usefulness in having the last word.
Later in the series, many of the cast members are limited in what they can do each day due to a low-calorie intake, so they try to avoid exerting as much energy as possible. Wes makes it clear that he is trying to reserve his energy, which, to be fair, is a reasonable strategy. Was it a good move? Maybe, but he doesn’t shed himself in a good light with the way he treats Leiya and Sarah, even if he is saving his energy to lead in future episodes.
“It’s crazy the way he is emotionally manipulating this girl by arguing like an actual toddler and no one is saying anything. Imagine someone calling you out on your lack of contribution and all you have in your arsenal of responses is “you talk like a man” and “you’re emotional”. Grow up and have a conversation or walk away, but don’t throw random jabs and then walk away. Reminds me of my small kids. “You’re a doodie face” blows raspberry and storms off lol
Does it hurt to be a decent person and let the person who built the bed enjoy it, at least once? Is it somehow easier to verbally attack the person who helped give you somewhere to lay your head?”
Another counterargument is that Outlast: The Jungle is not meant to be about harmony and getting along – it is about survival, which means you don’t necessarily have to be a good person. This is a criticism that has been aimed at the show in the past. But perhaps some audiences think Wes, alongside his male subservients, has taken it too far.
“That NFL player Wes from team Charlie is genuinely terrifying.”
Sarah Awad, whose early departure from Team Charlie was a pivotal moment of Outlast Season 3. Viewers are calling out the other contestants for their behavior toward her, particularly Wes Saunders. (Photo: Netflix)
Team Charlie Is Seen as Toxic
Wes isn’t the sole problem viewers are finding with Outlast: The Jungle. The camp he belongs to – which consists of Braxton Fish, Brett Johnson, Sarah Awad, and Leiya Pillitteri – is causing many viewers to be furious at how toxic the team is, especially the men. Team Charlie are the villains of Season 3. They are certainly not the most ruthless in terms of thinking and strategy, but they do show a disregard for others, especially in the early stages. As one commenter said:
“The Charlie team being glad someone was medically evacuated was disgusting. It’s one thing to be pumped if someone taps out, but watching someone be airlifted out by medical and smirking or saying it’s a morale booster or that they’re excited is messed up. That was a serious injury. I hope the entire team ends up out before the end.”
This is a good point. After all, it is only a game where the “survival” part is artificial in some sense; the disregard for the safety of others certainly made for shocking viewing. I do wonder sometimes if the lust for the large jackpot of $1 million is making the cast members more ruthless than they need to be. In desperate conditions, their primal instincts come out in an unrelenting and uncomfortable way. However, they can literally see the production crews circling them every day, so I don’t think there is any excuse for some of the behavior on show.
There is a point to be made, however, that Team Charlie represents a dynamic similar to what we see in fictional universes like The Hunger Games or The Walking Dead, where a group of people creates social rules that are not deemed “good,” but everyone falls in line to survive desperate times. Humans are flawed, which is what fictional apocalyptic stories try to represent, and Outlast seems, temporarily, to bring out the worst in people as we’d expect.
Wes is the leader, and the men follow him without any hesitation. Wes repeatedly says, “That’s not how we do things out here in Team Charlie,” implying that a standard of survival has been set. If that standard is “at any cost,” it is apparent that Leiya and Sarah have a more human, compassionate side, which encouraged the men to team up against them, at least in a social way. Is it misogynistic? Maybe, though it is hard to prove when we only get snippets of footage from long days spent in a humid jungle. I imagine a lot of context is removed, and the best parts are saved for entertainment value.
The backlash against Braxton and Brett is almost as intense – they are not getting a free pass from viewers just because they are younger or following Wes’s lead. One viewer pointed out that Brett has a baby on the way, making his behavior even more alarming to watch.
Outlast: The Jungle does feel like each camp is encouraged to lead with aggression rather than show good faith in Season 3. However, one viewer pointed out that it is not as bad as previous seasons. Either way, even past the halfway mark, Team Charlie has gotten through the challenges of their environment. Some may argue that their ruthlessness has worked.
“I couldn’t finish seasons 1 & 2 because the contestants were absolutely repulsive. I quit season 1 3 episodes in and season 2 before the finale – I looked up the winners before watching because I didn’t have it in me to watch the bad guys win. The jungle, so far, is less repulsive. Yes, there is one team of absolutely terrible people, but I feel like this time it motivates others to beat them, while in previous seasons good people just wanted to escape asap, so I’m tolerating them to watch their downfall. But also I can’t help but notice how young and attractive everyone is?! This is definitely the youngest cast overall yet, and low-key looks like they were casting for Love Island.”
