Survivor's Animal Lover Bites Back

Survivor's Kimmi Kappenberg, the 28-year-old vegetarian from Ronkonkoma, N.Y., whose vocal animal rights stance led her fellow meat-eating, pig-butchering contestants to kick her out of the Australian Outback in last week's episode, may be rewarded for her endless grousing: People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) is interested in recruiting the bartender to be a spokesperson.

"We are going to be getting in touch with her [to discuss it]," reveals Lisa Lange, PETA's director of policy and communications. "Kimmi did the animals and PETA proud by sticking to her convictions."

On Friday's Early Show, host Jane Clayson suggested to Kappenberg that she go to work for PETA, an idea the Long Island native didn't reject. What she did shoot down, however, was the perception that she took her crusade to protect the local wildlife too far. (Just prior to getting the boot, Kappenberg got into a finger-pointin' brawl with fellow Kuchan Alicia Calaway over the fate of their caged chickens.)

"The only thing that I asked them about the chickens was, 'When you kill them, try to do it as quickly as possible,'" she insisted. "I didn't protest [eating] the chickens. I'm the one who helped [complete the Immunity Challenge] so that we even won the damn chickens. If I was really anti-chicken, I would have let the chickens go.

"My whole thing was that while the chickens were there and while I was there I was going to make sure they got food, make sure they had water, make sure they weren't in the hot sun," she added. "They should be treated humanely... They're just as alive as you and I and they shouldn't be miserable while they're there."

Kappenberg also makes no apologies for calling her tribemates "sick" after they helped ringleader Michael Skupin trap and knife a wild boar — an incident PETA and government animal-protection authorities in Queensland, Australia, currently are investigating. (After the slaughter, Skupin wiped the blood on his face in pride.) When asked what she thought life in the Outback would be like, Kappenberg responded, "I was not expecting pig killing and people bathing in pig blood."