Tiger King: Madness and Mayhem (bet you didn’t know the title was that long) was one of our lockdown binges, and it took the internet and world by storm. Now that Tiger King season 2 has been released, (yes it’s even messier than the last season), it’s time to check in on where all these *eccentric* characters are RN.
Joe Exotic
AKA the ‘Tiger King’ himself, Joe Exotic, is currently two years into a 22-year prison sentence for violating the Endangered Species Act (by trafficking and killing tigers) as well as attempting to hire someone to murder his rival and animal advocate Carole Baskin (twice.)
The Netflix star was removed from solitary confinement after the catapulting popularity of the show and the immense amount of fan-mail he received. However, his team’s attempts to have former US President Donald Trump pardon him were unsuccessful. Recently, Joe has revealed he is now single and looking for his ‘mate’. He even posted a contest on his website (bachelor style) for people to compete to be his new partner upon his release from prison.
According to People, Joe recently received an ‘aggressive prostate cancer diagnosis’ and has been moved to the medical prison.
Carole and Howard Baskin
Carole Baskin and her husband Howard not only became memes across TikTok in 2020 but Carole was also on Dancing With The Stars (it apparently got low scores).
The two tried and failed to block the release of Tiger King 2 on the basis of it being “low-brow, salacious and sensational programming“. Carole currently has a docu-series on Discovery+ called “Carole Baskin’s Cage Fight“, where she teams up with animal rights activists to find evidence of animal abuse.
Carole also has introduced her own NFT up for grabs.
Jeff and Lauren Lowe
Jeff and Lauren Lowe took over Joe’s animal park after his incarceration but in June 2020 were ordered by a judge to hand over the park to Carole Baskin. Jeff was one of the informants against Joe in his trial. The couple has dealt with multiple arrest charges, evictions, and indictments since last year. However, they’re both featured in season two of Tiger King and seem to be doing pretty good based on their IG posts.
The tigers and other animals
Many of the big cats rescued from Joe’s zoo have found homes in other big cat sanctuaries. The Amazon documentary Surviving Joe Exotic follows some of the tigers on their journeys to safer homes. Till now, almost 350 animals have been rescued from the stars of Tiger King.
Watch season 2 of Tiger King now on Netflix.
Watch this space for updates on the Tiger King stars.