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Carole Baskin of ‘Tiger King’ is making her debut on tonight’s premiere of Dancing With The Stars. Unfortunately, she can’t dance away from her past! The family of her missing husband Don Lewis bought ad space for the premiere to ask the public for help finding out what happened to him. Lewis and Baskin were together since the early 1980s and got married in 1991 before he disappeared in 1997. They ran the Big Cat Rescue together which was founded by Lewis. Before his disappearance, Lewis allegedly tried to get a restraining order against Baskin and wanted a divorce. His disappearance has been considered “under mysterious circumstances” and Baskin has been accused of killing Lewis and feeding him to their tigers. Though no charges have ever been pressed against Baskin. Baskin has called the whole thing an orchestrated publicity stunt.
The commercial aired during the first commercial break and featured Don‘s three daughters Gale, Lynda, and Donna, his former assistant, Anne McQueen, along with the family attorney, John Phillips. According to TMZ, “Don’s family feels her participation in the dance competition series undermines the ongoing investigation into his whereabouts and is a ‘grossly insensitive’ decision by the show’s producers.” Fans reacted to the commercial on Twitter.
This isn’t the first time the family has asked the public for help. After the wild success of Tiger King this summer, they set up 4 billboards around Tampa, Florida offering up to a $100,000 reward for any information about his disappearance. The family said in a previous statement, “Our family tragedy has become your tragedy. Our search for truth has become your mission, too. We‘re asking that anyone with vital information come forward so that progress can be made on this case.” Lewis’ three surviving daughters filed a new lawsuit against Baskin in August. They are seeking to have Baskin forced to formally testify on the record everything she knows about what might have happened to Lewis.