Netflix 'Tiger King': Where are the stars from Season 1 now?
A lot has been said about the Netflix documentary series ‘Tiger King’ and how it glorified those who abused the big cats. The story mainly focused on Joe Exotic who owned a zoo and had a lot of animals, especially tigers and lions. However, his empire came crashing down when people like Carole Baskin and Jeff Lowe came along and absolutely destroyed his business.
The first season of the show was highly successful and broke viewership records for Netflix. So, it comes as no surprise that a second season will be hitting streaming platforms pretty soon. The first edition had some really intriguing characters and some of them will be returning for the second as well. However, there were some members who were indicted or charged with multiple felonies and were arrested for their wrongdoings.
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So, where are these people now? Are they serving sentences? Or do they keep on doing their dirty work? Let’s find out.
‘Tiger King 2’: Where are the members from Season 1 now?
Joe Exotic
Well, we don’t know if he should be called a protagonist or an antagonist, but he was indeed the most peculiar cast member on the show. The series mainly focused on him and showed us the lifestyle he lived with. But he could not continue his success for much time as he was found guilty of multiple charges, including murder for hire charges for having Carole Baskin killed.
Exotic was convicted of 19 counts. As of now, he is serving a 22-year sentence in federal prison in Fort Worth, Texas. In July 2021, it was announced that Exotic will be given a re-sentence after a court order.
Carole Baskin
When we saw her for the first time, we thought that she is a guardian angel for the big cats. However, as the documentary series moved forward, we got to see her other side as well. She was not as good as she was portraying herself. Baskin has been accused of killing her ex-husband Don Lewis and feeding him to tigers. However, her stock went really high after the series, and began getting offers from various studios. She also appeared in the previous edition of ‘Dancing with the Stars’.
As of now, she continues to run her organization named Big Cat Rescue in Tampa, Florida, where she lives with her third husband, Howard Baskin.
Jeff Lowe and Lauren Lowe
Joe Exotic brought Jeff Lowe in to save the Greater Wynnewood Exotic Animal Park from Baskin’s malicious planning to shut the park down. However, Lowe had some different ideas and wanted to take the park into his own custody. Well, eventually, he did get the park and began making. His reign was short-lived as a court awarded the ownership of that property to Carole Baskin and Howard Baskin.
The Lowes have lost their license to exhibit wild animals which include showing them in person, via television, or the Internet.
Lowe is currently planning to open a new park in Oklahoma for bug cats called Tiger King Park. It was scheduled to open in 2021, but COVID restrictions forced Lowe to postpone the opening date.
Bhagavan Antle (Doc Antle)
Antle is the founder and director of the Institute for Greatly Endangered and Rare Species (T.I.G.E.R.S.) in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. In total, Antle has more than 35 USDA violations for mistreating animals. Meanwhile, Tawny Antle and Tilakam Watterson, daughters of Mr. Antle, are also facing several misdemeanor charges in connection with animal cruelty and alleged violations of the Endangered Species Act.
Currently, his park has reopened and the tours are still going on.
John Finlay
Probably one of the most-weird characters on the show, John Finlay was married to Joe Exotic for some time, but later it was found that he was not gay and had an affair with a woman working in the zoo. It all came out when the woman became pregnant. Recently, it was reported that he has got a new set of teeth and now lives in Texas with his girlfriend.
Rick Kirkman
Kirkman is a former reporter of Inside Edition and shot Joe Exotic’s reality TV web series and currently lives in Bodo, Norway, with his wife and is working on another documentary project.
‘Tiger King 2’ will be premiering exclusively on Netflix on November 17.