Survivor: Gabon Not Immune to U.S. Customs

Survivor: Gabon Monty Brinton/CBS

Survivor's immunity idol has no effect on border patrollers.

The reality competition ran into some hot water Nov. 18, when a container of props arrived in Houston from Gabon in West Africa—where the CBS hit just completed its 17th season finale.

The freight contained several animal skulls and hides, ceremonial masks, ostrich feathers, shells and various bones, Yolanda Choates, a spokeswoman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection, told the Houston Chronicle. The items were taken by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to be evaluated. Some were infested with termites, while other artifacts potentially carried microbes linked to Ebola and other viruses.

Choates said the contents manifest claimed to be "returning U.S. goods," but all such packages are inspected to make sure they haven't mixed with foreign objects.

CBS may be subject to fines, which will be assessed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The network has not yet commented on the incident.

Read More

5 Comments

Now loading...

Add Your Comment!

Guests

E! Online members

Register | Forgot password?

Play nice and have fun. And please, no HTML tags or special characters including [&*#()!@$].
You've got 1000 characters left.

Post Comment

The Big Picture

Ooh La La! Rob arrives in Paris to promote New Moon...and brings some extra sparkle to the City of Light

More Photos
GRAB & SHARE
Hello, you either have JavaScript turned off or an old version of Adobe's Flash Player. Get the latest Flash player.
Click Here

Our Partners

  • Huffington Post

Get Your E! News Now

Text ENEWS to 4INFO (44636) for daily celeb news alerts

Standard messaging rates apply.

Did you know you can grab smokin' hot E! Online news, review and gossip through our RSS service?

New to RSS feeds? Learn more >>

Birthdate:

Enter your full birthdate:

  • Opt in for Breaking News Alerts

has been subscribed to the E! News Now Newsletter.

To change your settings, go to your preferences.

Hello, you either have JavaScript turned off or an old version of Adobe's Flash Player. Get the latest Flash player.