Karla Cruz Godoy, who stars in 'Survivor' Season 43 on CBS, wears

‘Survivor 43’: Karla on Her ‘Daenerys Targaryen’ Ending and Why Jurors Cared About Fire-Making

Karla Cruz Godoy explains her controversial 'Survivor 43' game and working against Cassidy Clark.

by Nicole Weaver

Published on December 15, 2022

4 min read

Survivor 43 jury votes are big focal points for fans. Showbiz Cheat Sheet talked to Karla Cruz Godoy over Zoom on Dec. 15. She explained why the jurors focused so much on who beats Jesse Lopez in fire-making and more.

[Spoiler alert: This article contains spoilers from the Survivor 43 finale, “Snap Some Necks and Cash Some Checks.”]

Karla says she had a Daenerys Targaryen ending on ‘Survivor 43’

Q: Going into one of the biggest parts at the end of your journey. How do you feel about the rift between you and Cassidy [Clark] watching it back? I thought, and probably other fans thought, that it started from a lie because Sami [Layadi] said Cassidy was gunning for you. I talked to Cassidy. She was like I was. So it’s like, OK, fair, so at least it didn’t start off on a lie.

Karla: I mean, and that’s the hard part, right. Is when you see Sami say that the Internet’s like Karla, ‘Why would you ever, you know, like, why would you gun after her?’ But that was the truth. And so I was able to confirm it, and she confirmed it.

And it’s like, I’m not acting out of spite. It’s the truth, which you didn’t see. I think it’s unfortunate because, like we were the last remaining women, and I hate for it to be that it was the way that it was out there. I was in the mentality that it’s a game, it’s a game. We’re not here to make friends. This isn’t about making best friends. This is about winning $1 million.

And it’s a game. And so, especially toward the end of the game, I knew I was at the bottom and I had to do what I had to do to try to stay in the game. And I call it. I’ve been telling everyone this was my Daenerys Targaryen moment. Like if I have to swing at everyone, I will swing at everyone. I clearly swung on myself.

And so it’s just it’s sad because there’s so much respect that I have for Cass, and I feel that the show just made it seem like all these boys and, you know, and the two of us were just riffing because of the boys. Why was it like that? I mean, why did they set it up like that? You know, it’s just unfortunate.

Karla says she was bluffing when she threatened Cassidy’s votes

Q: Very, because I think you would actually give kudos to Cass’s game a little bit more if they even did, like include that she had the forethought of like, ‘Yeah, I’m working with Karla. But Karla’s also a big threat.’ So part of the good storytelling. So, OK, you knew you were at the bottom, you’re fighting for your life. You were trying to get Cass to target Jesse. It was not working. You then threatened Cassidy, saying you could sway the jury. She did everything that you and James [Jones] were doing on Coco. She took offense to that. I think one of the main questions, did you follow through on that?

Karla: No, listen. I feel like everyone’s coming after me right now because they think that I have the power to sway an entire jury. We all sat down at this table, and we all talked about it. The moment that Jesse came onto Ponderosa, it was kind of like his words onto mine, and we were all just fact-checking. And so that was my bluff. That was my game strategy to her, to be like, if you don’t see Jesse as a threat, then like, you know. And so I thought it would work, but it didn’t. But when at the Ponderosa, it was mostly like, who did what?

I want–and listen, if Cass would’ve gone to fire against Jesse and or beat Jesse at fire, I would have voted for her. I have no hard feelings about her like I would have. And if she could have told the jury, like, you know, like if she had to move that for me, it was like, what was the move? That’s the hardest part. But I still would’ve written her name down if she would have, like, gone to fire.

Karla explains why the jury focused hard on making fire

Another two bite the dust!??See you all next week as we continue the adventure and catch an all-new @AmazingRaceCBS starting NOW!? #Survivor pic.twitter.com/aQUwDs0vcL
— SURVIVOR (@survivorcbs) November 17, 2022

Q: I think the frustration is with that because we’re now getting to a point where almost winning the last immunity hurts your game than helps your game if the perception is always but did you make fire, though? And since the game is to outwit, outplay, outlast. Outplay, you can argue that’s the challenge win. Outwit is literally, I picked the guy who made the record of fire-making to go against Jesse, that’s like, why can’t that be credited to her?

Karla: That’s a really good question. I think that if the final three did not have very similar games, right, where the three of them didn’t make bold moves or big, bold moves, which is what the jury wanted to see, then I think it would have worked, right?

So she came in with the resume and then said, ‘I’m going to send in [Mike] Gabler and make have him beat Jesse.’ We would be like, fine. Because you already have a resume that you’re chillin’ on, right? Like we’re still going to vote with you, vote for you regardless.

But for us, it was what is the distinguishing factor between the three of you who played very subtle games? We need a big hurrah because the three of them didn’t have big hurrahs. So that’s what it was.

This interview has been condensed for this article.