Reality TV

The case of 'Tiger King' star Carole Baskin's dead husband has fresh eyes on it now, which is welcome news to his lawyer ... who says he's eager to help authorities uncover the truth.

Joe Fritz was the attorney for Don Lewis, Carole's deceased husband ... who was last seen in August 1997. Joe tells TMZ ... he's ecstatic the Hillsborough County Sheriff in Florida is looking into Don's disappearance ... on the heels of the immensely popular Netflix docuseries. He says the more attention the case gets, the better.

Fritz wasn't just Don's lawyer before he went missing, he was his friend, and says there's much more to the story -- and he wants to share everything he knows with cops.

So far, he says they haven't contacted him, but if they do, "I would bring them in my home in a heartbeat and offer them a beer."

As we reported ... the Sheriff is hoping to capitalize on the Netflix series about tiger breeders and Baskin, by asking the public for leads in her former husband's case.

For those who haven't seen it ... Lewis was declared dead 5 years after he disappeared, and folks like Joe Exotic believe Baskin killed him. She's denied any wrongdoing.

Fritz tells us he couldn't believe it when he saw the case was getting reopened, but he thanks social media and the 'Tiger King' buzz for making it happen.

He adds that he's not looking for closure. Joe says it's no secret what happened to Don -- claiming he's heard the true story of what went down and accepts it -- but he wants the truth to prevail and justice to be served for his friend.

As for the docuseries ... Joe says it did a pretty good job telling the story of the big cat people, but he thinks it could have spent more time focusing on Don’s disappearance and debunking Baskin's Costa Rica story.

Joe Exotic has bitched and moaned about lots of things but this rant may -- or may not -- shock you the most ... he was once pissed he couldn't use the n-word. Still love him, Cardi B?!

Some old footage from 2015 resurfaced showing the "Tiger King" star complaining ... "What's going on in this country? It's absolutely pathetic. I can't say the n-word but you can get on YouTube and watch any black man's video and they're calling each other the n-word. What the hell?"

Joe went on to theorize, "Is this discrimination? I'm white, I can't say the n-word and they can?" The footage appears to be from his old online reality series "Joe Exotic TV" but it's only now hitting the fan ... due to the popularity of the Netflix documentary.

Joe Exotic, of course, is the tiger breeder featured in the wildly popular Netflix docuseries "Tiger King." The former owner of a once-popular zoo in Oklahoma has been behind bars since he was found guilty in a 2019 murder-for-hire plot.

He recently filed a lawsuit claiming there's a huge conspiracy behind him getting locked up. Cardi B vowed to start a GoFundMe to help free Joe Exotic. She has since said she was just kidding about the GoFundMe but added she still loves him.

Awkward?

Jorge Nava is throwing in the towel on his "90 Day Fiance" marriage to Anfisa Arkhipchenko ... now that he's getting outta prison with a whole new fit bod!!!

Nava was a big hit during season 4 of the show, but he's currently incarcerated on drug charges. He tells TMZ it's over with his Russian bride, and once he's released later this year, he plans to make it official with divorce papers.

So, what went wrong? Aside from him being in prison?? Jorge claims Anfisa abandoned him while he's been doing time, and ran off to be with another guy.

He says they maintained a relationship for a brief period when he first got busted in 2018 for having hundreds of pounds of weed -- but since then, they've gone their separate ways.

Jorge's supposed to get out in May, but he's worried the coronavirus pandemic could delay the process. Whenever he gets out, he's set on getting divorced ASAP. Anfisa's been pretty coy about where things stand on their relationship status, but Jorge decided to spill the tea.

Some might say he's engaged in some PRE-breakup hotness -- because Jorge dropped a whopping 128 pounds during his time behind bars. The transformation was obvious in his most recent mug shot.

He's now 190 lbs -- down from 318 lbs -- and says he mixed regular cardio and intermittent fasting to cut weight. He says he wants to put on muscle once he's out of the joint. He's gonna be a single guy, after all.

"Tanked" star Heather King fears her life is in danger if her ex is allowed anywhere near her ... so she wants a judge to order him to stay away.

According to new legal docs, obtained by TMZ, Heather beelined it to court and requested a protective order against her estranged husband, Wayde. She claims he's been physically abusive to her for YEARS ... from allegedly slamming her against the wall to damn near knocking her unconscious.

In docs, Heather points to an incident earlier this month when she says Wayde came home and "told me to get the f*** out" before allegedly pushing and hitting her. Heather claims things got so bad their daughter had to yell at Wayde to get him to stop assaulting her.

Heather claims this is just one example of a pattern of abuse ... and she claims to have photos of her alleged injuries to back. Some of the photos show bruises and scratches allegedly suffered at the hands of Wayde, who she is in the middle of divorcing.

She alleges Wayde physically assaulted her on several occasions last year ... like when he allegedly strangled her in November and broke her finger in July. She claims Wayde "threw me against a wall so hard that he almost knocked me out." She says she was scared he was going to kill her.

Many 'Tiger King' fans were stunned to find out Joe Exotic doesn't sing his own songs, but there's a real band behind those cat-themed country tunes ... and it hopes the hit Netflix docuseries leads to a record deal.

For those who haven't watched yet ... zoo owner/big cat breeder Joe Exotic flaunts his country music songs and videos on 'Tiger King,' but it turns out he's just lip-syncing and pretending to play the guitar. The real performers are The Clinton Johnson Band.

One-half of the country group, Vince Johnson, tells TMZ ... since the documentary premiered and became a smashing success, lots of journalists and media outlets have reached out to him ... but he'd prefer to get some calls from music labels. So far, no luck.

Vince says that's a shame, because he and the other half of the band, Danny Clinton, recorded 3 albums worth of songs before Danny passed away in October from a heart-related issue.

We're told their tracks are a lot like the ones they did for Joe in 'Tiger King' ... except they're not cat-related.

Vince tells us the band's had some prior success getting their work featured in some small films and TV shows like "Justified," but he believes 'Tiger King' could really be a big break ... and help him become a big cat in the music biz.

As for how The CB Band -- from Vancouver, Washington -- got linked up with the Oklahoma zoo extraordinaire ... Vince tells us they simply responded to one of Joe's ads to make a theme song for Joe's TV show and park, and it evolved from there.

He says how it worked was Exotic would give Vince a theme and some details, he'd write a tune and Danny would sing it. Then they'd email it to Joe.

The band did about 20 songs for Joe, Vince says, and as far as he knows ... Joe has never professionally sung or played an instrument in his life.

BTW -- Vince hasn't watched 'Tiger King' yet, but plans on it soon.

Yung Berg allegedly pistol-whipped a woman after having sex with her, and now she's been granted court-ordered protection from him ... TMZ has learned.

According to new legal docs ... Talia Tilley claims Yung Berg pistol-whipped her face, pointed the gun at her mouth and threatened to kill her ... after they had sex earlier this month at his place.

Tilley filed for a temporary restraining order against Berg and on Friday morning, a judge signed off on it.

Talia also submitted gruesome images she says show her injuries suffered in the alleged beatdown. She says she broke her nose, suffered 2 black eyes and cuts to her face.

In the docs, Talia says Yung Berg invited her to his crib around 3 AM March 14 and they had sex before things turned violent. She says they went to sleep after intercourse, but then he woke her up a few hours later because her phone kept ringing. She says YB accused her of trying to rob him and then got physical, slapping her and then breaking her nose with the bottom of what appeared to be a pistol.

She alleges Yung Berg beat her with the butt of the gun until she gave up her phone and passcode. She claims she was held hostage in the home for hours, and says when YB and his security guard finally let her leave ... they kept her ID and social security card.

John Finlay -- one of the stars of the hit Netflix docuseries 'Tiger King' and Joe Exotic's ex-husband -- has a nice new set of pearly whites ... that almost make him look like a different person.

John tells TMZ ... he actually got his teeth redone in July 2019 all at once -- they're dentures -- and he's a little miffed at Netflix and the filmmakers because they never showed it.

We're told there's plenty of footage and photos of John fixing his smile but for whatever reason ... none of it made the final cut of 'Tiger King.'

Finlay also wants to clarify something about his gnarly teeth -- they weren't the result of meth abuse. Though John admits meth was a drug of choice for him in the doc, we're told his teeth were messed up before that, due to genetic reasons. He told us he has not touched drugs in 6 years.

John is currently working as a welder and living in central Oklahoma with his fiancee Stormey. We're told she's the one with John at the end of the series when he's getting his Joe Exotic tattoo reworked.

As for why Finlay's shirtless the entire time he's being interviewed on 'Tiger King' ... our sources say that was the idea of one of the producers, and John went with it.

For more on Finlay, ya gotta watch 'Tiger King' on Netflix, and also check out the podcast "Joe Exotic: Tiger King" by Robert Moor on Joe Exotic's story ... including more with John.