‘Dancing With the Stars’ Host Tyra Banks Calls Carole Baskin’s Second Chance ‘Very Interesting’

New Dancing With the Stars host Tyra Banks was recently asked about Carole Baskin appearing in the new season of the hit reality show, and she said the rare second chance was “very interesting.” The topic came up during a Sirius XM interview, with Banks being asked her thoughts on the Tiger King subject making the leap to reality TV. “I think it was a show that everybody couldn’t keep their eyes off of, but at the same time, it’s through the eyes of whoever was producing it. Right.”

“So that was their view,” she continued. “It wasn’t necessarily a news story, I guess. So it’s good that she gets a chance to like show herself and tell her story.” Baskin is the owner of Big Cat Rescue in Florida, and appeared in Netflix’s hit docuseries Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem, and Madness. Two main focuses of the series were Baskin’s feud with fellow Big Cat enthusiast Joe Exotic, and the mysterious disappearance of her first husband, Don Lewis, in 1997. It was alleged that Baskin killed Lewis and fed his body to the tigers at her rescue, but no concrete evidence of this was ever presented.

In 2002, Baskin had Lewis declared legally dead, which sparked a lot of suspicion among Lewis’ family and close friends. It has been speculated that Lewis could have fled the country to live in Costa Rica, but investigators have stated that, based on the evidence available, it is unlikely that Lewis simply disappeared on his own. Baskin has maintained that she is innocent of any wrongdoing and had no involvement in Lewis’ disappearance.

In March, Baskin released a statement about Tiger King, criticizing the show for its portrayal of her. “When the directors of the Netflix documentary Tiger King came to us five years ago, they said they wanted to make the big cat version of Blackfish, the acclaimed documentary that exposed the horrible abuse taking place at SeaWorld and other similar parks around the world,” Baskin began. “A lifelong animal lover, I was immediately drawn to the possibility of exposing the misery caused by the rampant breeding of big cat cubs for exploitation and the awful lives these majestic creatures are forced to endure in roadside zoos and back yards if they survive their time used for petting.”

Baskin continued, “There are no words for how disappointing it is to see that the series not only does not do any of that, but has instead chosen to be as salacious and sensational as possible to draw in viewers. As part of that, they devoted an entire segment to 23-year-old lies and innuendos suggesting I was involved in my husband Don’s 1997 disappearance. I will not use this platform to bring further attention to Netflix or their unethical practices, especially when so many of their so-called inside sources have been clearly shown to be heavily biased.”