Few people get to play Survivor once. Even fewer get to play twice. So Kim is one of the lucky few to brush up against two seasons of Survivor. Unfortunately, that’s where her luck ends.
Kim was the first person voted out of Survivor: Worlds Apart in this week’s 90-minute premiere, and it wasn’t her first time getting knocked off of Survivor. Before signing up for the current milestone season, Kim was set to be part of the cast of Survivor: San Juan del Sur, last fall’s Blood vs Water competition that ended in Amazing Race veteran Natalie Anderson’s victory. A medical situation with her loved one left Kim out in the cold, but as luck would have it, there was a spot waiting for her on season 30.
But the Survivor gods are cruel. Kim was denied her shot on San Juan del Sur in exchange for a brief three-day stint on Worlds Apart, becoming the first eliminated contestant from the White Collar tribe. What was the reason for So’s downfall? Chalk it up to a see-through lie that put her tribe mates on red alert, or credit the shrewd gameplay of her competitors. Whatever the case may be, the end result is the same: So Kim, something of a Survivor legend before she even truly played the game, was sent packing before she could get her proverbial car out of neutral.
I spoke with So about being the first person voted out of Survivor: Worlds Apart, her near-miss with San Juan del Sur, whether or not she thinks her tribe lost the Immunity Challenge on purpose, her take on her tribe mates, and more. Launch the gallery for even more bonus content from So, including how she feels her sister would have fared on Survivor, and which former Survivor contestant she’s currently dating.
So, that was rough!
It’s been rough. It was heartbreaking. I’ve had a couple of months to get over it, but watching it again yesterday kind of brought it all up again. It sucked. There’s no way to get around that. No one wants to be the first one voted out. I feel like had we not lost that first challenge, you would’ve seen me go a lot further. I’m taking it in stride, though.
You have a very interesting history with Survivor. It’s fairly well known now that you were supposed to be on season 29…
Yeah, my sister and I were supposed to be part of San Juan del Sur. Something happened with my sister medically, something we couldn’t take care of in time. Unfortunately, we had to get pulled from the game. But I was fortunate enough that they saw something in me and they wanted to see me back for season 30. Unfortunately, it did not pan out. [Laughs] I have to be one of the unluckiest Survivor players to ever play!
That’s a tough back-to-back experience.
It’s true. On average, I played one and a half days per season. So at least I broke a couple of records.
A lot of people view season 29 as a season without too much strategy, or at least without a lot of players who really knew the game ahead of time. How do you feel you would’ve fared on San Jaun del Sur?
I look back and think, “Oh man, I would’ve done a lot better on that season.” I think I could’ve manipulated a lot more easily. There were probably some people who could’ve used a bit more guidance. But you just never know what happens, right? I didn’t get to go out there. Would I have been on the tribe that won or lost that first challenge? Would my sister have gotten further than me? That would’ve been hard for me to watch as well. You just don’t know in the game of Survivor. That’s what I took away after experiencing actual game time. You just don’t know until you’re out there playing. It’s two tribes of ten versus two tribes of six, so if I was on a tribe that lost the first challenge, it would’ve been easier to hide in that group of ten…
That’s what’s difficult about the three tribe set-up. It creates interesting dynamics for the swap and the merge, but it’s very hard to make it through these first few votes.
It sure does. It really, really boils down to who you’re put on a tribe with, and how you’re going to fit in with these people.
What were your first thoughts on your fellow White Collars?
The first thought I had was, “I missed the suit memo.” Everyone on the tribe was wearing a suit except myself. I clearly did not fit in. And looking at the other tribe, right away, we were the older tribe. Aside from Joaquin and myself, everyone was a little bit older than us. Even looking at the girls on the other two tribes; there were two young girls on each. I felt like I was the only one on my tribe. I immediately felt concerned, but also, maybe it was a good thing, because if we lost a challenge, I felt I was physically capable and could hang with the boys.
In your pre-game interviews, you said you recognized Max Dawson, the Survivor professor. Did anyone else recognize him?
I think I was the only one. I kind of waited to see how he would introduce himself, as someone a bit more involved with the Survivor community. When he didn’t, and when he said he was a media consultant, that kind of threw red flags for me. I actually approached him about it and asked him point-blank: “I want to give you a chance to be honest. What do you really do?” And he dodged my question. I brought up that I was aware that he’s a huge Survivor fan and was really linked into the community, and that’s when he said… well, he still never really owned up to it, just that he taught a course and Survivor was part of the itinerary. He definitely played it down.
What about you? Did anyone recognize you? Because your name had been floating around online since you and your sister were pulled from San Juan del Sur. Were you on anybody’s radar?
Yes, actually. Max said he was aware. Tyler was aware. Carolyn was not aware, but I know Tyler and Max did know. I don’t know about any of the other guys. I think there were a couple of people who knew. But I tried to play it down. I didn’t want there to be an unnecessary target on my back for any reason. I lied about it.
Speaking of lies, let’s talk about the big one: Deceive, Honest, Neutral. What were you thinking in that moment?
Well… [Laughs] My instinct told me we shouldn’t deceive. Everyone always gets caught. But Joaq in that moment was so enamored with having the idol clue. “We have to do it. If you’re given the chance to gain an advantage, you have to take it.” What I didn’t realize at the time was that he doesn’t necessarily know the game as well as I did. He was going off of pure, competitive instinct, instead of thinking long term. I got swept up into that excitement. If we could come up with a good enough lie, let’s do it. Unfortunately, that lie fell flat. On top of that, I didn’t realize we were playing with people who knew the game so well. The other four people on my tribe have watched every single episode since the first season aired. They knew this game in and out. I couldn’t have anticipated that.
Let’s talk about the Immunity Challenge. You tore through those ropes, you get to the puzzle, and then your tribe blows the puzzle. I’ve seen some chatter about this online, and I wanted to float the theory past you: Did your tribe throw the challenge to get rid of you?
No, not at all. Absolutely not. I don’t think that’s the case. When we got back to camp, Shirin was in tears. I mean, sobbing. Crying. So nervous. When you think about who is on our tribe and you think about the types of people on our tribe, they’re Survivor fans, and they know you have to have the numbers going into the merge. We talked so much about us as a tribe trying to stay strong and make sure we had the numbers going into the merge, and who the right person was for each part of the challenge… so no, I think it was just a bad decision to go with the 50-piece puzzle. I can see why some people might think that, because Shirin looks like she’s not doing well with the puzzle, and then Max walks up there…
Emphasis on walk, by the way. Taking his time!
What you don’t realize is that when Max says, “Shirin, get out of there!” The game was over. There was no way. She put together maybe two pieces of the puzzle. There was almost nothing that Max or any of us could do to change the outcome, because Blue Collar had basically already put it together. What we needed Shirin to do was fess up the fact that she was panicking and couldn’t get it done. We had talked about that as a tribe, tapping out if we couldn’t get something done. We were just waiting for her.
In the end, it came down to you versus Carolyn…
I completely misjudged her. In retrospect, she’s the person I should have worked with. I already had decided I wasn’t going to trust her from pre-game because I thought she was someone who didn’t know herself. One day she came out wearing a suit. The next day she’s wearing tie-dye and a green scrunchie. I thought she was having an identity crisis and was someone who just wanted to fit in and would flip on a dime and wasn’t trustworthy, that she didn’t know who she was. I didn’t think I’d be able to manipulate her enough. Ultimately, that wasn’t the case. I think she’s someone you can work with and she will be loyal to you, but at the time, I chose Shirin to be the person I trusted. But she’s very savvy.
At what point did you realize you were the one going home? Early on at Tribal Council? When the votes are being read?
Right away. A lot of the Tribal Council, you don’t actually get to see on TV, but immediately once we sat down, Shirin basically had this soliloquy about how Joaquin and I were not to be trusted, and we have this idol clue, and we lied about it, and we’re terrible liars. And Max jumped in. And I knew right away that they were working against me. This entire time I’d been sitting there telling Shirin, “Don’t worry, don’t worry, the boys won’t vote for you.” As soon as I saw those two switched, their eyes almost glazed over, and they almost had these speeches planned. I knew I was in trouble. That’s why I started… I know people are saying, “Why did you talk about alliances? Why did you air all of that out?” But at that point, we all knew what was going on, that I was being voted out. I was trying to let everyone know that Max was playing everybody. “He’s part of our alliance, you think he’s part of yours… there’s a lot going on.”
It’s tough to get knocked out first, especially given what already happened with you and season 29. But it seems like you’re still very close with this cast.
The rest of the cast has been amazing. Regardless of whether you were voted out first or made it all the way to the end, what was unique about our cast is that everybody came out to play. We all came out to play knowing it was a game. As a result, regardless of what happened in the game, we’ve been able to extricate who we are outside of the game and become really good friends. We’re a family. Almost the entire cast flew out here [to California] for the premiere. I got to sit and watch with the majority of the people I got to play with and the people I didn’t get to meet. It was great.
Josh Wigler is a writer, editor and podcaster who has been published by MTV News, New York Magazine, Comic Book Resources, Digital Trends and more. He is the co-author of The Evolution of Strategy: 30 Seasons of Survivor, an audiobook chronicling the reality TV show’s transformation. Josh hosts podcasts about film and television on PostShowRecaps.com.
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Read on for bonus details from So!
Why did So step off the mat with Joaquin?
So Kim: "That was pure impulse. Pure adrenaline. That was me saying, well, someone else is out there; if it's going to be two people out there, then at least there's one other person who will fall with me. That's one of those things where I was just so excited to be there. Your adrenaline is going. Before I knew it, my hands were going up and I didn't even realize I was volunteering myself for that position. That may have been a decision I shouldn't have gone with. But you get so excited!"
Who did So tell about her big lie?
So Kim: "Shirin was someone I wanted to work with. She approached me about working with her and Carolyn as a three girls thing. I didn't trust Carolyn but I wanted to trust Shirin, so I told her about the idol clue. I showed it to her. No one actually called us out on the lie — Max approached me and I tried to play it off like I didn't know, but he eventually figured it out. But Tyler was not really interested in talking about the idol. He wanted to focus on working as a team. And Carolyn just let us go with whatever we wanted to go with. Shirin is the one person I told about it."
Did So know Carolyn had the idol?
So Kim: "None of us knew she had the idol. She played it perfectly. She knew she and Shirin were on the bottom after that challenge, and they were so paranoid they got together to get the one girl who was more physically fit than them out by getting Max in and showing Tyler the idol to get him in."
What was So's first impression of the other two tribes?
So Kim: "'Can you get me off of White Collar and onto one of those two tribes?' That was my first thought! Looking at my tribe, I knew there were a lot of gamers and people who could manipulate. That's the nature of what our work life entails. We like to be leaders. There's going to be a lot of aggressive people. I could just smell trouble."
How would So's sister have fared on Survivor?
So Kim: "You saw me. I'm very outspoken, pretty aggressive. I think you would see her play more of a low-key card. If you look at someone like her, and you put her on season 30, she'd be on the No Collar tribe. She's a little bit more laid back, a little bit more, 'Let's see what happens.' She doesn't put herself out there as an immediate, aggressive player. It would've been a juxtaposition between the two of us."
Is it true So is dating Malcolm from Survivor: Philippines?
So Kim: "Yes, I can confirm that those rumors are true! I had the opportunity to meet him a couple of months ago. Things have been going great. We were keeping it under the radar, just until my season aired. Now that I've been eliminated from the game, we thought, well, there's no reason to hide it anymore. He's been great."
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