‘Dancing With the Stars’ Alum Wants to ‘Disappear’ After Time on Show

Carole Baskin, of “Tiger King” fame and “Dancing With the Stars” alum, is sharing why she’s all done with reality TV after her time on the show.

During an interview with Audacy’s “Eye on the Community” with host Pepper, Baskin spoke about why she will no longer be part of reality TV.

“No,” she said when asked if she’ll participate in any other reality shows in the future. “There’s a lot of things I had to do to keep the message about why we needed the Big Cat Public Safety Act to pass, and now that that’s done, I hope to disappear into a life of obscurity.”

Baskin Clarified the Mission of Big Cat Rescue

Baskin became a household name in 2020 after the release of the Netflix docuseries “Tiger King” was released. The docuseries took a deep dive into the disappearance of Baskin’s ex-husband Jack “Don” Lewis.

“Tiger King,” told the story of Joe Exotic, an exotic animal zoo owner and black market animal dealer who was arrested in 2018 for animal abuse and a murder-for-hire scheme against Carole Baskin, and his downfall, but it ended up leading people to believe theories about Carole Baskin as well. In January 2022, according to NPR, Joe Exotic was resentenced to 21 years in prison.

Don Lewis was last seen on August 18, 1997, vanishing without a trace.

“His van was found at a Pasco County airport with the keys on the floor. Deputies searched the wildlife sanctuary, then named Wildlife on Easy Street, and flew to Costa Rica looking for leads,” according to the Tampa Bay Tribune. “They never found him.”

During the podcast on Audacy, Baskin opened up about people misunderstanding her and the Big Cat Rescue after “Tiger King.”

“People who are rescuing these big cats from horrible situations are not the problem,” Baskin shared. “It’s the people who are breeding them, exploiting them, lying to their customers about it being conservation, and then discarding those animals into private ownership that are the problem and the ones that they should be angry at.”

The reality TV personality later shared, “”The other thing that I was going to say people really did not understand after watching ‘Tiger King,’ is that they mistakenly believe that because tigers and other big cats are an endangered species that you should of course breed more of them. But captive breeding doesn’t do anything to save them in the wild.”

The Big Cat Public Safety Act Was Signed Into Law on December 20, 2022

The Big Cat Public Safety Act officially became a law on December 20, 2022.

According to the Animal Legal Defense Fund, the law now says private citizens cannot own big cats. It also made it illegal for places like circuses and zoos to allow guests to have “direct contact” with cubs of big cats.

Big cats, according to Congress.gov, include “species of lion, tiger, leopard, cheetah, jaguar, or cougar or any hybrid of such species.”

Now that the act has passed, Baskin says she’s set to disappear from the public eye.

Baskin was a contestant on season 29 of “Dancing With the Stars,” competing alongside Pasha Pashkov. They were eliminated during the third week of the competition.

“Dancing With the Stars” is set to return in the fall of 2023 on Disney+.