‘Survivor’: Kellee Kim an Evil Genius? – She Could Control the Game with Bold Move
Survivor: Island of the Idols castaway Kellee Kim upped the ante with her latest game move. Not only did Kellee give Dean Kowalski her immunity idol, but she also voted to boot him in last night’s tribal council. Yet, Jack Nickting was the one getting blindsided in the end.
Kellee Kim thought her move had the chance to backfire (like many big moves). But, Kellee’s move was not the dumbest in Survivor history. In fact, the Harvard grads plan might just be the best one we’ve seen in a while. Is Kellee just that good or is she secretly an evil genius?
Survivor: Kellee Kim Sets Plan in Motion
In the beginning of this season, Kellee Kim was the first to win an Island of the Idols challenge. Kellee was the second Survivor castaway exiled to IOI after Olympian Elizabeth Beisel. But unlike the other woman, she won a memory game given at the Mentor’s Challenge by “Boston” Rob Mariano and Sandra Diaz-Twine. For which they rewarded her with an immunity idol.
Instead of making the mistake of using her Survivor idol right away, Kellee Kim has been sitting on her advantage. The Harvard alum had been patiently waiting for the right moment to play it. And it turns out that this week was the right time for Kellee to put it to good use.
Survivor 39: Kellee Gives Dean Kowalski Her Idol
Kellee Kim had an epiphany after losing the Survivor immunity challenge, and decided to hand off her immunity idol. It would have expired after this tribal, so she gave it to Dean Kowalski. The other women in the Lairo tribe were deadset on targeting Dean, along with Jamal Shipman and Jack Nichting. But Kellee and Dean share a secret connection that saved him. Kellee is friends with his ex and she also really likes Dean as a person. She used this relationship to build a bond and strengthened it by saving Dean.
Kellee Kim gifted him her expiring immunity idol with the promise of using his Survivor vote to target either Jack or Jamal. Yet, just in case Dean Kowalski decided to blindside her, Kellee planned on using Noura Salman as a contingency plan. She would tell Noura that Jack or Jamal was going after her.
Harvard Brain Controls Tribal Council
Once tribal council arrived, Jamal brought up the fact that the woman outnumber the men and are working together. He told Jeff Probst that they scared him and Kellee Kim wasn’t having it. “I find the idea of a women’s alliance so sexist,” Kellee said to the Survivor group, in what appeared to be a passionate speech. She made the point that no one is ever “scared of an all-men alliance.” While the rest of the Lairo tribe agreed with her. It segued into a beautiful discussion on women, men, and equality in general.
And while an all women’s alliance has never made it to the end of Survivor, people have been voted out by an all female alliance. But by Kim labeling the men as sexist, she helped deflect possible votes against her… at least for that tribal council.
When it came down to vote on Survivor, Dean’s name made up the majority. But before Jeff revealed the votes, Dean Kowalski played Kellee’s idol, “Jeff, I think I got a little something-something”. Everyone watched in shock, even Kellee Kim plastered on a pretend look of disbelief as Dean pulled the idol out of his pocket.
Noura Salman made a very smart observation about Dean’s idol. She wondered why he didn’t use it last week on Survivor when he was also in trouble. So, it appears that Noura figured out that the idol is new to Dean.
Things turned when Jamal Shipman pulled out his idol and used it on Noura Salman. It’s too bad, because it was his ally Jack that could have used the idol. Dean and Noura were revealed to be the ones that voted him off the island.
The Genius of Kellee Kim’s Big Move on Survivor
Kellee Kim kept her word and wrote down Dean’s name, but she did an odd capitalization of his name (all caps with a small “a” in the middle). You can bet that Kellee will let her tribe know that she voted for Dean and she can describe her odd looking vote to prove it.
So, in a genius move, Kellee strengthened a secret alliance with Dean. And, she made it look like she doesn’t have an alliance with Dean Kowalski because she voted for Dean. Keeping her word to her tribe and getting rid of Jack Nichting at the same time was very important. Because, Jack was part of her original Vokai tribe, and she needs to keep that tribes trust after the merge.
Keeping Dean works out well for Kellee Kim because Dean is on the outs with his former Lairo Survivor tribe. After the merge next week, Kellee Kim will once again be with her Vokai alliance members and with Deans help, should be able to control the game. This is because Kellee’s Lairo tribe will be outnumbered by Vokai by 8-to-7 (at first). By making Dean an honorary member of the Vokai tribe, Kellee should be able to flip that around and control the majority of the votes.
It will be interesting to see how Noura Salman explains her part in blindsiding Jack and sending him home. Especially since Noura is part of the original Vokai tribe, as was Jack. Will Noura throw Kellee under the bus or will Kellee be able to squirm her way out of her elaborate plan? Kellee’s time in the game relies on Noura keeping her mouth shut, and with her track record… the odds are 0%.
Update: Noura immediately after tribal spilled the beans and ratted out Kellee
Kellee Pulls Off Best Move of the Season
Kellee Kim could not have wished for anything better. Not only did she save Dean Kowalski and have him do exactly what she told him, but Noura also did what she planned on. It had to have been the most exciting Survivor tribal council of the season so far and is giving Kelley quite the resume. Her move was some evil genius kind of stuff that makes up the best part of the game.
It remains to be seen if Noura can be trusted not to reveal she was a rouge vote and if Dean remains loyal. Noura and Dean have a chance to go far in the game if the stick with Kellee.
Update: Noura ratted out Kellee and Dean voted Kellee out. So much for loyalty and trust in Survivor.
Survivor: Island of the Idols airs Wednesday nights at 8 pm on CBS.
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