Survivor: Samoa castaway Monica Padilla is coming back for a second chance at $1 million in the reality show's next season, and her chances of making it far into the game are very high.

Monica is one of 20 one-time players returning for Survivor: Cambodia - Second Chance, after being voted to return by America. She previously played in Samoa where she was part of the dominant yet ultimately destructive Galu tribe, coming in seventh place. She, along with most of the cast, was overshadowed by the presence of Russell Hantz and never fully got to shine as a character until her boot episode.

Through the pre-merge of Samoa, Monica was a good social player though mostly quiet, making an alliance with Laura Morett and Kelly Sharbaugh. The Galu tribe only had to lose two members in the pre-merge, and they entered the merge with an 8-4 advantage over the other tribe, Foa Foa. However, Russell's Hidden Immunity Idol(s) saved him and his fellow Foa Foa members as they completely dismantled Galu.

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Monica was one of the last remaining Galu members and during her boot episode, she stirred up a lot of trouble as she campaigned to get Russell out. It wasn't enough to keep her in the game, but her fearlessness was still fun to watch.

Now, heading into Cambodia, Monica does not have any baggage or a noteworthy reputation, especially compared to other players like Cagayan's Kass McQuillen or Worlds Apart's Joe Anglim. If she plays the game well enough, Monica should easily be able to float by as the bigger egos target each other, allowing her to get to the merge with relative ease.

From there, it will depend on the strength of her alliance and if she's on the right side of the numbers. She seems more like a follower than a leader so she probably wouldn't be an early merge boot. However, she does have a certain amount of likability to her that may make her a target heading towards the final days of the game.

Cambodia Prediction: Monica will probably make the merge pretty easily and will only be voted out at a very late stage in the game. We don't know if she's fully cut out to be a big strategist but she has the potential to become the next Parvati Shallow in terms of being a flirt and using her powers of persuasion. Under-the-radar females tend to win these returning player seasons, but we think Monica will come up a little short of that Final Tribal Council.

We predict: 5th place.

Previous Cast Assessments:

Kelly Wiglesworth (Borneo)
Kimmi Kappenberg (The Australian Outback)
Peih-Gee Law (China)

Survivor: Cambodia - Second Chance premieres Wednesday, Sept. 23 at 8 p.m. ET/PT on CBS.

Tags
Survivor, Reality TV, CBS