From 2011 to 2015, Elizabeth “Liz” Choate, who is known as Gator Queen Liz, was a staple on Swamp People. She starred on the show as one of the main alligator hunters from Seasons 2 to 6.
However, when the show returned for a seventh season in February 2016, Liz was no longer part of the cast. She did come back during Season 12, but has otherwise not been part of the History Channel series.
So, what exactly went down and why did Liz leave the show, then return? Scroll down for more.
It was not Liz’s decision to leave Swamp People. Rather, she was let go from the show as part of a major cast shake-up. She shared the news of her exit via a Facebook post in August 2015, just weeks after the Season 6 finale.
“Due to unknown reasons by the production company ‘Original Media,’ my family and myself, along with other original cast members, besides Jeromy and David, will no longer be participating in the Swamp People series starting with Season 7,” she wrote. “It saddens me to know that our fans are the ones who will suffer from these unexplained actions by the new management of this production company. REALITY.”
Liz told her followers that she “hoped to stay connected” with them in the future as she returned to her “regular” life.
Two days later, Liz claimed that production asked her to “remove” her post from Facebook, but she refused. “KISS MY ASS,” she wrote. “How you like that post!!! I was told they had a lot of nasty call and complaints, well these people call this business, well I’m different, I wear my heart on my sleeve and I will die that way.’
Despite calling out the production company behind Swamp People, Liz still decided to return for Season 12 in 2021. “She decided she couldn’t sit by and watch aggressive gators take over the swamp,” her History Channel bio revealed. “She returns to the bayou with her stepson, Destin, to fight back.”
Still, it was a one-and-done deal for Liz, and she did not return to the show after her Season 12 arc.
Per Liz’s Facebook page, she is still partaking in gator hunting in Louisiana. Plus, she has focused on her family, and is still married to husband Justin Choate. Liz is a mother and grandmother and also partakes in making handmade crafts, which she often shares photos of on Facebook.
When her Swamp People costar Junior Edwards died in July 2025, she paid tribute on social media, writing, “Mr. Junior Edwards, One of the truest fishermen I knew, May God Bless his family!!! He was the king of the Swamp!!! Always made us Laugh, I Had Nothing But Respect For This Man, Hard Working Man.”
Swamp People, Season 17, Wednesdays, 8/7c, History Channel
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Originally published on tvinsider.com, part of the BLOX Digital Content Exchange.
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