S31: Monica Padilla

[Oscirus]

Eye candy.

 

Has there been a two timer who's been less memorable then Monica?

[Guest]

http://www.people.com/article/survivor-cambodia-second-chance-monica-padilla-exit-interview

 

Another Monica interview.  She definitely admits to being bitter and, without coming right out and saying it was rigged, believes she was sent home to keep Kelly and Spencer around, who the fans probably wanted to see more.  She also said she wouldn't do it again knowing what she knows now.  Of course she has to insult Kimmi by saying Kimmi wouldn't be smart enough to come up with getting rid of her on her own (personally, I might tell Ms. Lawyer that Kimmi at least is smarter than her since she never even saw the blindside coming and had no idea her #1 ally didn't like her).  And, you know, Kimmi is still there.

 

How she even got up for the vote is still beyond me.

Interesting.   She's basically saying the show stepped in to save Kelly and Spencer?   Jeff does seem to have a real hard-on for Kelly but I don't think they'd step in and change a vote.  Why would Kelly want her wet sports bra at Ponderosa, anyway?  They have clean clothes for that.

 

I kind of balked at this quote in there.   Did anyone really fear Monica going in?  Outside of the interviewers making them comment on everyone and them trying to say something nice about people?  

 

Before the season began, several of this season's contestants told PEOPLE that they were afraid that Padilla would aggressively walk away with the game.

 

[ByaNose]

Yeah, I thought she was going to be a hot firecracker but she was a no show. Even, in Samoa she wasn't but I guess I thought there was something there. Pretty much a dud and I doubt there will be a third times the charm season for her.

[Guest]

So why didn't that work out?

Look, you have people like Spencer playing again, and Kelly Wiglesworth, and I think that the "Survivor Gods" give them some protection. It's like, "Who's more expendable out of the three? Who do the fans want to see go home, and who do they want to stay?" So I think there's some of that influence. It's just funny to me how Spencer was on the chopping block and we swapped. And it's funny to me how I'm not on the chopping block when we go to tribal, and I end up going home. And I don't think that Kimmi's that smart of a player that she came up with that idea all by herself over clams. As much as you can read between the lines, that's my take on it. Call me bitter or in denial or whatever. That's just my take on it.

 

More from Monica above.  It just doesn't make sense.  She thinks the split to three tribes at 18 was thrown in spur-of-the-moment, to save Spencer?  Do they have a buff factory there, and the ability to re-build the challenges to fit three tribes overnight?  Or does she think their idea of saving Spencer and Kelly was to send those two alone to a Bayon dominated tribe, in a pre-planned swap?  

 

And how does she think they got footage of raving mad Kimmi demanding Monica be next to go, if Monica was "not on the chopping block when they went to tribal"?  Did tptb script that and tape it the next morning?  It seems a little delusional.  I think I'll have to listen to her on RHAP to hear more.  

Edited October 26, 2015 by Guest

[KimberStormer]

henripootel to the white courtesy phone.  (I actually felt a little henripootel myself when they didn't want to target Spencer, who is clearly the person to vote out there.  Whatever Stephen says, if you're Timbira and you have the choice between voting out Erinn, and voting out JT, you're fucking stupid if you pick Erinn.)  I think she's definitely seeing things, but I wouldn't be surprised at all if there were some leading questons in confessionals on the order of "have you ever thought about voting out one of your own tribe?  Can't that be a good move at times?  Is there anyone you don't totally trust?" etc.

 

It is hard to blame Monica for her edit.  I don't know why people are like, "she's so boring, good riddance".  We barely got to see her.  If people get a million hours of screen time and are still boring and forgettable (Colby in Heroes Vs Villains comes to mind), then you can safely say they're boring.  When they only get shown when they are voted out, you can't really know.

[loki567]

I was part of the, "Kimmi made a horrible move getting her," club, but I really don't like her tone in her exit interviews and going all conspiracy theorist about the game. It's a little too much like losing a game of checkers and flipping over the board to me. She's played twice and both times she didn't really contribute anything to the season, edit or game-wise. Varner got knocked out an episode before her but was such an entertaining character they make sure to get him a big place in the edit. Wentworth was even more minor character than her in SDSJ and now has a large edit because she seems like she's seizing the opportunity. 

 

I don't want to say that nobody's been shafted on their edit versus actual importance to the game or that females in particular, are far more likely to get downgraded than male characters but still, it's on you to make an impression. 

[Nashville]

I was part of the, "Kimmi made a horrible move getting her," club, but I really don't like her tone in her exit interviews and going all conspiracy theorist about the game. It's a little too much like losing a game of checkers and flipping over the board to me.

 

Echo echo.  Boil down Monica's noise and fury, and all it amounts to is, "They didn't play the game I way I thought they should / wanted them to."  Monica and Russell Hantz should go bowling together.

[NutMeg]

To her defense, in her first tribe she was part of the winning tribe so we never saw anything of her or pretty much anyone on that tribe, except Shambo who later on defected because she was low on the totem pole.

 

Same this season, once again she was a member of the winning tribe (maybe she is a lucky charm, maybe she's just lucky that way/unlucky because lack of edit and because winning tribes get shoddy and make mistakes more easily that losing tribes - no wonder winners more often than not come from losing tribes, but I disgress).

 

She doesn't belong in the category that we see a lot of, unless she creates drama. I do remember her from her first season because she was one of the few that was not going to slaughter without a fight when it was clear her original tribe was getting pagonged - same reason I remember Laura from that season. The only other two I recall from that tribe are Eric, because he was an excellent one to vote off from Natalie's point of view and she orchestrated that vote masterfully (and then he pleaded her case at FTC!), and John, because he was gorgeous and a rocket scientist to boot (does Survivor ever cast ugly or even average looking rocket scientists? I think not)   

[Oscirus]

To me, she's been on twice and contributed zip. Hell, Fran was booted first twice and I remember her contributions more then Monica. Jeff has said multiple times that if you're boring, you don't get tv time.

 

Admittedly men tend to get more time but that seems to be because men tend to play more of an "in your face" game then women generally do.

[LadyChatts]

Nutmeg, your post made me think of one of my first loves on Survivor, rocket scientist Dave from Amazon (I rewatched that season recently, and loved the men being taken down on the first challenge-especially when Dave and Rob C, a computer programmer at the time, couldn't put a puzzle together.  Which Probst helpfully threw out there to add insult to injury).

 

Back to Monica, she's friends with Eliza, who also ranted that TPTB are rigging this season for Spencer.  I suppose if people complained they were rigging it for Stephen and that they were purposely hiding all his dopey moments rather than only focusing on them, she'd call everyone sore losers.  I 100% believe that the tribe swap was not meant to save anyone, and instead was meant to do what tribe swaps do best-mess with alliances and make things less predictable.  Okay, so maybe a small part of me believes tribe swaps are thrown in there to potentially save a producer/fan fave and get rid of someone that isn't furthering the plot of the season.  Or at least give them a chance off a sinking ship.  But that is all luck, too.  Had the less dysfunctional members of Ta'Keo wound up on Angkor, Savage and Tasha likely would have been sipping margaritas with Shirin at Loser Lodge.  They couldn't guarantee that Spencer would be safe with a tribe swap.  He may have wound up on Angkor and gotten bounced.  Bayon could have thrown that first post swap IC to save Savage and Tasha and gotten rid of him.  He could have wound back up on Ta'Keo without its winning streak and been booted.  And really, I think Joe's popularity very slightly eclipses Spencer's, just from being on the most recent season.  Why isn't it rigged for him?  Why not rigged for the first ever Survivor runner up, just so it can come full circle for her?  I can understand why people get frustrated with editing, especially when they didn't even get one.  But ask Dan "I'm going to be remembered" Foley if getting an invisible edit is such a bad thing in hindsight.  

 

I think Monica had it set in her head what she was going to do out there and wouldn't waver on it.  I also believe that pre-game alliances without having a back up plan tanked the game for some people.  I just wonder if a lot of that is pure crap from her, because she needs to make it seem like she was doing something out there.  Considering she's been semi mocked in interviews for the invisible edit, it probably is frustrating.  I get it.  But she got outplayed big time, and now seems to be trying to justify it.  I agree with those who believe she's trying to say the problem was her or her game, it was everybody else, and they are going to be sorry for getting rid the big time strategist she thinks herself to be.

Edited October 26, 2015 by LadyChatts

[NutMeg]

I can undersrtand her being bitter Re. her edit. Her first time around, she wasn't shown much, but then she was up for second chance and she was voted in. So maybe then she thought that meants that some people wanted to see more of her. So she played more "agressively" to respond to the expectartions of people who voted her back in. And none of that was shown. And she was edited as a pawn, when she wanted to be edited as a queen. Whether she actually was a pawn or a (potential) queen, her edit sucked and in her place I would be mad too.  

[KimberStormer]

I think she's wrong about the producers rigging it, but she was right about the game and how to play it.  If people are going to vote you out for offering them everything you could possibly ask for in the game of Survivor, I don't know how you can even play it.  Monica did nothing wrong at all.

 

"I want to take you to the end with me"

"How dare you!  Out you go!"

[Jextella]

How can she say her ouster was related to Spencer and Wiggles?  Kimmi, Jeremy, and Stephen cast votes her way.  She must be implying they were somehow "bought"?

 

The only thing I find a little questionable about the show is the timing of people finding idols.  Producers could easily plant them wherever and whenever they wanted. As to tribe swapping and holding certain challenges over others....I don't think they do this because of sheer logistics.  That stuff seems like it has to be planned out pretty far in advance.

 

Like the last tribe swap when they went from 2 to 3.  Some said that was done to help Spencer but IMO, it was the numbers.  It was done at a time when there were 3 equal sized times and challenges to match. 

[ProfCrash]

Many a person has said that they way they are asked questions by Producers in the private talking heads can be leading. They have also said that they can pull people for talking heads at moments that are detrimental to a player. So there are subtle ways for Production to influence a game.

 

We know that the tribe swaps and challenges are planned ahead of times. Production has to have the buffs, the packages to hide the buffs, the challenge pieces and rules ready (ie, built, practiced, adjusted if the practice runs show any problems). Hell, this season Production has to have the challenges done in advance so that they can hide an immunity idol if a clue is found. So there is no way in hell that the tribe swap happened to save Spencer and there was no way to make sure that Spencer did not end up on Agnkor.

 

Jeff Varner was one of Productions darlings and he was fourth out because he ended up on the worst possible tribe. Hell, Andrew is one of Probst's friends and he ended up on the worst possible tribe.

 

I understand being upset with the invisible edit. Got it. You go out to play a game, you think you are doing interesting stuff, and you get zero air time. That sucks, especially after her first season when she got little air time.

 

So she joins Vytas in the insanely bitter camp. They are warnings to people who go out to play a second time that the experience is not necessarily going to be the more positive experience you want. Stuff happens. Alliances work differently in second chance seasons. You can roll with the punches and your different (or not different) edit. Stephen seems to have adjusted to the goofy edit he is getting and seems to be having fun with it. He at least is giving the appearance of understanding where it is coming from and laughing at himself. I'll be interested to hear what Abi has to say when she goes. Shirin and Jeff seem to be at peace with where they left nad how they left.

[Guest]

It was odd to me too that Monica said the show should've at least shown her making her alliance.  Why?  We know she had an alliance and with whom.  Does she think we need to see all 20 people making their alliances?  I guess maybe she thinks it would've been telling to see Kimmi swear allegiance to her on day one.  

 

She said Kimmi hated Kelly from the start.  Did we see anything about that?   I'd be more interested in what's going on there than how poorly Kimmi remained loyal to Monica.  

 

Monica came across smug in this episode and I doubt anyone cried seeing her get blindsided, but Kimmi came off totally annoying and (to me) really stupid (mmv), which I think is worse than Monica's edit.   And I imagine there's more bad edit to come for Kimmi.  

[Zuleikha]

Admittedly men tend to get more time but that seems to be because men tend to play more of an "in your face" game then women generally do.

IMHO, not really. Stephen, Spencer, and Savage are currently all getting a lot of non-gameplay related screentime, and neither are playing a very in your face game. Spencer's is mostly about his trying to learn to be a real boy, which IMHO is making him look a lot creepier than he probably is but also has gotten freaking boring as heck (not helped, IMHO, by the fact that his confessionals are boring... can Wiglesworth's really be THAT much worse that we can't have one single confessional of her talking about not liking the strategizing and focusing on camp life?) Stephen's was all about him NOT having gameplay impact and, per Stephen's blog/Twitter reveals, seems to have been functionally a lie since far from being the tribe outsider, Stephen was in at least two alliances (one of which included Jeremy and Tasha). Savage's, of course, was just lionizing him as big, alpha male (and note how Tasha did NOT get significant screentime while she was on Bayon, even though from what we're seeing on Angkor, she's been the driving force in keeping herself and Savage in the game). I wouldn't describe Jeremy's game play as very in your face, either, although I do think most of his screentime has at least been relevant, and I was much more moved by his confessional about wanting to see Val's growing belly than Savage's supermodel Meet Weird story. So IMHO, there was definitely time that could have been used to show more of what was happening on old Bayon with the women, including Monica.

 

I also disagree with the general notion that alliances shouldn't be shown if they have no impact on the game. What happened on Bayon is having impact on the game. I think it would have been good for us to know that far from being a love tribe as Kass claimed, Bayon sounds like it was a pit of vipers in which everyone was forming alliances with everyone else. IMHO, that would have made the swap a lot more interesting because we would know that there'd been a lot of deception going on and there were real cracks Ta Keo members could exploit. I also agree with Monica that her boot episode would have been more interesting if we had at least the teeniest sense of what she was doing on Bayon.

 

I think Monica is just being bitter with her comments about the Survivor Gods, but I don't think she's necessarily wrong. There's been plenty of chatter over the years about Production asking leading questions in their confessionals. I could totally buy something happening like Kimmi ranting about Monica in a confessional and someone asking something like "So would you consider voting Monica out before Spencer of Kelly W.? or Do you think Monica is more likely to flip to another alliance post-merge than Spencer?" Something that simple could plant an idea in Kimmi's head that she wouldn't have otherwise thought of.

Edited October 26, 2015 by Zuleikha

[Oholibamah]

I think Monica is just being bitter with her comments about the Survivor Gods, but I don't think she's necessarily wrong. There's been plenty of chatter over the years about Production asking leading questions in their confessionals. I could totally buy something happening like Kimmi ranting about Monica in a confessional and someone asking something like "So would you consider voting Monica out before Spencer of Kelly W.? or Do you think Monica is more likely to flip to another alliance post-merge than Spencer?" Something that simple could plant an idea in Kimmi's head that she wouldn't have otherwise thought of.

 

Those may be leading questions, but I don't think they amount to rigging or foul play. Kimmi was obviously upset with Monica, and the show needs confessionals related to the footage they have. TPTB would need to imply some benefit to Kimmi on the back-end in voting out Monica, or reveal information to Kimmi that she couldn't otherwise know (i.e. something Monica had said in a confessional) in order for it to justify any pearl-clutching.

 

I'm not saying those aren't possibilities, but I don't see why they'd risk a potential lawsuit by bribing a known blabbermouth in order to save one specific person, especially in a season stocked with popular fan-voted players. It just doesn't fit Occam's razor for me. I find the edit Spencer's getting grandiose given his actual impact thus far, but not abnormally so. FEATURING popular players isn't breaking any rules.

 

TBH, I've stopped taking anything Eliza has to say seriously a long time ago. I wonder how her brain processed the doublethink of her friend Stephen blindsiding her friend Monica. Because I doubt she's realized it's a game or anything.

Edited October 26, 2015 by Oholibamah

[Guest]

I could almost believe Monica had actual evidence of info leaking out from confessionals, seeing as she's been out there giving confessionals for two seasons and sees/hears things we don't and never will.  But she suggests she didn't think things were manipulated until this season and apparently didn't think so this season until she got voted out.  

 

She didn't seem to think it was manipulation when she landed on a winning-streak tribe and came through a swap with all her allies on her new tribe.

[Oholibamah]

I could almost believe Monica had actual evidence of info leaking out from confessionals, seeing as she's been out there giving confessionals for two seasons and sees/hears things we don't and never will.  But she suggests she didn't think things were manipulated until this season and apparently didn't think so this season until she got voted out.  

 

She didn't seem to think it was manipulation when she landed on a winning-streak tribe and came through a swap with all her allies on her new tribe.

 

Funnily enough, Samoa is one of the only seasons that's pinged my tinfoil hat. 

 

I'll wait and see if Spencer pulls an Idol out of thin air before I make any judgements.

[Ms Blue Jay]

LOL at Zuleika's comment about Spencer becoming "a real boy"; I'm really sorry but that is too good not to quote.

 

Your username always reminds me of Zulema from Project Runway:  "I don't care if you cry, but you're going to cry and cut."

Edited October 26, 2015 by Ms Blue Jay

[LanceM]

To me, she's been on twice and contributed zip. Hell, Fran was booted first twice and I remember her contributions more then Monica. Jeff has said multiple times that if you're boring, you don't get tv time.

 

Admittedly men tend to get more time but that seems to be because men tend to play more of an "in your face" game then women generally do.

 

Yet he continually gives loads of screentime to the likes of Andrew Savage and Spencer Bledsoe who are two of the biggest borewhores ever cast on the show. 

Edited October 27, 2015 by LanceM

[kikaha]

Yet he continually gives loads of screentime to the likes of Andrew Savage and Spencer Bledsoe who are two of the biggest borewhores ever cast on the show. 

 

Spencer went deep his first season: this season he has been at the nexus of much of the action, including three of five TCs... has performed outstandingly in the challenges... and has been both in a dominant position and on the ropes.  Savage was the leader of a tribe that looked like it might not lose a single IC, then got shuffled into an extreme minority position, where he was one of two dead-on favorites to get booted, but was able to flip that terrible luck on its head and again come into a dominant position.  He's performed well in challenges, winning the champions' RC, and like Spencer has been near the center of lots of action. 

 

In short, both have been on roller-coaster rides, in which they have played key roles. 

[Oscirus]

Yet he continually gives loads of screentime to the likes of Andrew Savage and Spencer Bledsoe who are two of the biggest borewhores ever cast on the show.

 

Savage is a borewhore?  The arrogant douche who has a pretty large  hate club is a lot of things, but boring isn't one of them. Spencer on the other hand has been on the outside looking in since episode 2. While you may not like Spencer, you have to admit that his storyline is a tense one. Compare that to Monica who's only complaint is that she's not shown making alliances. Everybody makes alliances, it's not compelling, hence, the lack of camera time.

[peachmangosteen]

While you may not like Spencer, you have to admit that his storyline is a tense one. 

 

I like Spencer and I think his storyline is boring! I mean I really don't need to hear Spencer talking about how he's going to 'have real feelings this time' in every ep. Maybe just one of the times he was shown saying the exact same thing he's already said 100 times we could've seen how Monica got into a position where her tribe was willing to cannibalize their alliance just to get rid of her.

Edited October 27, 2015 by peachmangosteen

[ProfCrash]

I don't find Spencer's story all that interesting. Two seasons in a row he has allied with the wrong people and ended up on the bottom of his alliance. Two seasons in a row he has been saved because someone did something more annoying or he was needed to win challenges. Two seasons in a row he planned to be some strategic mastermind and bungled it.

 

I actually find it pretty boring.

 

I don't even buy that his "boy who is learning to feel" storyline is original. There were shots of him talking about real life stuff with Tony in Cagayan that made the show. He was clearly trying to establish some type of bond with Tony. He forced himself to apologize to kass because he knew he angered her. It didn't work, because Tony and Kass saw through him, but it is not that different then what he is doing right now.

 

Spencer is useful to a tribe right now because he can help them win challenges. So tribes are going to keep them. Spencer is going to be the target as soon as the merge happens and he is no longer useful to the large alliance. Same as Woo.

 

I think Monica would have garnered more air time if she had been at the center of a real alliance with strength. But she wasn't. She didn't have multiple alliances, she had one that she misread. She was not a challenge beast that was valuable to her team. She was not all that important to feeding her tribe. Obviously it was easy to find food for the tribe, they were barvesting those huge clams. Not hard to find or pick up. Yes, Spencer and Jeremy went out fishing but it doesn't look like they have to do that with the availablity of clams and crabs. So Monica was not all that important around camp. Toss in her discussion of a new alliance at the merge, and Monica was an easy target.

 

No one seems to remember Monica from her first time out. I think she ended up on the show because Russell was supporting her and Russell fans voted for her.  She didn't do much around camp or in challenges. She was on a tribe that won a lot so we didn't see them much. So she got no air time.

 

Spencer is a fan favorite so he is getting air time. I don't think his game is good, I think it kind of sucks. I don't think his story is all that different then the first time he played but we are seeing it because of the parrells with Cagayan and because he is a fan favorite. We would be getting a ton more Kelly Wigglesworth is she was interested in talking to the camera, but she is not. We saw a ton of Jeff Varner because he was a fan favorite. We get a ton of Angkor because they suck so badly.

 

Honestly, the number of folks we have barely seen is pretty large. Kelley Wentworth got some air time because of the idol. Kass gets some limited air time. Ciera is invisible. Heck, Jeremy is getting air time because of Spencer but we are not seeing much of Jeremy without Spencer. Heck, we barely got a clip of him with his idol.

 

Terry and Stephen have gotten the buffon, goofy, village idiot storyline. Stephen cannot survive and sucks at camp life. heheheheh Terry is good at camp life and thinks he has a social game. Whoops, he is out at first chance heheheheheh

 

Joe is getting the golden boy edit. He can make hammols! He can fish! He can do puzzles! He has long flowing hair! He is in an alliance of five but knows he is a target and really hasn't done much to change that!

 

Andrew is getting the Jeff Probst Alpha love edit. He provides for his tribe! but the rest is a bit silly, he speaks French! He has a hot model wife who he loves!

 

Tasha is getting the crazy person wrangler edit. She learned from dealing with Kass in her first season and took advantage of Abi's insanity.

[Guest]

I figure the "Spencer 2.0, now with social game" story is going to come into play later, so they're building it up now.  I'm tired of it, too, but not as tired of the prior headline story ("Abi 2.0, now with extra villain-ness").

[ProfCrash]

Yup, the storylines they are pushing are boring. I would love to see more of what is happening with the other tribes and would have liked a bit more on what Monica was doing and some of the others are doing but we say that every season.

 

In the end, whatever Monica was doing was not exciting and probably had little impact on the game. I would go so far as to speculate that booting Monica is not going to have a huge impact on the game because there was such little bulid up to it.

 

I find Monica's bitching that the Producers are rigging the game to be annoying. Focusing on Spencer's storyline is not rigging. Focusing on Spencer's storyline is reading the votes and knowing who people cared about. I would love to see the vote break down for the season and how that correlates with the storyline time.

 

ie I suspect Varner and Wigglesworth got a ton of votes and so Producers were looking to show them, hence Jeff Probst's frustration with Wigglesworth, because the know people care about those two. I suspect Monica was at the bottom of the voting. I also suspect that Ciera and Woo were at the bottom. I think we are seeing Woo because he was on sucky tribes, otehrwise I don't think we would be seeing him.

[Special K]

 

Has there been a two timer who's been less memorable then Monica?

 

In six months, I will be on this board asking y'all to explain to me (again!) who Monica is.

[Jersey Guy 87]

In Monica's People interview she says her "alliance" was Kimmi, Jeremy, Keith and Stephen.  She says Kimmi hated Kelly from day one.  If Kimmi hated Kelly than it's unlikely that Kimmi would be open to a sub-alliance that includes Kelly.  Yet that's what Monica suggested she do - keep Kelly around as part of a potential future girl power alliance.  If Monica was really as tight with Kimmi as she now claims she was she should have gone along with the "let's get rid of Kelly" vibe and not suggested keeping Kelly around.  Also, if three of the people in her alleged alliance are not women than she might want to rethink the girl power alliance idea.

 

Monica is an excellent player of Survivor in her own mind and nowhere else.

[jsm1125]

Yup, the storylines they are pushing are boring. I would love to see more of what is happening with the other tribes and would have liked a bit more on what Monica was doing and some of the others are doing but we say that every season.

 

In the end, whatever Monica was doing was not exciting and probably had little impact on the game. I would go so far as to speculate that booting Monica is not going to have a huge impact on the game because there was such little bulid up to it.

 

I find Monica's bitching that the Producers are rigging the game to be annoying. Focusing on Spencer's storyline is not rigging. Focusing on Spencer's storyline is reading the votes and knowing who people cared about. I would love to see the vote break down for the season and how that correlates with the storyline time.

 

ie I suspect Varner and Wigglesworth got a ton of votes and so Producers were looking to show them, hence Jeff Probst's frustration with Wigglesworth, because the know people care about those two. I suspect Monica was at the bottom of the voting. I also suspect that Ciera and Woo were at the bottom. I think we are seeing Woo because he was on sucky tribes, otehrwise I don't think we would be seeing him.

I don't believe that Ciera was at the bottom of the voting, as she has gotten way too much pimpage from Probst for her game in B vs. W. I think she easily received more votes than at least Monica, Peih-Gee, Wentworth, and Kimmi.

[Ms Blue Jay]

As a Russell fan I have to say it's really funny to me how if I say I love Russell's play in Survivor: Samoa or consider him one of the better players of the game, people always argue that results mean everything, therefore if you are a runner up like Russell you are a horrible player of the game.

 

Yet someone like Monica who was 16th in this season is apparently a good player of the game... who makes good moves..... have to laugh..... 

Edited October 27, 2015 by Ms Blue Jay

[Zuleikha]

Spencer on the other hand has been on the outside looking in since episode 2. While you may not like Spencer, you have to admit that his storyline is a tense one.

 

It's not, though. Spencer has been in potential danger once since the swap, exactly like Monica (who was also on the outside looking in at Bayon per what we know). His screentime is freaking repetitive, which is why I was so snarky in my summation of it. First, I don't buy it. I don't think Spencer's so confused by human interactions--I think he, like many people, naturally prefers to hang out with people with a similar worldview to his and has trouble building bonds with people who have different worldviews. Yes, it's great that he's learned from Woo's smackdown and is trying to do better at new Bayon, but we're being shown this by the very similar talking heads over and over. That's boring! Show me something different from Spencer or show me some ONE different. I would happily... nay eagerly! sacrifice one of the Spencer real boy scenes for one scene with Monica that gives me insight into her position on new Bayon.

 

Also, as far as I can tell, he's been building bonds with Stephen and Jeremy (and principally Jeremy)... not Kimmi, Wigles, or Monica. That's not meaningfully learning his lesson. That's repeating the same behavior--find someone (or some few) with whom he's comfortable and put all the eggs in one basket. If Spencer isn't doing that, then again, show me... and conveniently, that would give one (or all) of the invisible new Bayon women air time.

[LadyChatts]

In Monica's People interview she says her "alliance" was Kimmi, Jeremy, Keith and Stephen.  She says Kimmi hated Kelly from day one.  If Kimmi hated Kelly than it's unlikely that Kimmi would be open to a sub-alliance that includes Kelly.  Yet that's what Monica suggested she do - keep Kelly around as part of a potential future girl power alliance.  If Monica was really as tight with Kimmi as she now claims she was she should have gone along with the "let's get rid of Kelly" vibe and not suggested keeping Kelly around.  Also, if three of the people in her alleged alliance are not women than she might want to rethink the girl power alliance idea.

 

Monica is an excellent player of Survivor in her own mind and nowhere else.

 

Agree to your entire post.  Monica was going to play like Parvati 2.0, Kimmi was supposed to be the Natalie to her Parvati (maybe without the infatuation).  She wanted to flirt, manipulate, and be a puppet master while having everyone else get their hands dirty.  She said she played aggressively.  Did she really, though?  I don't really think she was doing much of anything.  I don't believe it was compelling TV enough to be responsible for her boot.  She didn't get to do the things she wanted or leave the legacy she hoped to, and instead will be remembered as being the new Purple.  And it's all she's asked about, why the lack of screen time, why didn't your tribe trust you, shouldn't you have been better aware that Kimmi wasn't your ally. And even she doesn't seem to have a good enough answer.  She says she was playing, but I doubt it.  I don't think it was a big thing why her tribe didn't trust her, if she says Kelly isn't as invested in the game and is just marching to the beat of her own drum, why not take out someone else that may try and flip down the road.

Edited October 27, 2015 by LadyChatts

[Wings]

 

henripootel

 

 

What does this mean?  

[LanceM]

I am not sure what to make of this if true but it might explain why Monica is not too happy with production.

 

http://insidesurvivor.com/2015/10/survivor-second-chance-episode-5-what-you-didnt-see/

 

sources say that shortly after the Day 7 tribe swap, Monica stopped being interviewed by production. While other contestants were interviewed each day, Monica apparently went without an interview for consecutive days. This is noteworthy if true because contestants are interviewed nearly every day. It is extremely rare for someone to go without an interview for more than two days in a row.

 

 

Between the lack of interviews and the implication the challenge might have been thrown, there is reasonable grounds to believe that Monica might have been set-up to be voted out. Obviously the ultimate decision is in the hands of the castaways playing the game, but a little bit of a push in the right direction has been a part of Survivor since season one.

Edited October 28, 2015 by LanceM

[KimberStormer]

He's our resident conspiracy theorist; you can see him make his case in the tinfoil hat thread!

 

In Monica's People interview she says her "alliance" was Kimmi, Jeremy, Keith and Stephen.  She says Kimmi hated Kelly from day one.  If Kimmi hated Kelly than it's unlikely that Kimmi would be open to a sub-alliance that includes Kelly.  Yet that's what Monica suggested she do - keep Kelly around as part of a potential future girl power alliance.  If Monica was really as tight with Kimmi as she now claims she was she should have gone along with the "let's get rid of Kelly" vibe and not suggested keeping Kelly around.  Also, if three of the people in her alleged alliance are not women than she might want to rethink the girl power alliance idea.

 

Monica is an excellent player of Survivor in her own mind and nowhere else.

 

Because it's completely impossible to have two different alliances, or contingency plans?  As far as going along with the vibe, Monica did.  All she did was suggest.  She voted for Kelly.  Voting out Monica is a crazy and ridiculous overreaction, even if you're so dumb you can't stomach the idea of having more than one option in the game.

[LadyChatts]

Was she so forgettable to production that even they forgot to interview?  I can see Monica sulking in a bush somewhere on the beach, thinking to herself 'I'm supposed to be a feisty manipulative flirt with an all girl alliance like Parvati.  No one is doing what I want them to.  Why is no one making this easy for me?'  With the exception of Varner and PG, I'm somewhat sorry that Vytas, Shirin, and Monica even made it on this season.  And I adore Varner, but he was obviously struggling, health wise.  I don't believe it was in his best interest to be out there under those circumstances.  Monica's a player in her own mind.

 

Interesting thing re: the clams, and them being depleted since S32 filmed just before S31 started filming.

Edited October 28, 2015 by LadyChatts

[Zuleikha]

I am not sure what to make of this if true but it might explain why Monica is not too happy with production.

If true, I also understand why that would make Monica turn into a conspiracy theorist. It does seem strange to me that production would choose not even to bother getting footage given that Monica was in a decent position as part of the 4 Bayon members. What would they have done if Kimmi had humored Monica, not voted her off, and Monica managed to pull it out and become a key player? 

 

People upthread said my examples of leading questions wouldn't be rigging, and I agree from a legal sense. But if interviewers deliberately asked leading questions to influence Jeremy/Stephen/Kimmi to vote against Monica, I do think it puts Monica in an unfair position compared to Spencer and Wigles. She's supposed to have to outlast the other players, not deal with production favoritism.

 

I will admit to being extra suspicious because a friend-of-a-friend was in a short-lived Mark Burnett reality show many years ago. Her scenario was basically fake, and she was given specific lines. This was not a competition reality show, but it was supposed to be documentary style. I've always been suspicious that if Burnett didn't care about faking things for that show, the ethics on Survivor can't be that tight.

[Oscirus]

like Spencer and I think his storyline is boring! I mean I really don't need to hear Spencer talking about how he's going to 'have real feelings this time' in every ep

 

 

 

I don't find Spencer's story all that interesting. Two seasons in a row he has allied with the wrong people and ended up on the bottom of his alliance.

 

I stand corrected. While Spencer might not be as compelling as the producers hope, one can see that his storyline is being built. Whereas someone like Monica is on for four episodes and is really doing nothing out of the ordinary hence the lack of camera time. 

Maybe Monica's right and they sacrificed her for Spencer and Kelly( who from all accounts has been a major disappointment) but I seriously doubt it.

[Guest]

Why would production stop interviewing Monica if they were engineering her ousting?  If they were to do something that blatant, you think they'd make sure everything to the outside looked very status quo.  

 

Plus if they thought/knew she was leaving, you'd think they'd interview her more.  We always hear from the bootee in their boot episode.   Last chance for interesting Monica soundbites, why skip it instead of go for it?

 

As usual, I'm skeptical of that rumor site.

 

So Shirin is on Team Monica about the clams.  She says production put clams there because nature didn't have time between seasons.  

Edited October 28, 2015 by Guest

[phlebas]

If there's a Clam Wrangler on the Survivor production team, I hope he writes a book someday.

[Jersey Guy 87]

Because it's completely impossible to have two different alliances, or contingency plans?  As far as going along with the vibe, Monica did.  All she did was suggest.  She voted for Kelly.  Voting out Monica is a crazy and ridiculous overreaction, even if you're so dumb you can't stomach the idea of having more than one option in the game.

 

You can certainly have more than one option, nothing wrong with that.  However, Monica read Kimmi completely wrong - she was convinced they were closest allies (they weren't).  She was convinced Kimmi would be open to a girls alliance (she wasn't).  She was clearly rubbing Kimmi the wrong way and, as a result, put a needless target on her back.  It may or may not have been the brightest idea to vote out Monica (I'm on the fence about that) but Monica played things completely wrong with Kimmi.

[Ms Blue Jay]

I guess I could understand production preferring Spencer over Monica, but why would they prefer Kelly Wiglesworth over Monica?

 

Monica = PROS:  Young, fit, stereotypically hot.  Starts conflicts with other women (Kimmie).  

 

Kelly = PROS:  The storyline of being from Season 1.  That is literally it.  Nothing else.  She maybe becomes a challenge monster later, but does production even care about those storylines as much as young, bikini clad females who love to start conflict?  If you look at the casting of the past 20 or so seasons, they want hot young chicks in bikinis and care about little else.

 

Does anyone know her racial background?  I googled her last name and seems to be Spanish so i guess Latina or Filipina or at least partly.

Edited October 28, 2015 by Ms Blue Jay

[LadyChatts]

I can see where they would prefer Kelly over Monica simply because Kelly was the first ever Survivor runner up, the first ever challenge beast, the first ever flip flopper in an alliance, and the first to ever have to sit there and the take the wrath of a FTC speech.  And even though I don't know how much say Probst gets in the editing (probably not as much as I originally thought), he seems to have a soft spot for Kelly and old schoolers.  And, he didn't seem to think Monica was going to do good at this game the second time around.  I believe Kelly, even with limited screen time, is more memorable than Monica just for nostalgia's sake.  Maybe Monica wasn't playing the role that they had hoped.  In her interviews, I get conflicted whether she really was actively playing the game or whether she's now re-writing history because she knows she messed up and doesn't want to admit it.

 

I think Monica did have the potential.  Sadly for her, her original season was eclipsed by both Russell and her being on a winning tribe (that spectacularly fell apart after the merge).  And this season, she's overshadowed by the second chance concept and bigger/more memorable fan favorites.  Plus, she was on a winning tribe right up until her boot episode.  I do believe some people play it a little more cautious the second time around, too.  I really wish they would release the voting break down of the people who did make it on, because I am curious where Monica landed overall. 

Edited October 28, 2015 by LadyChatts

[ProfCrash]

Kelly is in excellent shape and has excellent real life type Survival skills. She can pull her own weight in challenges.

 

As for Production interviews, it is easier to see how the process works in Big Brother because of the live feeds. There are Production favorites who are called to the Diary Room regularly, this year John was one of the biggies, and others who goes days without being called to the Diary Room. I think Becky and Meg had patches where they were rarely interviewed. If you are not being called to Production it is a sign that you are not doing much in the game and your chats with Production are boring.

 

I would imagine that the same holds true for Survivor. Monica thought that she had alliances in place and that she was playing a great strategic game. It sounds like Production realized she wasn't and that she was not giving great interviews. Given that we know that Jeff Probst was constantly trying to get Kelly Wigglesworth to say more, I suspect that she was called for interviews because the Producers desperately wanted her to be interesting. I think they saw that Monica was not doing anything of interest and just didn't spend time on her even at camp. I suspect that there is more of that then we know about.

[LanceM]

Stephen described Monica as someone who was "driving 90 mph in a school zone" and that she was "schemes". Him and Jeremy have both strongly hinted that they threw the last challenge to get rid of her. It sounds to me like sh was doing something interesting out there. As to why she wasn't shown much? No idea but then again these are the same producers who thought Savage's story about meeting his wife was the most romantic thing ever and that Spencer's story about he is a big boy now because he caught a minnow was interesting. To Ms. Blue Jay's question above about her ethnicity, Monica is Puerto Rican.

Edited October 28, 2015 by LanceM

[303420]

It has taken me three days to read these two pages. I couldn't read it all at once because I got too bored. Then when I came back to read the rest, I sometimes re-read the ones I'd already read because I'd forgotten I read them. She's that boring.

 

I totally understand that I am at the mercy of what TPTB choose to show, and perhaps I'd have found her more interesting if they showed her more. But there are other minor players/early boots that I remembered better. I remember Boo for his eyes, Dolly for her socks, and Zoe for being Greek, for heaven's sake. I am Latina, and I tend to remember the Latinas, like that one who got sick and mercy booted early. I may not remember her name, but if you told me, I'd remember. Even after being told who Monica is and what season she was on, I can't remember anything about her from Samoa. I couldn't remember her from week to week, and now I will only remember her as the one I could never remember. 

 

I just find that fascinating.

[peachmangosteen]

Stephen described Monica as someone who was "driving 90 mph in a school zone" and that she was "schemes". Him and Jeremy have both strongly hinted that they threw the last challenge to get rid of her. It sounds to me like sh was doing something interesting out there. As to why she wasn't shown much? No idea but then again these are the same producers who thought Savage's story about meeting his wife was the most romantic thing ever and that Spencer's story about he is a big boy now because he caught a minnow was interesting.

 

+1. 

[BigRedCheese]

I think she probably was doing interesting stuff, but since she got voted off early due to that or saying the wrong thing to Kimmi, the editors didn't think there was any reason to show it. I know most didn't remember her from her first season, but she was clear in my mind, she got under Russell's skin like crazy, so I appreciated her for that, and that made her memorable to me. Of course, she's also probably one of the top five most beautiful women to ever play Survivor, so that helped as well.

[Oscirus]

See? If Monica stays over Kelly this week. Monica would've been at Takeo and likely in a position of power come merge time.

Edited October 29, 2015 by Oscirus