Is ‘Tiger King’ real? The most epic exaggerations from the show
Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem, and Madness took the world by storm with its intimate look at the lives of tiger owners in the American South. While it’s a docuseries, the power of editing can exaggerate facts beyond reality. It doesn’t help that the Tiger King Joe Exotic is a bit eccentric himself, especially how he relays his side of the story.
Nevertheless, many Tiger King subjects have come forward to straighten out the facts. Here are some of the biggest exaggerations made in Tiger King.
Carole Baskin’s zoo isn’t constantly overcrowded
Brittany Peet, a lawyer who has worked with the Baskins, has stated that the sizes of Carole Baskin’s cages “were not accurately represented.” Peet reports Big Cat Rescue “normally [has] a few tour groups of less than 20 people per day.”
Kate Dylewsky, an animal-welfare activist who has worked with Carole Baskin in the past, described Baskin’s great reputation in the activist community. Carole Baskin also disliked how Tiger King portrayed her as a villain, calling the series “salacious and sensational”.
Carole Baskin isn’t the prime suspect in her husband’s murder
While the case is still open, the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office doesn’t possess any evidence suggesting that Don Lewis was killed. In fact, they deny a crime even being committed in the first place. In short, Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister thinks that Tiger King is purely entertainment.
John Finlay was never Joe Exotic’s husband
John Finlay has turned his life around since leaving the big cat world. It’s true that he has a fiancé and has fixed his teeth. However, the show exaggerated in its claim that Finlay was married to Joe Exotic. According to Finlay, it was never a legal marriage.
Joe Exotic isn’t a real country star
Sorry, folks. The tracks we were all led to believe were by Joe Exotic are actually the Clinton Johnson Band (Vince Johnson & Danny Clinton). Joe lip-synced the whole thing.
Johnson, Clinton, and Joe Exotic began working together after the band had found an ad searching for a theme song for the G.W. Zoo and Joe’s reality show. Johnson had asked Joe Exotic for credit, but Joe never followed through. In actuality, Joe Exotic is a terrible singer, according to Rick Kirkham, who produced Joe Exotic’s reality show.
Doc Antle is neither a polygamous husband nor a euthanizer
Doc Antle deserves an entire article dedicated to how much he claims was exaggerated about himself. First off, Doc Antle hasn’t been married in 25 years. His first wife died in a car crash and, since then, he has decided to not make vows with another spouse. Antle claims that some of the women they included in the show were his relatives or partners of his staff.
While Doc Antle does contend to dating many women, he has been vocal about how he has disliked how he was portrayed in Tiger King. He especially didn’t like the accusation that he euthanized his tiger cubs when they got too big. In fact, Antle says that adult tigers are still used during his tours.
Jeff Lowe didn’t steal the G.W. Zoo
Jeff Lowe claims that he was not a true villain in Tiger King, saying that many details of his involvement in the tiger business were left out. In short, Lowe states that Joe Exotic had too many lawsuits against him, forcing Joe to dissolve his company. Lowe refused to help Joe pay because “that was his mistake, his problem.”
After Joe Exotic shut down his zoo and corporation, Jeff Lowe reopened the G.W. Zoo with his new business.
Jeff Lowe also didn’t hire a “hot nanny” for his new baby
As absurd as it sounded, it somehow wasn’t so bizarre that Jeff Lowe would hire an attractive woman to babysit just because she was a “hot nanny”.
Though there are pictures that seem to prove otherwise, the woman posing alongside Jeff & Lauren Lowe was only hired to pose as the “hot nanny” for post-Tiger King media appearances. In actuality, she’s an Instagram model named Masha Diduk.
