Erik Cardona

Erik Cardona is a contestant from.

He is best known for his jury speech that called out Russell Hantz's arrogance and Mick Trimming's lack of leadership skills.

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A proud womanizer, Erik claims that he can date four to five women at the same time without any issues. He has no qualms about chasing after a taken woman (as long as she is not married) just for the fun of the chase. He says, “There’s nothing sweeter than taking another man’s goods.” His top hobby is skirt chasing. Even though he can be found chasing multiple women at once, he says that he does have a special female in his life … his dog, Adrian.

Erik holds two degrees from Pepperdine University in Psychology and Sociology but has chosen a career as a bartender. When asked why he has chosen that specific career route, he explains that he likes waking up around 10:00 a.m. and running on the beach instead of being stuck pencil-pushing in a cubicle. He says that he enjoys life while the “sell-outs” do not.

He greatly admires his father because he has sacrificed everything in life for him. In raising him, Erik observed his father’s mental and physical strength as well as endurance for raising an active boy. He feels that his father’s example has provided him with tools that will help him win this game. In addition to his father’s influence, Erik is self-motivated by his competitive nature and desire to prove to himself that he has what it takes to be the next Sole Survivor.

Currently, Erik resides in Los Angeles, Calif. His birth date is April 13.

Survivor: Samoa
Erik Cardona was placed on the Galu tribe. The castaways was asked to pick a a Leader based on first impressions. Yasmin Giles and Shambo Waters both picked Erik while he picked Russell Swan, who became the leader. Russell S. picked Erik as Galu's strongest member and Erik had to left bundles of wood to the mat. Despite Erik trying his best on his portion of the challenge, Galu lost the challenge because of John Fincher botching the swimming portion of the challenge. Erik was annoyed with John's defeatist attitude and laying on the mat. At camp, the men of Galu clashed over building the shelter. Galu, however won the first immunity challenge.

That was the start of a winning streak for Galu as they won many rewards and immunity twice. During this time, Erik found the hidden immunity idol. However, life at Galu wasn't all peachy. Shambo alienated herself from the tribe and lost the snorkel piece to the fishing gear and allowed a chicken to escape. Erik attempted to catch the chicken but he only ran into a clothesline and fell down. Erik was not only mad with the chicken escaping, but also the fact that no one really cared about the chicken. Galu's winning steak came to an end on day 10. Erik and Russell S. both wanted to vote out Monica Padilla because of her slowing down the tribe enough to allow Foa Foa to catch up and gain a lead. However, most of the tribe rallied with Monica and wanted Yasmin out for doing nothing around camp. Erik agreed with the most of the tribe and voted out Yasmin.

Galu resumed their winning streak afterwards. However, things changed on day 15 hwhen both Tribes was revealed to be going to Tribal Council and the challenge was for pizza and the ability to watch the other tribe's tribal council. However, Russell S. passed out during the challenge and it was cancelled. The Galu men came together and decided to vote out Monica because of her weakness in challenges, close friendship with Laura Morett  and treating the game like a vacation. However, it was revealed that Russell S. was evacuated from the game and the vote was cancelled. The men of the tribe decided to elect Shambo the leader of the tribe in order to further drive her to their side. However, Galu won the next two challenges, keeping the tribe in tact.

On Day 19, there was a major argument between Shambo and Laura. Erik believed that all it did was made Laura look bad as Shambo was crazy. Later, the tribes merged into one and everyone enjoyed a huge feast. Brett Clouser later coined the name Aiga for the tribe. Erik believed that Foa Foa's situation didn't change aside from a new beach. At the immunity challenge, two people, one man and one woman could win the immunity necklace. Erik wanted the highest possible score but failed to score. John and Laura won immunity. Erik wanted to keep the former Foa Foas from winning immunity so they can vote them out. Erik learned from Laura that Russell Hantz had the immunity idol and they decided to flush it while voting out Jaison Robinson, who was not contributing to camplife. However, John convinced Erik to vote out Monica to keep Laura weak and use the Foa Foa's votes. However, Dave Ball thought it was crazy to vote out one of their own. Erik also told Jaison, Mick Trimming and Natalie White to vote out Monica. However, Natalie used this against Erik by telling Laura and Kelly Sharbaugh about the plot. The Galu women told everyone of this and Erik became the target. At Tribal Council, Russell H. played his idol while Erik didn't. This was fatal as Erik was voted out by almost everyone in Aiga in a 10-2 vote.

At Final Tribal Council, Erik told Mick that he didn't do anything to prove himself worthy of the title of leader and told Mick he was responsible for Foa Foa's lack of guts. Then Erik told Russell H. that they had nothing in common and made it to the end despite his pride in his completely unethical game. Finally, Erik told Natalie that despite people looking down on her, she was still at the end of the game and was just as deserving and dangerous as the other two. Also, despite her opinion of being the least deserving, Erik told Natalie that she was the most deserving compared to the arrogant Russell H. and delusionally entitled Mick and he was voting for her to win the game. True to his word, Erik gave his jury vote to Natalie, who won the game in a 7-2-0 vote.

Post-Survivor

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

Trivia

 * The original intro for had Erik's name misspelled with a "C" instead of a "K".
 * Erik is the twelfth person to find a Hidden Immunity Idol.
 * He is the fifth contestant to be voted out while in possession of an idol.
 * Erik is the first person to be voted out by 10 votes. Alina Wilson and Jonas Otsuji would later tie this record. Erik's elimination was the first time this feat was possible.
 * He is the only person named Erik to not be in a season with Amanda Kimmel or James Clement at least once.
 * At Tribal Council, Erik only voted against African-American contestants; Yasmin Giles and Jaison Robinson.
 * Erik was one of the two alternates added to compete in Samoa at the last minute. The other was Foa Foa's Ashley Trainer.