We still have a few more weeks until the Survivor 48 season finale, and, as of publication, one of the remaining castaways competing for the million-dollar prize is a software engineer who hails from Toronto.
Toronto native Kamilla Karthigesu, 31, previously stated that people won’t see her as a physical threat (she’s only 5’1”), but she’s been playing a strong game so far — despite not being part of larger, stronger alliances, she’s been using her secret alliance with Kyle to stay in the game. And perhaps it might be enough for her to be the sole survivor, following in the footsteps of Toronto-based champion Erika Casupanan (Survivor 41) and Maryanne Oketch from London, ON (Survivor 42).
Her gameplay captured the attention of Survivor 47 winner Rachel Lamont — in a recent episode of On Fire With Jeff Probst, Lamont said she’s impressed with Karthigesu’s performance so far!
“As much as it’s hard for Kamilla to not be in this majority alliance, she has done really well for herself to establish this incredible trust with Kyle, so much so that he is telling her everything and continually putting his neck on the line to save her, ” Rachel said on the podcast. “Like we heard Kyle say in this episode — that Kamilla is invaluable to his game, and that’s a testament to how well Kamilla is playing.”
Lamont added that Karthigesu has gotten close with fellow players Shauhin and Joe, too, managing to get them to play bodyguard and spy on her behalf.
“So I think she is optimizing the situation if she can’t be in the Strong Six, then this is about as good as it gets,” Lamont said.
Karthigesu, who graduated from the University of Waterloo, has moved around in the tech world, working for Yahoo, Facebook and Deloitte Canada. In a recent interview with Global TV, Karthigesu said that when it comes to alliances, she looks for someone with a sense of humor.
“It’s so hard to be around unfunny people and people who don’t know how to have fun,” Karthigesu said.
She noted that she has wanted to play Survivor since she was nine because the challenges looked fun. Now, she’s more focused on playing a solid, fun game and representing brown girls in a good way.
“I wanna show all the brown girls life’s better when you ignore the aunties and do the exact opposite of what they want you to do. You be yourself and you love yourself.”
Returning to gameplay — Karthigesu said that she needs to make smart moves, not big moves.
“People have “big moveitis” and then do it too early, and get sent home,” she told Parade. “…And so I guess timing is a big thing. But also trying this one might get me sent home. I want to try and see if I can subliminally force a fluid game. Get other people on board with this idea. Because then there’s a lot of opportunity to make really insane plays.”
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