Former NBA player and champion Scot Pollard is an interesting dude. There's no doubt about that. Run a quick Google image search for him and you'll quickly come to understand. At a glance, the guy is pretty far "out there," as far as his personality and lifestyle are concerned. But here's a little known fact - Pollard was born into a Mormon family in Murray, Utah. Yes, it's true. Scot Pollard was raised Mormon.
Now, that term, "raised Mormon," is practically synonymous with inactivity in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Basically, the person was born into a religious family, then grew up and made their own decisions, leaving the church in the rear-view mirror. ("Dancing with the Stars" hot shots Derek and Julianne Hough are prime examples of this pattern.) For a few years now, I've known that Pollard was pretty openly ex-Mormon and anybody familiar with his NBA career should have realized that the guy doesn't really have any type of connection with the church anymore.
With this in mind, when Pollard was announced as a contestant for Season 32 of "Survivor," I immediately decided that I wouldn't include him on my world-famous list of Reality TV Mormons. However, I was quite surprised this past week when Mormonism came up in a conversation during the eighth episode of the season. Unexpectedly, Pollard did not deny being a member of the church. Here is a transcription of the conversation, which also included contestants Nick Maiorano, Julia Sokolowski and Debbie Wanner:
Nick: "There's something I want to ask you, Scot. Where does your mom live?"
Scot: "My mom lives in Utah. She's in an assisted living. She's got health issues, so... She's only 75. She's got a rare disease. It's basically the inverse of ALS."
Julia: "Is your father alive?"
Scot: "No, my dad died when I was 16."
Nick: "So, are you religious? Are you Mormon?"
Scot: "I haven't been to church since I was a kid - well, 17, 18 years old - but my whole world has to do with my family, and that has everything to do with the Mormon religion."
Debbie: "I think that's wonderful."
Scot: "That was one of the advantages. That's why I take care of my whole family. We were all poor. ... My brothers chose religion and family, and I chose the NBA. They struggle financially, so I..."
Debbie: "So you would like to help them even more."
Scot: "That's why I'm here."
Debbie: "Good for you, Scot. That's very noble."
Interesting, right? So what do you think? Does that conversation qualify Pollard as one of my Reality TV Mormons? Let me know in the comments section below!
"Survivor: Kaôh Rōng" airs on CBS, Wednesday nights at 7 p.m., Mountain Time. Pollard is currently one of the final nine contestants vying for the million-dollar grand prize.
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