8. Kim Spradlin
Many of the complications of having so much of an episode dedicated to celebrating the families of Survivor with the players and their loved ones is that we miss a huge portion of the reasoning for each character’s actions. Suddenly, Kim Spradlin was going after one of her oldest allies in the game and doing so against the only person who knew she had a Hidden Immunity Idol.
She wasn’t in the majority in this round, and having one of her allies’ votes stolen would have been enough to overwhelm her side. That was before one of her allies (and likely vote-getters), Jeremy, kept himself safe and made her and others close to Kim vulnerable, effectively trying to reverse a split vote from the majority.
She played the idol on the wrong person, and they went to the Edge of Extinction, giving Kim the worst of both worlds. Now she’s down a trinket of protection after having won individual immunity and publicly played an idol for an ally, making her one of the biggest targets. She’s likely receiving votes this and next week (if she isn’t already voted out), and it’s hard to slink away from that heat amongst proven winners.