Monica Padilla

Monica Padilla is a contestant from.

Profile
Retrieved from CBS.com

Monica Padilla is the first in her family to not only complete her undergraduate degree, but also obtain a Juris Doctor. Recently, she graduated from the Thomas Jefferson School of Law in San Diego, where she perfected, what she describes as, her power of persuasion. She fully intends to use her beauty and the fact that she “can sell ice cubes to an Eskimo” to her advantage in the game.

Exotic looks, in addition to intellect, have landed her a wide range of jobs, such as a clerk position at a well-known investment firm, as well as a position playing a theme park Pocahontas. With the keen ability to change from bookworm to party girl in a matter of moments, she is sure she will be able to adapt to anything she comes across on the island. She says that while in the Samoan wilderness, she will miss partying, clubbing and lunch with friends the most, which was exactly what she did in her free time even as she was in the home-stretch of obtaining her degree.

Much like Parvati and Amanda (from SURVIVOR: MICRONESIA), she plans to be as “sweet as pie,” while subtly using the “flirt card,” in order to come off as endearing rather than overbearing. In addition to killing her fellow castaways with kindness, she has every intention of pulling her own weight around camp while studying their words and actions meticulously to “learn about her enemies before she chooses her weapon.” Confident that she can win the title of Sole Survivor, Monica plans to buy a designer purse as her first selfish purchase.

Monica resides in San Diego, Calif., and her birthday is July 14.

Survivor: Samoa
Monica was a member of the Galu tribe, which dominated during most of the Tribal stage of the game. This was good for Monica, who, as one of the weakest members of the tribe, didn't have to worry as much since her tribe kept winning. However once her tribe lost a challenge on Hungry For a Win, her lack of strength was apparent because she struggled in the immunity challenge. This made her a target, but she only received two votes as the rest of the tribe decided to vote off Yasmin Giles due to her lack of work around the camp. Monica grew closer to Laura Morett as they both shared a distrust towards Shambo Waters, the only other person who voted for Monica on Day 11. In This Is the Man Test, the reward challenge was interrupted due to Russell Swan needing medical attention. Jeff told both tribes that they'd see him at Tribal Council that night. Assuming a potential vote, Monica was immediately targeted for being a weaker member of the tribe and for her allegiance to Laura. Monica retaliated by campaigning against Shambo because Shambo appeared to be an outsider and she voted for Monica before. However, no one was actually voted out that night due to Russell's evacuation. With Russell pulled from the game, Galu needed a new leader and the men chose Shambo to sway her into joining their alliance against Monica, Laura and Kelly Sharbaugh. But Galu won the remaining challenges until the merge so the eight-person tribe stayed intact.

At the merge, Russell Hantz approached Monica in an attempt to make an alliance to give his former tribe life in the game, but Monica wasn't interested. However, she decided to vote off tribemate Erik Cardona after deciding he couldn't be trusted. Galu were still confident since they had a 7-4 advantage over the remnants of Foa Foa, and they targeted Russell after he used his Hidden Immunity Idol at the last Tribal Council. However, Russell had another one and he used it to blindside Monica's ally Kelly. The Galu alliance would now be in trouble since Mick Trimming won immunity, making Laura vulnerable, who Shambo had been trying to get rid of for a while and it gave Shambo a reason to flip to the Foa Foa alliance. Monica stayed loyal to Galu in voting for Natalie White (thinking she wouldn't have or be given a Hidden Immunity Idol), even if it meant risking a drawing of rocks as a sudden death tiebreaker. John Fincher wasn't willing to put his life in the game up to chance and he flipped against Galu to vote off Laura. Monica wasn't happy with John for making that decision and was happy to vote him off at the next opportunity.

Now on the wrong side of the numbers, Monica's chances of winning this game were slim but at the very least she still wasn't the top target by the dominant alliance due to not being very strong. However once Brett Clouser won immunity in Damage Control, Monica was the only remaining target. Monica refused to concede defeat and did some scrambling in an effort to turn Russell's alliance against him. It did not work and she was voted off on Day 33 by a 5-2 vote, becoming the 6th member of the jury.

Monica ultimately voted for the eventual Sole Survivor Natalie White to win at Final Tribal Council.

Voting History
In The Day of Reckoning, the vote ended with a 5-5 tie between Laura and Natalie, forcing a revote. Monica did not change her vote at the revote.

Post-Survivor

 * On January 9, 2010, Monica attended Survivor's 10-year anniversary party.

Trivia

 * Monica was the youngest female on Galu.
 * Monica was the only person on Galu to enter the merge with votes against them already.