Tiger King star Carole Baskin has slammed her missing husband's daughters for buying an advert during her appearance on Dancing With the Stars.

Don Lewis' three kids and their attorney, John Phillips, purchased 50 seconds of air time for a commercial during the U.S. competition show on Monday, which they used to offer a $100,000 (£77,000) reward for any leads into his 1997 disappearance.

Baskin, 59, who had him legally declared dead in 2002, has now slammed the advert as a "publicity stunt".

"I have not seen the ad. I am not at all surprised," the animal sanctuary owner told Entertainment Tonight. "It's just been a huge publicity stunt on their part so what more could they possibly do than that?"

The story of Lewis' disappearance, shortly before he was due to head to Costa Rica, was prominently featured in Netflix's Tiger King: Murder, Madness and Mayhem docuseries - with rival zookeeper Joe Exotic alleging that Baskin killed Lewis, a claim she has denied.

The series culminated in Exotic being jailed for 22 years after being convicted of plotting to murder Baskin and numerous animal welfare-related charges.

Baskin's debut appearance on Dancing With the Stars was disastrous, as she racked up the lowest score - with the judges only awarding her 11 points out of 30 for her paso doble to Rocky III theme song Eye of the Tiger.

LATEST NEWS