The Tiger King Netflix series took the world by storm, raising more questions than it did answers. Joe Exotic was a man who had as many husbands as he did wild animals, and his notorious feud (if you can call murder-for-hire a feud) with animal-print lovin’ activist Carole Baskin was one we can’t easily forget.
Now that the show has ended, where are the colourful cast now? What happened to Joe Exotic, his husbands and Carole Baskin?
Brian Rhyne: THEN
Joe Exotic’s very first husband, Brian Rhyne, wasn’t mentioned or explored on the Netflix show, and there’s a reason for that. It’s sadly due to the tragic events that happened with Brian and the Tiger King’s first marriage. Joe Exotic has been married a fair few times throughout his life, and Brian was his first.
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As well as being his first husband, Brian was the Tiger King’s longest partner to date. They met when Brian was just 19, in 1986. They met at the Round-Up Saloon, which was a gay cowbay bar in Texas. Joe Exotic was working in the bar as a security guard when he met his husband-to-be Brian.
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Brian Rhyne: NOW
After meeting and striking up a romance, Brian and Joe soon moved into together into Joe’s home in Texas. The pair married in the same bar where they had met, and this occurred during a time before same-sex marriage was legal in the state. Joe opened his zoo officially in 1999.
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Image Source/Daily Mail
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When Joe opened up his zoo, the pair were still happily married. This is the same zoo we see in the Netflix documentary. The married pair lived on the zoo property together in a ranch house, and even raised the tiger cubs together. Sadly, Brian later passed away due to complications relating to HIV. He died in 2001.
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John Finlay: THEN
John Finlay was Joe Exotic’s first husband portrayed on the show. The pair met in 2003, 2 years after the death of Joe’s first husband, Brian. John Finlay was only 19 years old when he began working at the zoo, and eventually he married both Joe and Travis Michael Maldonado in a three-way ceremony.
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The marriage took place in 2014, and the ceremony is detailed in the Netflix show between Joe, John and Travis. It was only less than a year after the official wedding ceremony that John actually then wanted out of the relationship and his marriage to Joe, though the reasons why aren’t really known. Perhaps regret, a marriage rushed-into or just a change of heart?
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John Finlay: NOW
One of the most memorable things about John from the Netflix show was his missing teeth. And John has now openly spoken about that, as well as revealing that he’s had his teeth completely fixed now for a pearly white smile. John has said that the Netflix series producers chose not to show videos/pictures of his fixed smile!
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It’s also rumoured that after becoming Joe Exotic’s ex-husband, John has now moved on to marry a woman and also have a child. He’s also reacted to the Netflix show by setting up an official Facebook page called ‘The Truth about John Finlay’ – which is incidentally where he revealed news of his fixed smile. He now works as a welder.
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Travis Michael Maldonado: THEN
Coincidentally enough, Travis Michael Maldonado – Joe’s next husband – was also 19 when he started working at the zoo. It was 2013 when Travis found work at the zoo and met both Joe Exotic and John Finlay. He married both Joe and John in the three-way marriage ceremony which was revealed on the show.
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During the course of the show, it appeared that Joe and Travis were very loved up. Travis originally hailed from California, and apparently did have a history of drug addiction, which is discussed in the show. It was actually a mutual acquaintance who recommended for him to begin working at the zoo, hoping that the animals would help him recover from his addiction.
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Travis Michael Maldonado: NOW
Sadly, Travis’s marriage and life together with Joe wasn’t to be, as he died in an accident detailed on the Netflix show. In 2017, it appeared that Travis had accidentally shot himself in the zoo’s gift shop. Travis had been exploring how a pistol couldn’t fire without a magazine, but there was a bullet in the chamber which killed him.
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Image Source/Daily Express
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It’s also rumoured that Travis wasn’t exactly gay during his marriage, either. Travis had apparently told Joe that he was straight. During the course of the show, Travis’s behaviour also appears to be erratic. Exotic’s campaign manager, Joshua Dial, was present in the gift shop and witnessed Travis’s tragic death through shooting.
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Dillon Passage: THEN
Shortly after Travis’s tragic death, Joe met his next husband, Dillon Passage, through a dating app. Only two months after meeting on the app, when Dillon was 22, they married and proceeded to move to Gulf Breeze in Florida. The pair married in 2017, and their relationship can be seen on the show.
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Image Source/PinkNews
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Dillon originally wasn’t looking for marriage when he first met Joe, and even when he first explored the dating app. He has said he had no idea who Joe Exotic really was when he first met him, and was only happy to have friendship and companionship. Nevertheless, the couple later married after Joe was apparently very flirty!
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Dillon Passage: NOW
And it seems that Dillon and Joe are still married today, despite Joe Exotic now being in prison and parted from his latest husband. Dillon has spoken openly about his relationship with Joe, maintaining that he has no intention of leaving the Tiger King, but that Joe also doesn’t want Dillon to be alone. Dillon has openly stood by his husband’s actions.
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While Dillon remains supportive of Exotic during his stint in prison, he also shares lots of updates on social media regarding how Exotic is doing. Alongside that, Dillon appears very active and social in his life if his social media posts are anything to go by. He’s now often seen with other Netflix stars and celebs, which he reveals in social media snaps.
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Jeff and Lauren Lowe: THEN
The relationship between Jeff and Lauren was interesting to watch, to say the least. Jeff Lowe was Joe’s alleged friend who ended up taking control of the zoo. Jeff bought the zoo from the Tiger King, as revealed in the show, and renamed it Greater Wynnewood Animal Park. In the Netflix show, we also see that Jeff’s wife, Lauren, is expecting a baby.
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The series revealed Jeff to be a man with lots of cash and lots of passion for showing off that cash, as well as his interest in big cats. We also see him showing off a photo of a potential new nanny for his unborn baby – a hot nanny, all while his current wife is sat beside him. So what happened to Jeff and Lauren? Are they still together? Did he hire the hot nanny after all?
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Jeff and Lauren Lowe: NOW
Yep, they’re still together! And yep, they hired the hot nanny to boot. Although it’s unclear whether the ‘hot nanny’ is actually a nanny at all, as she appears to be more of a model and influencer named Masha, active on social media. Jeff and Lauren have also now had their baby, a little girl named Sarah. But it seems that Jeff no longer owns the zoo he originally bought from the Tiger King.
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Image Source/The Tab
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Joe Exotic’s arch-nemesis, Carole Baskin, now owns the zoo, as she was granted it by the law courts. In response to this, Jeff has said that he didn’t even want the zoo anyway and it’s not worth him trying to defend it. Well that’s handy. In addition to this, Jeff and Lauren also have an upcoming reality show detailing their own life, and Jeff’s relationship with Joe Exotic, so expect much more Tiger King/hot nanny drama from that one.
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Doc Antle: THEN
Doc Antle was revealed on the Netflix show to be the runner of The Institute for Greatly Endangered and Rare Species. Though you’d think this was a worthy goal, the series actually portrayed him as a wrong-doer of the same ilk as Exotic and Baskin themselves. Joe Exotic accused Antle of acts of animal cruelty, and other discussions implied that he ran his institute ‘like a cult’.
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Doc Antle was one of the many zoo owners which viewers get to meet through the Tiger King series, exploring his crazy life with big cats and animals. After the airing of the show and the implications of Doc Antle being some form of animal cult leader, you’d expect him to perhaps no longer be running his institute or dealing with animals at all. So is he?
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Doc Antle: NOW
Doc Antle actually is still running The Institute for Greatly Endangered and Rare Species following the Netflix show. He’s highly active on social media, revealing all his latest business and animal endeavours. Antle has also spoken openly since the show about how ‘sensationalised’ he believed it to be, and was disappointed in how his facility was portrayed.
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Image Source/Daily Mail
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As well as being active on Instagram with his daily dose of animal pics, Antle is also bossing TikTok with over a million followers. His videos include more animal shots and even reveals of his son. Beyond this, Antle is actively working on animal programs which aim to raise money for anti-poaching efforts, and supports efforts to save wildlife.
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Joshua Dial: THEN
Joshua Dial was the zoo employee and campaign manager for Joe Exotic, who also was the unfortunate witness to Travis’s fatal accident in the zoo gift shop. During the course of the Netflix show, Dial also wanted to run for office with the Libertarians. He helped Joe Exotic with his own political campaigns.
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Joshua Dial was an Oklahoma resident who previously worked as a Walmart manager before joining Joe Exotic’s zoo. He could be seen handing out bumper stickers in support of Exotic’s presidential campaign. Despite Joshua’s open support and assistance for Exotic’s campaign, Dial was vocal about how he didn’t really think Exotic truly understood what he was running for (there’s a surprise).
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Joshua Dial: NOW
These days Joshua can be seen making posts on Instagram about his seemingly normal life following the Netflix series. He’s shared some shots with his followers relating to, what he calls, his ‘tomato’ plants. He’s also very active socially and enjoys a rave or two. While his posts could indicate he’s left the Tiger King behind, he hasn’t.
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That’s because Joshua was part of a Tiger King tour called ‘Uncaged: The Untold Stories from the Cast of Tiger King’ during which he spoke about his life alongside other minor cast members of the show. The talk was held in Iowa. But he clearly doesn’t let his Tiger King past get him down, as he also offers personalised shout outs on video platform Cameo – for which he charges over £30 each.
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Kelci Saffery (Saff): THEN
The Netflix show revealed another of Joe Exotic’s many employees who agreed to be interviewed for the show to discuss the zoo. Kelci Saffery, known as Saff, was revealed on the show to be a female employee, but it actually turns out that Saff was misgendered the entire time and identifies as a man.
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Saff was a zookeeper who worked at Joe Exotic’s zoo, who unfortunately also had his arm mauled off by a tiger in 2013. Saff was 27 years old when this unfortunate incident occured, the results of which viewers can see for themselves during Saff’s interviews on the show. Saff had been reaching his arm into the enclosure when the tiger decided to attack.
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Kelci Saffery (Saff): NOW
Saff was another former-employee to appear during the reunion tour, Uncaged, sharing more about his life and personal experience working for Joe Exotic’s zoo. In a style which also echoes Joshua Dial, Saff is also selling personalised videos on Cameo, for a much higher price of over £80! Cameo must be a popular pursuit for former Tiger King employees.
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Alongside this, Saff appears to be living a happy and healthy life, and has spoken openly about being misgendered on the show, formally going by he/him pronouns now. According to Saff’s social media posts, he’s living close to his family and enjoying days out in nature exploring as much as possible. He’s even revealed lockdown updates; he’s obviously keeping busy!
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Rick Kirkham: THEN
The deal with Rick Kirkham during the Netflix show was a strange one. Rick was the producer of the Tiger King documentary, who happened to have all of his footage burned alongside the studio and crocodile enclosure. Outside of the hit Netflix show, Rick was already a reality TV producer in his own right; with his iconic wide-brimmed hat.
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Kirkham’s purpose of moving onto the zoo property was to film the reality show for Joe Exotic and boost his ratings, but it was this collected footage which was destroyed in the fire which burnt down his studio. Following the fire, Kirkham admitted that he cried over the tragedy of the lost footage. Due to the lost footage being compromising in nature, it was even rumoured of Exotic’s involvement in the fire.
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Rick Kirkham: NOW
As if the original fire wasn’t enough, Rick has also been subject to a home fire six months after the original event. Since the show’s airing, Rick has actually moved to Norway to live with his new wife. During his appearance on the Tiger King reunion show, Kirkham revealed that he’d met and fallen in love with a Norwegian girl.
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If he hoped that moving to Norway would allow him to escape his Tiger King past, that plan hasn’t gone so well, as he’s revealed that apparently the Norwegians are Tiger King mad, too, and recognise Rick from the documentary. Following his move to Norway, Rick is also continuing his career in production and is said to be working on a new documentary.
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John Reinke: THEN
John Reinke was another chap from the show revealed to be someone who worked closely with Joe Exotic at the zoo. Reinke worked as a zookeeper at the Tiger King’s zoo, and actually maintained that Exotic wasn’t too bad of a guy after all. Outside of Exotic’s escapades, Reinke also used the show to discuss a previous accident in which he’d suffered a double leg amputation as a result.
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Viewers could be forgiven for thinking he suffered the accident due to an animal maul whilst working at the zoo, but the accident actually occurred years before. Reinke had previously worked as a professional bungee-jumper and had been testing a line for a company when a failure led to him falling 50 feet. His legs had to be amputated as a result of his injuries, and he was also paralysed for a time.
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John Reinke: NOW
Not much is heard of from John these days, although he did appear in Iowa as part of the show for Uncaged: The Untold Stories from the Cast of Tiger King in November. Since the show, Reinke has apparently left his wife – who he was married to for 30 years – and is working on repairing cars. He is active on Twitter, though doesn’t appear to be on any other social media at the moment.
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Reinke uses Twitter as a platform to share info about car racing events. He also has fun posting Carole Baskin memes, too, following her appearance on Dancing With The Stars! So he’s either a Carole fan, a dancing fan, a meme fan – or all of the above. He’s also spoken out about Joe Exotic’s imprisonment, saying that while Exotic did some things wrong, he’s served enough time by now (in his opinion).
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Carole Baskin: THEN
Baskin was a cast member who truly did divide opinion in spectacular fashion. She formed the key antagonist for Joe Exotic and created much of the show’s drama, not least because of the conspiracy and theories behind her husband’s sudden disappearance (a mystery still unsolved today). Carole Baskin ran Big Cat Rescue and eventually had a ‘murder-for-hire’ placed on her head by Exotic.
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Carole, as a lead big-cat rights activist, played a prominent part in the feuds of the show. It was easy as a viewer to take sympathy with Baskin in regard to her work against Exotic, but Baskin also presented a persona which was quirky at best and suspicious at worst. Following the disappearance of her previous husband, the show also reveals her latest marriage to new husband, who supported her in her activism.
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Carole Baskin: NOW
Since the show, Carole has become an internet meme sensation, to say the least. She is still working as a big-cat activist, and has since acquired the rights to Exotic’s zoo, which she won in a court battle. Despite the decision, Joe Exotic still plans to fight this. Baskin has also spoken openly about her reaction to the Netflix show, saying that she is disappointed how much it focuses on sensationalising rather than animal rights focus.
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Carole continues to run Big Cat Rescue, but that’s not all she’s been busy with. She also famously appeared on Dancing With The Stars, where she partnered with Pasha Pashkov. In regard to her missing husband, his family still believe to this day that Carole had something to do with it. And, in true Tiger King cast style, Baskin is also making a living selling personalised videos on Cameo – at £250 each!
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Joe Exotic: THEN
And now we come to the so-called King himself. Where to start? Joe Exotic was the owner of his big cat zoo which housed a collection of interesting characters and husbands. Exotic’s behaviour in the show was controversial, and not least in the opinion of enemy Carole Baskin. Joe Exotic was eventually charged for murder-for-hire on Baskin’s life.
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Not only that, but it was revealed that Exotic performed acts of animal cruelty, too, despite portraying himself as someone who apparently adored all of his animals. The show also revealed that the Tiger King had a wealth of other interests and pursuits, too, such as his own musical career and wanting to run for office during a political campaign. Exotic was openly gay and polyamorous, revealed in the number of marriages the show revealed.
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Joe Exotic: NOW
Needless to say, the Tiger King has renounced his throne and is now serving time behind bars. As of 2021, he’s still currently in prison, and is also still married to his husband, Dillon Passage. He was convicted for plotting Carole Baskin’s murder and animal cruelty, destined to service 22 years in jail. Despite this, Exotic is still appealing his sentence and hopes to clear his name.
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Whilst serving his time in prison, Exotic has also made claims of sexual and physical assault by officers, who have openly denied the charges. Exotic has also admitted that it’s an emotional blow to learn that his zoo has been lost and taken over by his nemesis, Carole Baskin. Joe Exotic has also taken to appealing to celebrities to help him, including the Kardashians. Will he find his freedom one day? Watch this space.
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