Exclusive: Monica Padilla talks 'Survivor Cambodia: Second Chance' (Part 1)

Survivor Cambodia: Second Chance's Bayon tribe snuffed Monica Padilla's torch during Season 31's fifth episode Wednesday night on CBS.


Monica, who previously competed on Survivor: Samoa, became the fifth castaway voted out of the game. Her new Bayon tribe ousted her via a 3-2-1 vote instead of Spencer Bledsoe and Kelly Wiglesworth at their first Tribal Council session on Night 13 of the game.

Monica was completely blindsided by her fellow tribemates, as she thought she was part of an alliance of four. However, Kimmi Kappenberg rallied Jeremy Collins and Stephen Fishbach around her to vote out Monica for wanting to start an all-female alliance behind their backs.

In an exclusive interview with Reality TV World on Thursday, Monica talked about her Survivor experience. Below is the first half. Check back with us soon for the concluding portion.

Reality TV World: You were obviously blindsided. What did you think was going to happen heading into Tribal Council? Did you think everyone was voting for Wiglesworth?


Monica Padilla: No, we initially said we were going to split the vote in case Spencer had an idol. So the girls were going to vote for Kelly and the boys were going to vote for Spencer. And once the vote was tied, in case he had an idol, we would flip back and just vote Kelly.

So that was the initial plan. When I found my name put out there, I just thought, "Oh, I guess Kelly and Spencer thought they had something going." I had no idea that my own alliance was flipping on me.

Reality TV World: The episode showed you talking to your alliance about how you didn't think Spencer or Wiglesworth had a hidden Immunity Idol, so what led you to believe that? Did you think someone else had the idol?

Monica Padilla: It's not that I believed it. It was more of a precaution I was taking in case they did. Because back when I played the first time, our alliance and our majority got completely thrown because of an idol.

We went into [Tribal] thinking that we were going to vote out [Russell Hantz], Russell played the idol and it screwed us over. So rather than go in and, you know, lose a number or lose one of our own, we just thought that we would split the vote just in case.


Reality TV World: I'm sure you had no idea about Jeremy's idol, right?

Monica Padilla: No! No clue. Uh-uh. I was still looking for the idol at that point.

Reality TV World: When you got voted out of the game, did you consider the fact Kimmi might have ratted you out? Once you had time to reflect on what could've happened, did you come up with any theories as to why your Bayon alliance turned on you?

Monica Padilla: You know, I'm not really sure. I didn't know if it was just Kimmi being stupid with her rationale and just not really thinking her game through.

Because from Day 1, I trusted Kimmi and we were close. And the fact that she turned on me, I don't know if mentioning a girls alliance scared her, but I mean, she's a girl, so I don't know why that would scare her. (Laughs) It's like, "You're not on the outs of this!"


As just a theory of going into the game deeper, [I thought], "Maybe we should just keep the girls strong." So I still don't really know how that was a good decision on her part. I hope it works out for her and she goes to the end, but I just don't see how such a poor way of thinking would work out for you.

Reality TV World: Now having watched the episode back, whom do you feel most betrayed by?

Monica Padilla: Kimmi! 100 percent. I actually trusted Kimmi, I was the most open with Kimmi, I never would've turned on Kimmi, I was loyal to her. She was the first person I aligned with when I started playing the game, and so, it totally sucked because the one person that I was loyal to and trusted is the one person that was my demise.

Reality TV World: Kimmi made it clear she found you annoying at times. Did you have any awareness of that while you were out there or did she just do a great job of acting around you?

Monica Padilla: No! And everyone in Bayon was even more annoyed with Kimmi! (Laughs) I mean, at night, people couldn't even sleep because you would hear her constantly rolling over in the shelter, and they wanted to use that as a reason to target her if we were to go to Tribal.


And I was sticking up for Kimmi going, "Well even if someone's annoying, let's just see how it goes. It's really naive and it's poor gameplay to vote people out because they are annoying." And so, I was sticking up for Kimmi. And the fact that Kimmi was annoyed by me, it's (laughs) like, "Really?! They were all annoyed by you." (Laughs)

Reality TV World: I want to know what your intentions were for the all-female alliance. I'm assuming you didn't actually want to target Jeremy and Stephen right away?

Monica Padilla: No, I didn't plan to target them. But at the same time, I knew that Jeremy was a huge threat physically as well as socially. I knew that Stephen was a huge threat strategically, as someone who knew the game really well and has seen literally every season and has written and blogged about the show.

But at the same time, I trusted them and I was happy to be in a swap with them. I had no inclination that they would turn against me. But going further into the game, I would not keep someone like Jeremy around.

I think I would maybe, at most, keep him around until Final 5 or 4. Kimmi and Stephen, however, I thought, you know, "Here's a cool Final 3. Here's a possible winnable Final 3" -- honestly and truly in my head and in my heart. So yeah, those are my thoughts on that.


Reality TV World: So it sounds like you were trying to put an all-female alliance together with more of a short-term goal? Like to take out Spencer and keep Wiglesworth around to work with instead?

Monica Padilla: Yeah, I mean, I thought Kimmi was loyal to me and I was going to be loyal to Kimmi, but you know, maybe I'm not as good of a player as I thought. (Laughs) Because I got played.

Reality TV World: So what were your plans then for the merge? If you hoped to work with Kimmi and Ciera Eastin, is it safe to assume you'd also try to get Kass McQuillen and Tasha Fox onboard with you again? They were also former Bayon members.

Monica Padilla: I did, but I didn't necessarily bond with Kass and Tasha from the beginning of the game. I mean, we were cool, but I never really clicked with them. It's weird because I walked out of this thinking, like, "I never really made a best friend." I mean I speak to them and we're still friends, but we're more of acquaintances at this point.

But in my head, I thought initially, even when we swapped, "Let's keep Wiglesworth because we can trust her. I can work with her. Let's get rid of Spencer. He's more aggressive. And then once we merge, I can work with someone like [Kelley Wentworth], Kass, Tasha -- and we can go forward from there." But I guess that didn't pan out.

Check back with Reality TV World soon for the concluding portion of Monica's exclusive Survivor interview.






About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski