Debapriya Bhattacharya
Kamilla Karthigesu emerged as a standout personality among the 18 castaways who competed against each other for the title and the grand prize on Survivor 48. She knew she would not be able to match some contestants in physicality during challenges. After the contest began, she prioritized strategy above everything else, turning her apparent weaknesses into strengths. While stranded in the Mamanuca Islands in Fiji, she pulled out all the stops to survive in extreme conditions and managed to outstay 13 contestants to cinch her seat in the finals.
Kamilla Karthigesu Turned Her Childhood Dream into Reality on Survivor 48
Kamilla Karthigesu has been a fan of ‘Survivor’ since childhood. The Toronto, Canada native revealed that it is the only adult show that her mother allowed her to watch as a child. She started following it when she was just 9 years old and has always dreamed of being a contestant. In an interview with Parade, she was asked about what made her feel she could be a perfect fit on the island. She said, “I guess I kind of always wanted to play when I was a kid. Because as a child, the challenges looked fun. And then when I got older and I saw Spencer (‘Survivor: Greece’), I was like, ‘This little boy genius made it very far interesting. I can do that too. I don’t have to be emotional.’ Because I thought at the time I wasn’t emotional.”
She continued, “Like, ‘Oh, then I can get away without doing all the emotional, social stuff, and just play based off of logic.’ So I wanted to play the game since then.” After turning adult, she first sent in a casting application ahead of season 39 of the survival competition show. Since she was in Canada back then, she had to email her audition video and only received an auto-generated email in response. Though heartbroken at the time, Karthigesu is now happy that it took her a while to be accepted, as she felt she was naive at the time and would have been easily eliminated.
Kamilla Karthigesu is a Senior Software Engineer at Discord
Kamilla Karthigesu enrolled at the University of Waterloo in 2011 and pursued a Bachelor of Applied Science degree in Management Engineering until her graduation in 2016. Although she is a Software Engineer by profession, the 31-year-old admits to having been distracted from her dream of becoming a game developer for years. However, she also revealed that she does intend to follow through on her ambition. At present, she is a senior software engineer at Discord and has been at the company since January 2018. As a gamer girl, she was extremely familiar with the platform and had long been vocal about enjoying her work at Discord.
While she is content with her professional journey, the L’Amoreaux Collegiate Institute graduate has faced many setbacks along the way. She initially failed to enroll in the college program of her choice or convert internships into full-time jobs. However, taunts about not being good enough for a computer science or software engineering degree made the “spite-driven, spite-motivated individual” double down on her efforts. “Didn’t get the job I wanted initially. But somehow, a company took a chance on me when I was very underqualified. Here I am! And I’ve been like, at this place for six years, and it’s been great. I mean, it’s game adjacent, not game dev,” she told Parade.
In January 2013, she interned at Deloitte Canada as a Technology Co-op Student for four months, before exiting the organisation in April. In September of the same year, she bagged employment as a BI Implementation Consultant for Mi9 Retail and provided her services for four months.
Kamilla Karthigesu Cherishes Her Bond With Her Family and Husband
Family is central to Kamilla Karthigesu’s life. From what we can tell, she grew up in the Great White North surrounded by the love of her mother, father, and brother. Admittedly, her mother and brother played a huge role, albeit unintentionally, in helping her realize one of her dreams by participating on ‘Survivor.’ She likely left her homeland and moved to the US in late 2015 in pursuit of building a career in the tech industry. Since then, she has settled in Foster City, California. While she calls the US her home as of today, the 31-year-old never misses a chance to create beautiful memories with her family and visits them during the holidays and special occasions.
Alongside her career, Kamilla has also developed meaningful relationships with free-spirited individuals like herself. One such person who has stood beside her through multiple ups and downs is her husband, Derek Sabry. In fact, it was her him who dragged her to the gym to prepare for her ‘Survivor’ journey. Just like her, he is also a Software Engineer currently working at Facebook. While the two have not shared many details about when they got together, we believe they have been dating since 2015, right from their university days. After seeing each other for a few years, the two realized they were meant to be and tied the knot in September 2018 in the presence of their loved ones.
Besides their profession, Kamilla and Derek share a love for travel and have visited Mexico, French Polynesia, Japan, Fiji, Taiwan, China, Vietnam, and Thailand since 2019. Kamilla is also a devout dog-lover and has a golden retriever named Tobias at her family home in Canada.
Read More: Mitch Guerra: Where is the Survivor 48 Finalist Now?
