What can I say about Kim? My cousin was a beautiful soul who was taken from us far too soon when she died while competing on the popular kids’ game show Legends of the Hidden Temple. Even though her death was an unfortunate tragedy, I take comfort in knowing that she departed this earth doing what she loved most: running through an obstacle course for a chance to go to space camp.
Kim was more than just a cousin. She was a best friend. A confidant. A Green Monkey. A person who didn’t pay attention during the safety portion of a TV taping. A child who probably shouldn’t have taken off her helmet in frustration and thrown it at Olmec. A girl who let the rush of being on an oddly-dangerous kids’ game show go to her unprotected head.
While Kim never got to retrieve that special artifact (“Cleopatra’s tampon wrapper”) she did at least manage to kick one of the Temple Guards square in the balls. She was always a fighter. But I guess it was never her destiny to complete the big temple run, and maybe that’s for the best. Her dad would have complained a lot about having to drive her all the way to space camp. Cape Canaveral is two hours away.
What happened, you ask? Well, what was supposed to be a novelty artifact—just scraps of wood a production assistant had spray-painted silver—was ultimately a choking hazard; something nobody could ever have predicted. Why would they? But that was part of Kim’s beautiful and erratic personality. If she hadn’t died on the set of Legends of the Hidden Temple, she probably would have died somewhere else in Universal Studios. Probably on the earthquake ride.
My family is grateful to all the people who reached out to us after Kim’s passing. Kirk Fogg was particularly generous, letting us all touch his denim shirt. Thank you, Kirk. It couldn’t bring Kim back—nothing could—but it did take way some of the pain. It was very soft.
It’s been twenty years since Kim’s accident, but if I had to go back in time and do it all over again, I wouldn’t change a thing. She got to be on TV.
Image: Pixabay/Nickelodeon