Outlast producer responds to 'intense' Jill Ashock backlash

Jill Ashock in Outlast
Jill Ashock's decision was widely criticised online. (Image credit: Netflix)

Outlast contestant Jill Ashock made a brutal decision during the competition series, which has horrified viewers everywhere.

The Netflix series follows 16 contestants who are dropped in the Alaskan wilderness and must outlast each other in a battle to win $1 million. There are no rules, only that players must work together and form camps in order to survive.

Players can't be eliminated either, and must choose to drop out themselves, or they're removed, so it's a test of strength and willpower.

Due to the fact there's no rules other than to simply survive, contestant Jill Ashock made a rather brutal decision to sabotage someone else and make the competition much trickier for them.

The scene in question saw Jill targeting Javier Colon, who had been left as the sole member of his team due to the others all choosing to leave the intense competition. While he was away from camp, Jill and her campmate Amber Asay ransacked his shelter and destroyed his raft.

During the scene, Amber called Javier "weak" and insulted him, leaving fans horrified at the lengths they would go to just to try and get ahead.

Speaking to Newsweek, Outlast executive producer Grant Kahler has spoken about the moment that saw a backlash from fans online.

He said: "It was an intense moment, for sure and, you know, that was one of those moments where we kind of let it play out.

"We didn't know how it was going to end because, again, there [was] no rule that was stating that Jill and Amber couldn't do what they were doing, but at the same time, if it ever got to a point where we thought it was gonna hurt someone, like, we would have had to shut it down."

Grant added that they might have to rethink the structure of the series if it was greenlit for season 2, adding: "I think one thing we would have to be mindful of in future seasons is, after seeing this first season, I would wanna make sure people, just from a safety perspective, didn't get a little too out of hand. 

"Because they're going to see this and see that you can take matters into your own hands. So I just wouldn't want to see someone from a camp just going to beat the sh** out of someone."

Outlast is now streaming on Netflix globally.

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Lucy Buglass
Senior Staff Writer

Lucy joined the WhatToWatch.com team in 2021, where she writes series guides for must-watch programmes, reviews and the latest TV news. Now she works for our sister site TechRadar in the same role. Originally from Northumberland, she graduated from Oxford Brookes University with a degree in Film Studies and moved to London to begin a career writing about entertainment.

She is a Rotten Tomatoes approved film critic and has a huge passion for cinema. She especially loves horror, thriller and anything crime-related. Her favourite TV programmes include Inside No 9, American Horror Story, Stranger Things and Black Mirror but she is also partial to a quiz show or a bit of Say Yes to the Dress