‘Survivor’ star Kamilla Karthigesu feared she’d be cut from season 50 for pregaming

With her ability to forge secret alliances, lie without remorse, and conquer puzzles, Kamilla Karthigesu is a scary Survivor player. But she was the one who was scared into pregaming submission before leaving for Fiji to play Survivor 50 (premiering Feb. 25 on CBS).

That’s because Kamilla feared she would be cut from the cast for violating the often stated — but rarely followed — rules regarding no contact with other cast members. But it is true that had Kamilla reached out to others, she may not have ended up on the anniversary season.

That’s because Kamilla had no intention of playing the game alongside airtight Survivor 48 ally Kyle Fraser again, believing that appearing together on a season less than two weeks after their final four appearance would make them both targets. Cut to: Kamilla arriving in Fiji and seeing Kyle as a castmate. (WHOOPS!)

Kamilla told Entertainment Weekly in Fiji just days before the game began that she would have not have come to Survivor 50 had she known Kyle was there, but what does she do now that he is? We asked the 32-year-old exactly that, while also inquiring about her Coach obsession, her feelings about how Survivor 48 was received by fans, and whom she plans on throwing under the bus this time.

(This is one of 24 deep-dive, on-location interviews with the Survivor 50 cast. Links to the other interviews will be posted at the bottom of this article as they become available.)

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Alright, tell me why you’re going to win Survivor 50, Kamilla.

KAMILLA KARTHIGESU: I’m going to win because I think there’s a lot of people here who are going to be in their heads the whole time. There are people who feel the need to prove that they deserve a spot on 50 and then there’s going to be the people who feel they have this reputation to maintain. And I’m free of all of that. I did 48. I’m proud of 48. Nothing can take away from that. My reputation is not going to be tarnished if I do poorly on 50, so I’m free of that. I’m not going to be in my head this time. And I think that’ll free me to play the game however I want to play.

I know you just played, but any life updates since your last time out here?

Not really. Didn’t we talk less than two weeks ago?

I know, it’s crazy. You just did this. So why are you here doing it again?

Because it was so fun. The thrill of telling all the lies and not getting caught, seeing people fall for my lies, winning individual immunity not only once but twice! That gets you on such a good high. Oh, and pulling off blindsides is very fun and I just want to feel it all again.

Any regrets on anything from the last time you played?

Not at all. Nothing. People are like, “Oh, surely you regret not practicing fire enough.” But no, I don’t. And this is crazy. It’s going to sound like I’m just coping, but I firmly believe if I spent any less time in the gym and any more time on fire, then we would’ve been Vula because I would’ve been so bad in the challenges. David wouldn’t be able to make up for it and then I would’ve been gone.

How long could you not make fire for during that fire-making competition?

I think it was like 20 minutes. It wasn’t as bad as other ones that were 40 minutes.

Shout out to Becky and Sundra. How do you think the other contestants see you?

I think they think maybe I am a good liar. Maybe there might be some who see me as physical liability in challenges. I think those are the two main ones.

But the fact that you won two immunities, do you think that negates some of that?

Maybe people would be like, “Oh, she’s good at puzzles.” That would be the other one.

Self-evaluate for me. What’s your biggest weakness in this game?

My biggest weakness in this game is the fact that Kyle is here. I feel like that’s something that Jeff should have disclosed to me when he asked me if I wanted to come back for 50. Because if I knew Kyle was going to be here, I’d be like, “Okay, let Kyle have this season. Call me back for 51, 52, 53, whatever.” Because everyone just saw us play together on 48. They saw our secret alliance. We talked about having a secret alliance pretty much every episode. So it’s in their minds, it’s very fresh.

And we used our secret alliance to spread a bunch of misinformation, which won Kyle the game and which got the jury to say that they would all have voted for me if I had made final Tribal Council. So that doesn’t look good for either of us. And now that both of us are here, I feel like people are going to want to keep us as separate as possible — might even want to vote one of us out pretty early on so we don’t get to the merge together. I don’t like it.

When did they ask you to be on 50?

They first came to be around the finale of 47, which would’ve been when the preview of 48 would’ve aired. And I got a call, and it initially started as a, “Are you excited to see your preview? I hope you’re excited. Are you going to watch it with your family?“ I’m like, “Yeah, yeah, yeah.” And they’re like, “So what are you doing this summer?” I was like, “Oh s—!! It’s happening. I’m free! I’m free! I’m a hundred percent free.” And they’re like, “Do you want to check your calendar or anything?” I’m like, “No, no, no. I’m a hundred percent free!”

You said you wish Jeff had told you that Kyle was going to be on. I find it very hard to believe you and Kyle were not talking offline about this.

So Kyle was a hundred percent sure that I was going to be on 50. A couple of people were very sure I was going to be on 50 and they would call me and they’d be like, “Kamila, are you on 50?” This was before I got the call, so I was genuinely like, “No, I haven’t gotten the call yet.” I heard other people got the call and maybe they’re just saving us for later, maybe for 51 or 52 or whatever. Or maybe they just want to see how our season is received by everyone else. And so I kept saying no to Kyle.

Eventually I get the call and they kind of scare you. They’re like, “We already cut people for pre-gaming. Don’t tell anyone.” So I did not want to tell anyone and continued to lie to everyone. And then there was a cast leak about a couple of days before we flew out. I think it was around the finale. There have been multiple rumored casts, but this was the first time I saw my name on it. So I was like, This actually might be real, but why are there three of us from 48? I had assumed Kyle was an alternate, and then I got here. He is not an alternate.

So you really didn’t know until he was here that he was on the season?

I had a feeling, but I thought he was an alternate.

That’s crazy. I assumed you guys were being Chatty Cathys the entire time.

I was too scared and he didn’t tell me, so I assumed he was too scared. They told me that people got cut for pre-gaming the day I got the call. And so I was like: I don’t want to tell anyone because if word gets around and then they find out like, “Oh, Kamilla said she got the call…” and they’d be like, “Alright, you’re gone.”

Did you think Joe was going to be here?

I saw rumored cast lists and they included both Jonathan Young and Joe and I was like, Okay, they’re keeping both of those guys? You couldn’t have just one insanely jacked dude? You need two?

How did your name get on the list if you didn’t tell anyone?

I don’t know where that list came from. The rumored cast list with Joe I saw months ago. I saw Jonathan’s name months ago and the lists would always say “season 48 woman” but they thought it was Sai instead of me and I’m like, Good. Everyone believes it Sai and not me. I can keep lying.

Alright, so now what do you do? You’re here. Joe’s here. Kyle’s here. What do you do about that?

I do what I do best and that is throw other people under the bus. I’ll be like, “Well, there’s these two people from 49. We don’t know what happened on their season.” I assume both made it far. My theory is one winner per tribe, and we have Dee and Kyle and we’re missing our third winner, and I think it’s one of the people from 49.

And even if it’s not, I’m just going to tell everyone that that is my theory and it’s probably true because when have I ever been wrong about anything? Never. And so yeah, I’m going to throw them under the bus. I can throw the people from David vs. Goliath under the bus because David vs. Goliath was many years ago and they’ve had all those years to form actual relationships outside of the game.

Are you assuming that they’re going to put a 48 person on each tribe?

There’s no way they put me and Kyle together unless they want one of us to be sent home immediately.

So let’s say you get to the merge and Kyle’s there. Now what do you do?

That’s going to be rough. I mean, no one will let us talk to each other. I honestly think if I ever go and talk with Kyle, I’m going to announce it to the whole group and say “Hello, me and Kyle are going to get water. Would anyone like to attend us?” Because I feel like if people see me and him wander off, they’re just going to freak out.

How big of a disadvantage do you think it is that your season was literally the last thing all these people watched?

Yeah, I feel like the recency bias is real. Everyone saw that. On the flip side, everyone saw us lie to Joe, but as long as Joe doesn’t hate me for that — and I don’t think he did, we talked after the game and he seemed cool about it — Joe and I were working very closely during 48. He told me that David and Mary were throwing my name out very early on and that he wanted to protect me. People here don’t know that because it wasn’t on TV.

I also intentionally didn’t talk about it in my exit press because I had a feeling Joe would be here, and I wanted to see if we could play that up that Joe hates me. I have to talk to him and see if he’s down to do that, but I think we can play up that I lied to him and then maybe work together.

You’re telling me you and Joe didn’t talk at all before you all came out here?

I didn’t reach out to him. I was afraid he would not be happy to see me. And then he’d go to casting and be like, “Kamilla’s trying to pre-game!” and then they’d cut me.

I just don’t like that you’re hiding stuff from me in exit press. That really hurts, Kamilla.

I had to hide it from everyone on 50.

I think I know the answer to this, but anyone in particular you’re excited to see out here on the island?

Did you say you know the answer for this one?

I think I do.

Okay, who?

It’s Coach.

Yes, it’s Coach. You asked me last year who my pick was for 50, and I said Coach, and then I said my three favorite Survivor players are Coach, Phillip Sheppard, and Q. I got two out of three.

So do you want to play with them?

Right now, I don’t want to play with Q because I don’t want an alliance member who’s going to be like, “Vote me out!” every other Tribal Council. In my head right now, I’m like: What if I can be the mini-Dragonslayer next to the big Dragonslayer and we can go and slay all the dragons together? I’d be like, “Coach, Shauhin was a dragon and I slayed him! Can I join you in your cult of Dragonslayers?” And we’ll see how that goes. In my head, during pregame stuff, I feel like I’ve seen him smile and wink at me a lot, but I don’t know if that’s reality or if I’m seeing what I want to see.

You want to be the assistant coach?

Yes, I want to be the assistant coach! Initially, I wanted to get a special agent name and be part of Stealth R Us, but he’s not here.

Tell me about what you’re noticing from some of these players out here. Is anyone standing out in a good or bad way in terms of the way they’re handling the pregame?

I think they changed the pregame process possibly sometime between 45 and 42 because Jonathan Young seems very impatient and I’m like: I thought all of the new-era people went through the exact same process? Dee and Emily are fine. Everyone like Dee, Emily, everyone from 46, everyone from 48 is chill. Jonathan Young and everyone before him though…. Coach was losing his mind the first day and he was asking one of the handers, “Has anyone ever ran out of the tents because they lost their mind?” And she’s like, “No.” And he turned to me and is like, “I’m about to do it.” I’m like, What the f— is going on Coach?

He tries to get away with a lot that no one else would even think of trying to test them. He definitely feels like he can get away with a lot. So clearly they didn’t go through the same pregame process with the old-era people. A lot of them don’t seem prepared for it. Ozzy seems fine, but the rest of them, it doesn’t look like they can handle it.

Who are you wary of out here?

Genevieve. Maybe it’s recency bias again, but 47 is pretty fresh in my mind and she was just flip-flopping. One day, she’d work with you, the other day, she’d be throwing your name out. And she lied to a lot of people and they couldn’t tell she was lying to her, so that’s kind of scary. I didn’t have to deal with many liars on 48. I don’t know how I’m going to deal with them on 50. And also, I think she was good at puzzles. I feel like I remember her crushing a puzzle in one of the individual challenges, and I don’t want too many puzzlers around because I need to be the one puzzler everyone wants.

The mistake you made in 48 is that you guys didn’t brand your move like Operation Italy. It’s all about the branding.

I think it’s good that we didn’t brand it. Now everyone has that in their mind. People don’t have a name to our move. People forgot about the Thomas move. There were people complaining about, “What have Kyle and Kamilla done all season other than talk about a secret alliance? They haven’t done anything.” It’s like, Guys, you forgot about Thomas!

Does that bug you? How much did you pay attention to general reaction to your season?

I didn’t really care. I was one of the people who prior to going on Survivor would go on Reddit after every single episode and read everything on Reddit. I did not care much for the rankings of 48 because while I was out there, the strong five were preaching about the honesty and integrity. David had the audacity to talk about how everyone at home is going to love this season because they’ve never seen a season like it. And I would be like, “The people online are going to hate it!” And so when I saw the ratings of all the episodes in the mid-merge tank, I was like, I knew this was going to happen. 

Do you care about that?

No, I don’t care.

Anyone else you’re wary of?

Q, because I don’t know what’s going on in his mind. And also, if he asks a question that I think is innocent and I give a genuine answer, he might take it as a, “Oh my God, you can’t trust her. She’s playing the game.” He took hide and seek seriously. He took “Who’s your favorite Survivor player?” seriously. If you say Aubry, you’re wrong. And Aubry’s here, which is going to be fun to see.

Give me your take on playing with Mike White.

Doesn’t he have other things to do right now, like work on The White Lotus or something? Also, he looks confused and lost every time he walks into a room or every time he shows up. And I can’t read him because he just constantly looks lost.

Anyone else you do want to work with?

This one’s going to sound a little funny, but I did want to find someone who was the opposite of me and work with them so that people wouldn’t suspect that we were working together. And so I think Colby and me have nothing in common. I feel like if we were to work together in the game, people really would not expect that.

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Other Survivor 50 deep dive player interviews:
• Survivor 50 star Ozzy Lusth opens up about hitting ‘rock bottom of my life’
• Survivor 50 star Aubry Bracco opens up about the ‘freedom when you fall from grace’ 
• Colby Donaldson reacts to playing Survivor for the first time without Jerri
• Angelina Keeley refused to do Survivor 50 unless they gave her a jacket
• Survivor 50‘s Coach goes deep on evolving from an ‘arrogant ass’ into the… Tide Walker?
• Survivor 50 star Jenna Leiws-Dougherty is ‘here to f— you over in every way, shape, or form’
• Cirie Fields says winning The Traitors does not take sting out of Survivor loses
• Mike White on how he is handling Survivor 50 castmastes angling for White Lotus cameos
• Chrissy Hofbeck opens up about controversial season 35 finish and being bashed by previous cast
• Rick Devens explains why he is a lunatic that wants to play with other lunatics
• Stephenie LaGrossa Kendrick wants to prove that ‘mom really is a badass’
• Christian Hubicki wanted to tell Survivor 50 pre-gamers to ‘f— off’
• Genevieve Mushaluk on why watching Survivor 50 will be more terrifying than playing it
• Dee Valladares welcomes being one of Survivor 50‘s biggest threats: ‘I want them to come for me’
• Q Burdette reveals ridiculous things he did to prep for Survivor 50