Shelby County Sheriff\'s Office
After hearing about the multiple rape charges being brought against Survivor: Africa star Silas Gaither, a man named Dave Hansen came forward with a story about the time Gaither assaulted him when he worked security at a Santa Monica, California, bar. Here’s what you need to know.
Hansen Removed Gaither From the Bar After Female Customers Complained
Hansen told WREG, a station out of Memphis, Tennessee, that he was working security at a bar in Santa Monica when one night in 2008, several female customers complained about Gaither groping them. Hansen removed him from the bar and told him, “Sir, you’re not going to come back inside.”
“Little did I know that was going to lead to one minute of being nearly pummeled to death,” he told WREG.
Hansen was taken to a nearby hospital where he had a concussion, a fractured occipital lobe, fractures in his skull, and five broken ribs. After he recovered, he sued Gaither for his medical bills. Gaither settled with him out of court for $15,000. The settlement let Gaither deny responsibility and avoid litigation.
But Hansen said that amount was not nearly enough over the next few years of medical bills. “That barely touched the surface of [the costs],” said Hansen.
“I can’t see terribly well out of one eye at all, the fact I still have headaches every day,” he said, adding that he saw WREG’s stories about Gaither’s rape charges and wanted to come forward because of his experience with Gaither to show his support for the alleged rape victims.
“If a single woman has had an experience they feel uncomfortable speaking about, I’d like them to see there is at least one man out there victimized by the same guy in a very minor way, a fractional way,” he said, adding, “If there’s one woman touched by this, which I’m dead certain there have been, if that causes her to come forward and speak her story then I’ll feel this was an accomplishment.”
Gaither Faced Rape Charges in Tennessee and Florida
Gaither was indicted on rape charges in November 2019 and again in October 2020. At the time of the second set of charges, WREG learned that authorities in Germantown and Collierville, Tennessee, and Clearwater, Florida, had all been investigating Gaither for separate incidents ranging in dates from 2015 to 2018.
Gaither’s first accuser told WREG they met at a church Bible study. She said she was “definitely preyed upon” and described the assault as “brutal” and “very violent.”
WREG reports that seven women in total have come forward between Florida and Tennessee. Gaither’s lawyer told WREG that the 2008 incident with Hansen has no bearing on the current rape charges. Gaither is next due in court on January 13, 2021.
Gaither was the fifth person voted out of Survivor: Africa and went on to try to make a career as an actor, appearing in small parts on a few TV shows. In a 2019 interview with “Another F***ing Survivor Site,” Gaither said that Survivor approached him about appearing on its “Blood vs. Water” season with his father, but they were not chosen for the cast. That season filmed in 2013 before any of these charges came to light.
READ NEXT: Remembering ‘Survivor’s’ Cliff Robinson on What Would Have Been His 54th Birthday