Oh Dad

Oh Dad...I'm gonna' have to set up a challenge for you in the backyard. There's no way in H*@# that you could have squeezed yourself through those ropes!!  Love ya'!

Kim, left, daughter of Temple High School coach Mike Spradlin, Alicia, center, and Christina pour milk from coconuts in the 13th episode of 'Survivor: One World.' It's finale week, meaning the competition heats up as the group narrows down to the final three Survivors. The show airs 7 tonight on CBS. (Monty Brinton/CBS Broadcasting Inc.)

THS coach’s daughter, Kim, faces a fight to finish on 'Survivor: One World'

BY JORDAN OVERTURF | TELEGRAM STAFF 

Wednesday, May 9, 2012 4:30 AM

"Survivor: One World" host Jeff Probst said before the season started that Kimberly Spradlin has what it takes to go all the way. With finale week finally here, that statement will be put to the test.
Six Survivors remain — Kim, Alicia, Chelsea, Christina, Sabrina and Tarzan — in the quest for $1 million. The winner will be announced in a live broadcast at the end of the season. Here, a winner will be selected among the final three. But it’ll be a sandy fight to the finish.
Last week’s episode saw each of the Survivors’ spirits renewed with a visit from a family member. Kimberly’s older sister, Beth, was one of seven outsiders brought in to compete in a reward challenge with their loved ones.
Coach Mike Spradlin, father of Kim and Beth, said the family was excited to see two Spradlins competing on “Survivor.” He also said that if he would’ve come on the show, he and Kim would have won the challenge for sure.
Instead, Kim and Beth came a close second to Kat and her cousin. I speculated that the sisters slowed their finish to avoid the same catastrophe Kim faced the week before — having to choose two other Survivors to join in the challenge. Coach Spradlin said it defies Kim’s being to not give it her all.
“I am not sure it is in Kim’s nature to try and not win anything,” the coach wrote in an email to the Telegram. “If I had to guess, I am guessing they were playing to win.”
The loss in the reward challenge didn’t mean much, since Kat chose Kim and Alicia to join her on the picnic with their loved ones. It was a costly move for Kat, who was targeted by the tribe for not selecting Tarzan and Christina. A blindside vote sent the young Kat to the jury, the first woman to be voted off since the tribal merge.
Kim was spared from the vote for a second week after winning the immunity challenge yet again. Kim said in last week’s episode that she will win every immunity challenge from here on out if she has too.
Tonight’s episode will show if she can win just enough to make it to the final three. But who should it be?
Thus far, the competition has been about who gets kicked out. In a strange, and at times awkward, change of the game, Kim has started to think about who should stay in. The answer is, “Whoever is least likely to gain votes from the jury.”
For Kim, this basically means only one option: keep Tarzan and Alicia in the game.
“Survivor” is sustained on the deception that leads to blindside votes. For Kim, this has put her in a good position to make it to the finale, but hasn’t garnered many friends in the jury. She has led the charge to vote all the men off first and has a strong enemy in Troyzan, who was the last male to be voted off. The only recourse is to choose the people who have made the others feel worse. It’ll come down to Kim’s character, as well as how she played the game.
Alicia and Tarzan are the best companions in this quest because Tarzan has rubbed pretty much everyone the wrong way since the competition began. And Alicia’s wishy-washy ties and poor attitude toward others will also come back to bite her in a jury vote.
On the flip side, Sabrina, Chelsea and Christina have remained fairly diplomatic through the games. Sabrina has been opinionated, but hasn’t berated or belittled the other Survivors. Chelsea and Christina have been the most innocent in terms of playing the game. Chelsea has stuck by Kim’s side the entire game, but that doesn’t mean she’d make a good fit in the final three.
Inevitably, it will come down to who can perform when they are at their weakest and when it really counts.
Here’s a look at what Coach Spradlin had to say about last week’s episode and Kim’s chances for the future.
Wow. Now you’ve had not one, but two daughters compete on “Survivor.” What was the reaction to seeing Beth compete with her sister?
We were real excited that Beth was able to be on “Survivor.” She, as well as Kim, loves the show. I must admit, seeing her next to Kim really accentuated the amount of weight Kim lost. I knew she was getting real thin, but seeing them side by side was tough.
Clearly the tribe was upset about Kat’s choices for the reward challenge. Do you agree that others should have sacrificed the reward to Christina and Tarzan?
You know, that’s a tough one. I definitely think it was the more strategic move for Kat. At the same time, when you are on day 31, hungry and sleep deprived, it’s easy to go with your emotions.
Was there a mini-Survivor competition in the family to decide who would go visit Kim on the show? How do you think you would have fared in the challenge had you been there?
It would have been fun to go, but honestly as a dad, I really wanted Beth to be able to go. They are the two biggest fans of the show in the family. I wanted Beth to be able to experience it. I think most parents would feel that way. If I would have gone, we would have won it!
Kat was blindsided big-time at tribal council. Do you think Kim has what it takes to “win every immunity challenge from here on out,” like she said in last week’s episode?
I have no doubt Kim has what it takes to win. It’s been a fun ride so far, here’s hoping she can keep things going her way.