Survivor: Worlds Apart eliminated So Kim during the premiere episode of the CBS reality competition's 30th season.

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So Kim, a 31-year-old retail buyer from Long Beach, CA, was voted out of her White Collar tribe, called the Masaya Tribe, on Day 3 at the season's first Tribal Council session.

So Kim's tribe apparently didn't find her trustworthy considering she had lied about the show's "Deceive" and "Honest" twist at the beginning of the broadcast. So Kim, who performed well in the Immunity Challenge, was shocked the men didn't target another woman in tribe who seemed physically weaker.

In an exclusive interview with Reality TV World, So Kim talked about her short-lived Survivor experience. Below is the concluding portion. Click here to read the first half.

Reality TV World: What are your thoughts on the fact Carolyn Rivera had decided against playing her hidden Immunity Idol? Do you think that was gutsy of her or even crazy? Could it be possible that the tribe's decision was just so clear cut that you were going home?

So Kim: You know, I think that it's always a difficult decision because you never know what people are going to do. But I think she knew that [Shirin Oskooi] and [Max Dawson] were with her, and by showing [Tyler Fredrickson] the idol, I just think it would've been stupid of her to play it.

Tyler was smart in reassuring her that he was with her. And to play it on the first Tribal Council, I don't know. I mean, you never want to go home with that idol in your pocket, but luckily for her, that wasn't the case. So it all worked out in her favor. (Laughs)

Reality TV World: The other castaways were shown saying that they felt the fact you had lied about the idol clue meant they couldn't trust you. Do you think that was just a convenient excuse because they just wanted you gone? You mentioned Max had his heart set on aligning with the other two women.

So Kim: Oh, I think it was, yeah. I think that's how it sort of played out. Like I said, Shirin knew, so for her to say that I lied to them, that's total bullsh-t, because I did tell her about the clue right when we got back.

With Max, I think that he was using that as sort of, "Okay, well, this is the excuse that I'm going to go with," and then that's what they came out with as to why. But I don't know if that was actually the ultimate reason why.

Reality TV World: What made your tribe decide to do the 50-piece puzzle instead of one of the other two options? Was there any one person who was central in making that decision?

So Kim: We had talked about it as a group and we said, "Okay, the 50-piece puzzle is definitely straightforward. It must be numbers. It must be 1-50."

So that was what we had thought it was, and Shirin said, "Okay, I got this. I can do puzzles. I can do puzzles really well." And so, if we're ahead, we'll take that 50-piece puzzle. But we had also talked about as a group that if we felt we couldn't handle it, we'd switch out immediately.

And you saw that with the locks, right? [Joaquin Souberbielle] didn't feel like he was getting it done, and so, we switched out so I could go in. That didn't necessarily happen with the puzzles.

Shirin got up there for way too long in my opinion, and it also cost us the challenge. So, yeah, what should've happened is she should've stepped out once we saw that it was much more complicated and it was a jigsaw puzzle. We should've went to another puzzle, but that didn't happen.

Reality TV World: So you think you would've had a different result had you, say, picked the tree puzzle like the other two tribes?

So Kim: 100 percent, yes. 100 percent, that was the reason why we lost. And what you actually don't see on air that was actually happening was that the Blue Collar tribe was just completely copying off the No Collar tribe. Because the No Collar tribe already had their 10-piece puzzle done. They were just looking over and copying.

Reality TV World: And it's a vertical puzzle so that made it easier for the Blue Collars to see.

So Kim: Right, exactly. I think you see my say at one point, "Shirin, do you have this?!" And I kept saying to Tyler, "We've got to get her out of there. We've got to get into the puzzle." And he was like, "No, no, no. Let's see. I think that she can figure this out." But as you can see, it didn't work out.

Reality TV World: Tyler was shown telling Carolyn he was pretty confident there was no reason she was going to have to use the idol. That was his immediate reaction when she told him. Do you think he had already made a decision at that point to target you?

So Kim: No, I don't think that's true. I think that Tyler is just very good at being a politician and he's very good at placating people. I don't think he had really made his decision until right before Tribal.

Reality TV World: But Carolyn showing Tyler her idol was a big factor in his decision, right?

So Kim: Absolutely.

Reality TV World: Were you surprised that Carolyn asked Joaquin and yourself directly whether you guys were going to be voting for her?

So Kim: No, because she was pretty straightforward. I mean, she wanted to know and she's a pretty emotional person, so once she thought that people were throwing her name out, she went right up to them and asked them directly. And that was good because it stirred up some conflict and it worked out in her advantage, because she started figuring out by our reactions what was happening.

Reality TV World: On a similar token, at Tribal, she came right out and said she was in an alliance with Shirin and Max. Did that catch you off-guard or were you aware of that at the time but it surprised you she just blurted that out?

So Kim: I think by that point in time, we all just started to name who we were in an alliance with. At that point, it was kind of like, "Okay, well..." I kind of knew I was going home before then. So everything started coming out.

I talked about the core four. What you don't see is that I also talked about how Carolyn and Shirin came up to me on Day 1 and asked me to be in an alliance with them and Max. Joaquin also talked about the three boys and myself. So it just all kind of started to come out. (Laughs)

Reality TV World: You kind of indirectly confronted Max about whether he had lied to you about being in an alliance with you it seemed.

So Kim: Yeah.

Reality TV World: Did he actually tell you to your face that he was in an alliance with you?

So Kim: Yeah, I mean, at one point, Max and I were part of two different alliances. Because the two girls thought we were in an alliance with them, and then Tyler and Joaquin thought we were in an alliance with them as well. So we were kind of straddling two different alliances. I don't think anyone was aware of that though.

Reality TV World: You were shown telling Carolyn you hadn't trusted her since Day 1. Was that accurate, and if so, why was that? Why couldn't you trust her right off the bat?

So Kim: You know, I made a really wrong judgment call. In hindsight, Carolyn is the person I should have trusted -- not Shirin. But it is true that I made a judgment call on Carolyn almost before the game started, during the pre-game, because I saw her one day come out in a suit and then the next day come out wearing tie dye.

Just seeing that, I was like, "She has an identity crisis and she wants to fit in so badly that she's going to flip on a dime." So, I didn't trust her for that reason, and so, that's why I went with trusting Shirin.

Reality TV World: How were you cast on Survivor: Worlds Apart? How'd you end up on the show?

So Kim: I ended up on Season 30 because I was originally supposed to be part of Season 29, and that didn't end up working out. So they asked me back for Season 30.

Click here to read the first half of So Kim's exclusive interview with Reality TV World.


About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski

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