RNO Roundtable: What About the Kims?

As discussed in the first RNO Roundtable article, there are many different writers with different opinions here at RealityNewsOnline. So we decided to pick out one point each week from the previous Thursday’s episode. Whichever RealityNewsOnline writers have a strong opinion on the matter contribute their answer and reasoning (and maybe a prediction or two). We hope you enjoy this new feature and welcome your suggestions for questions. Now, for this week’s issue:

Melinda:

Kim J.: Kim J. managed to crawl from under Lex’s oppressive shadow and vote off someone else – Brandon. Since there’s been a mass defection in the ranks, she’ll probably be part of a new alliance with her old Boran allies, Tom and Ethan, and older Samburu, Frank and Teresa. They’ll be voting off marked man Lex.

What should she do? Realigning with Ethan, Tom, Frank and Teresa is a smart move. Voting off Lex is a smart move. After that, she, Tom, and Ethan should start voting off the Samburus, starting with Kim P.

Kim P.: For her part, Kim P. is in a very precarious position. Once Lex is voted off, she’ll be the most vulnerable. None of the other tribe members owe her any allegiance, and she has certainly not proven herself to them in the past. She’ll try to stay close to Frank and Teresa, but she’s the odd girl out and knows it.

So what should she do? If she hasn’t managed to form any strong bonds yet, she’s got to do some major alliance-building, fast. She should work on whoever is most sympathetic to her, which would be Tom and Teresa. She’s cute and vulnerable looking, and might have an advantage that way. If she’s smart, she should also try to persuade Ethan (and even Tom) to ally with her. Ethan’s vulnerable because he’s a strong, young male and Tom could join them because he’s already allied strongly with Ethan.

Peggy:

Mama Kim: She will do whatever the majority of the Original Boran tells her to do. If two out of the three men say "Let's vote Frank out," she will vote Frank out. If they say let's vote Lex out, she will do that. The only way she will align with Frank and Teresa at this point is if Tom and Ethan do so as well. If only one Boran, say Tom, decides to leave the nest and fly with the Samburu, Kim J. will not likely go with him. Kim J. has stayed with her flock so as not to appear like the weak sheep, or since we are in Africa, the slow Gazelle, when the lions come looking for lunch, but she is just that and she knows it. She will continue to vote with the safe bet. She will turn on any one of her own but will not leap over to Samburu. In nearly every Tribal Council vote, where appropriate, she blames lack of trust and tribe-hopping as the reason the person is being voted out. She feels this is the reason Brandon and Kelly and Silas were booted out and she must know they will pick her off if she does the same thing.

Kim J. should run to Frank as fast as she can and beg for an alliance. Then she should convince them to vote off Ethan. If she goes to Frank and stays in an alliance she will make it to the final three. Frank would never, ever keep Kim Powers over MamaKim, simply because of his respect for elders and women and his distaste for Kim Powers’ choice of pals in the beginning. Even if he gave his word to Kim Powers, he would break it for MamaKim. But he would never break that vow to Teresa, so they would be the final two with Kim J. left out in the cold. But, she should not really go over to Samburu – she should actually stick with Boran and vote off Frank. He is the biggest threat to pull someone like Tom over to his side. Lex will jump at this. Frank will be going against Ethan, who previously had no votes, but now has three. The next two Tribal Councils she can pick off Kim and Teresa. (It is possible she could get a max of three votes from the two she betrayed on Samburu, she could still probably win any trivia type contest in a tie against Tom and Ethan). Once she makes the Final Four, all she needs to do is convince Tom to vote with her. They should vote off Ethan. If he does not vote with her he knows he will be the next voted out. She will then be in the final three with Tom on her side. At this point she needs to ditch Tom and vote with Lex against him. Tom might think the same thing, but Lex will not want to be with Tom in the final two. He has a better shot with Kim. He might think everyone on the jury from Kelly on will feel betrayed by Kim and Kim will think the Jury hates Lex for being such a psycho.

Kim P.: She will panic. She will make stupid mistakes like Silas did in trying to form an alliance with someone else to stay in the game. She will make stupid physical mistakes like putting the big log on the fire. Her fear will be palpable and for that reason she might NOT get voted out. It will make her less threatening than Frank or Teresa. I do not think she will get voted out this week, although Lex and Ethan both talked about voting her out right after Kelly so they might stay on that track. If Frank wins immunity Kim will get booted. If he does not win immunity, I think Frank will be gone. It's doubtful that everyone will jump on the let’s-boot-Lex bandwagon, but possible.

So what can she do? She needs to promise Tom she will screw his brains out if he comes over to their alliance. It is really her only hope. Who else would have her? He has been after her, and she has been accepting his flirtations. Tom has indicated that his wife knows he screws around and accepts it as part of who he is, and he is also very horny. When they get down to that water hole and he starts to clean her he is going to be ripe for manipulation. All it takes is one little whisper in his ear. Stick with me and you can have some. Tom might think, OK what the hell, and align with Frank, who he likes anyway, and Teresa. Then they need to vote Ethan off, then Mama Kim. The smart thing to do at this point is to jump ship back to Lex with Tom and get Teresa and Frank voted off, the final three will be Tom and Lex and Kim P., and Lex will rather go with Kim than Tom against a jury. So it will be Tom's turn to leave. Then you have Kim Powers and Lex in the final two.

I know this is totally outlandish, all of it. What will probably happen is Kim Powers will be voted out next unless she wins immunity. Then Frank, Teresa, and Tom since Mama Kim is threatless. Lex and Ethan will be in the final two and Ethan will win.

Charlie:

What should they do?

Mama Kim: After the whole Brandon/Kelly fiasco, she needs to make a move, and fast. Although on the surface it would appear she is safe, she only has at least one week left of total security. After this upcoming week, in which either Kimberly Powers or Lex will be voted off, she is in danger of being targeted for, among other things, being too darn likeable. An alliance with Kimberly Powers (who I feel is as untrusting at this point as an abused puppy), Teresa, and Ethan could be enough to carry them into the final three. She might want to consider joining with Frank also, because his word is his bond and he will give her undying loyalty. It's sort of like a marriage without the honeymoon.

Kimberly Powers: She is in deep trouble. After being betrayed by Brandon, she's an emotional wreck, and I can't blame her for not trusting anyone. She needs to realize that she has nothing to lose and must align with Frank, who again, will give undying loyalty on a handshake. Kim Johnson, Teresa, and Ethan are also good choices to align with, and Tom has shown himself to be open to ideas. Now, if she really wanted to be gutsy, she could try to form some kind of alliance with Lex, who should be scared enough at this point to trust anyone. Additionally, Lex will lose to just about anyone in the finals and he might be a good guy to be sitting next to at the end.

What they will do.

Mama Kim: I think she will try to eliminate Frank next. Doing so will mean she will be realigning with Lex, but that's not a good thing. Ethan and Tom's loyalty seem to go hand in hand, and if Lex considers the previous vote a betrayal against himself, then the Boran voting block of four is dead and buried. Ethan and Tom can easily partner up with Teresa and Frank, whom they trust, and proceed to pick off Kim Powers, Lex, and Mama Kim in route to the final four. I would bet on Mama Kim being gone within three weeks.

Kimberly Powers: I'm not going to flat out say she's a lost cause at this point, because anything can happen in Survivor. I will say that she and Lex are both in very dire positions. Kimberly has faced so many betrayals in this game that I don't think she will trust anyone. She might go gung-ho and try to win immunity challenges like Colby, but I think that she's the most expendable person left in the game. She might stick around for a little while longer, but the next time an alliance is faced with nobody threatening to vote out, Kimberly will get her touch snuffed.

Jeffrey:

I see both Kims as being in the same position in their respected alliances. Both are the quiet members, not drawing any overt attention to themselves, unlike many of the other players. Neither of them is scheduled for elimination for probably at least two votes. The Boran alliance can eliminate two Samburu (Frank and Teresa; Kim P. is not as big a threat as either of them); the Samburu can eliminate Lex and either Ethan or Tom (both of whom are bigger threats than Kim J.).

That given, both Kims should stick with their respective alliances for at least the next vote. This will clarify the political situation. If a Samburu (probably Frank) is eliminated, then Kim P. needs to recruit somebody from Boran to engage in a 3-3 alliance vote, targeting either Lex or Tom (because of their backlog votes). Oddly enough, Kim J. is probably the person to recruit; she's not a true part of the Boran boy's club. She also has no political baggage (neither does Kim P. or Teresa), insuring a victory in a vote against Lex or Tom. With that political machine in place, both could get to the final three and chance immunity to get to the final two. On the other hand, if Tom and Ethan are willing to get rid of Lex, then Kim J. should stick with them to the final three. There is no need to sell out if you don't have to.

If, however, a Boran (probably Lex) is eliminated, both Kims should again sit tight in their alliance. Again, it's a 3-3 split, with Frank and Tom both vulnerable. The end result of this tribal council will determine the political future of everybody left in the game. The winning side will have a 3-2 advantage, and can steamroll their way to the final three and the path to the million dollars.

David:

These are two interesting questions, and, frankly, not something I’d really thought about before. Both Kims are kind of staying in the background. Kim J. is the quiet and non-threatening type, and since she made it this far, she is likely to make it much further. Kim P. was Amber to Lindsey’s Jerri. But Lindsey was voted off early enough for Kim to start creating her own personality (unlike with Amber and Jerri).

So, what will each of them do? I think they will do whatever their respective alliances tell them to do. Kim J. has shown absolutely no initiative in voting, always going with the majority of her group, and claiming other reasons. If they say to vote off Frank, she will. If Ethan and Tom tell her to vote off Lex, she will. I half-expect her to vote for herself if they tell her to. As such, she will not go out to search for new alliances. She will happily come along if, for example, Tom and Ethan team up with Frank and Teresa, but I don’t really think that will happen. The Boran will pull themselves back together and get rid of Frank or, if he wins immunity, Kim P.

Kim P. is similar. She followed along in the kiddies alliance until that was decimated. Now she has (at least in her mind) no choice but to stay with Teresa and Frank. As such, she will be voted out fairly soon.

Because both of them are on the fringes of their respective alliances, they should actually pair up with each other and pull a couple other people in. Frank and Teresa are too tight to split, so they are a bad choice. Ethan and Tom are pretty tight as well. Who does this leave? Lex. Yes, if the two of them could stomach Lex for that long, he is the ideal person to bring to the final three and, hopefully, the final two. (Think of him as Keith in the Colby/Tina/Keith triad – but worse.) It will take some tricky maneuvering to get to that point, though. If the other four realize what’s going on, they will team up themselves. It will take some double-dealing that none of those three have shown any knack for to date (even Lex can’t stop himself from being honest when he’s stabbing somebody in the back). But, really, I don’t see that they have any other choice if they expect to stick around.

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