Meet the 'Survivor 46' Cast! Randen Montalvo Has Trained Himself to Be an Extrovert
Randen Montalvo
When I spoke with Randen Montalvo, his wife and children were already planning out a party for when he returns as the first boot. The 41-year-old's family encouraged him to apply, though they felt his lack of social skills made him more likely to kill a chicken than bring you milk and cookies. But, in Survivor, killing chickens can be essential to live another day. And a tough upbringing has allowed Randen to understand relationships and not being seen. Despite the aerospace tech insisting he's not a Maverick, he still hopes he can defy gravity and become the Top Gun of the season.
Read on for my interview with Randen, and check in with Parade.com daily for interviews with this season's contestants and other tidbits. Survivor 46 premieres on February 28 with a two-hour premiere on CBS.
Related: Meet the Full Cast of Survivor 46
Interview with Randen from Survivor 46
To start, give me your name, age, and occupation.
My name is Randen Moltavo. I'm 40 years old. I'm a technical consultant from a large telecom company. And part time I fix aircrafts for the United States Air Force.
Part-time?!
Yes, I do. Yes. It's pretty cool.
What amount of time do you spend doing that?
One weekend a month, two weeks a year, and more depending on the need.
How did you end up getting into something so incredibly different from your tech job?
It's kind of random, right? One has nothing to do with the other. Random Randen, let's just call it what it is. It's really cool to get out of your comfort zone. So I'm in front of a laptop all day, troubleshooting technical things for the West region. But I also love engineering and sports cars. Unfortunately, there were no sports cars in the military. And I needed a hedge on the market. So, I joined the military. I was interested in the Air Force. I was interested in working on aircraft. And I'm having a blast, man. It's awesome.
So, what exactly does your work involve? I have the most stereotypical image of you in a jumpsuit with a wrench in the middle of a giant aircraft engine.
[Laughs.] No. First, let me dispel the notion only 4% of the Air Force flies. Because every time I say that, everybody goes, "Oh, you fly?!" No, I'm not Maverick. I'm not Goose. So, I fix structural. Everything that has to do with structure on helicopters and C-130s, I assist the team. I am not the best, but I work as hard as I can. And it's been something I've been doing for about 13 years now.
And how did you get into your other job?
I've been working for that other job for 18 years. It was actually first. I've been working for a long time, worked my way up in that company. It's my best job ever. I absolutely love it. Technical consultant, I know it sounds loaded. But I love troubleshooting very complex problems. And I can't say exactly what it is for proprietary reasons. But it's a blast for me to discover the what if and why.
Well, let's talk about the ultimate "what if" and "why." Why Survivor? What made you decide to add this to your already-loaded resume?
It's a tough one. So my family, my daughter specifically, and my wife watch this religiously. So they bet me one day. They're like, "Hey, you've been through a lot in your life. Why don't you try Survivor?" And I said, "What are you talking about?" I've had a really, really chaotic childhood. I've gotten to a point in my life where I work so hard to provide for my family. And my wife was like, "You can do that. You're probably not gonna make the merge." And my daughter says, "You're probably gonna get voted out first." So you might understand, very competitive family.
Very competitive, but also not very encouraging. "You're not gonna do very well, Dad, but we'd love to see it!"
[Laughs.] She says, "Out of the group, think of the person who would bring cookies and milk to your door. You're not that guy." [Laughs.] "If you twisted the ratio and said, 'Who would look like they'd kill a chicken if they see it?' then your odds increased dramatically in terms of favor." So I was like, "You know what, honey? I'm gonna apply." And I did, because I like to put my money where my mouth is. My daughter says she's gonna have a number one party for me when I get back if I get voted out first. It's so bad. That's not even funny. That's terrible.
So many people out here say they're playing for their family. You're playing so your daughter won't throw you a humiliating party if you're voted out first.
My daughter is the ultimate troll. I love her to death, but she is dying for me to lose in the beginning. So, I have a lot to prove. And it's definitely a big deal for me. I know that I'm gonna have to have a lot of talking, a lot of relationship building. If I don't, I will be out faster than you could say "number one party."
When it comes to your history with Survivor, you mention your wife and daughter watching it religiously. Was it something you picked up through osmosis? Or were you as into the show as them from the beginning?
So we started to have a family night. And these days, family at the dinner table, it's kind of a rare thing, sadly. We just don't do it. So my wife decreed–and I say decreed because she is the queen of the household–she says, "We shall watch Survivor together." So [it's] me, my daughter, and my wife. My son is too young. He's four, he doesn't like it. He calls it "Surbiber." He's four, he wants to be on his iPad. So, no problem there. And we started watching it.
I started watching it during the Boston Rob, Parvati, and Russell era. We started watching it on various networks because we couldn't find all of them in one place. Now you can, I see. So that's pretty dope. Or cool. I'm dating myself there. People don't say "dope" anymore. And then, all of a sudden, it became a thing. And I started to really like it. I liked the dynamics of it. Now granted, old Survivor and new Survivor, I say there's a difference because I see a cadence difference. And also, the players are different. The type of players and the type of game is just so much more fast paced.
Talk to me more about that. Because you're someone who's been watching for a while. Do you feel your personality is suited for the new school game?
I just watched 44. I just watched the fastest firemaking person get one vote. I watched the person who I was rooting for, Carolyn, get no votes. And she had, in my opinion, one of the best games I've ever seen in modern Survivor. And then I watched the guy who I didn't think was going to win, but masterfully played the relationship social game, win the million dollars almost unanimously. He didn't find the idol, to my knowledge. He wasn't a beast in challenges. He won one; he won Last Gasp. How was this possible? He wasn't the most fit. With all due respect to Yam Yam, Heidi was a beast. And so this game is all about relationship building. And without that, it doesn't matter what you do. The challenges allow you to stick in the game longer. But relationships win the game.
Give me one Survivor winner and one non-winner you identify with the most.
I'm going to use modern Survivor because I think it's cliche to go back to the old Boston Robs. So the one that I identify with most, people knock me about it, this is a big debate in my house. I loved Carolyn. And I know I'm very different from Carolyn in terms of personality. But you have to understand, I relate to coming out of the shell, being doubted, and being invisible. Something that's deep within my roots as my childhood. I related with that. I watched her takes from the beginning. Because everybody was looking at her like she had no idea what she was doing. And then, at the end, when she revealed her game, which I think wasn't her fault–well, it was to her fault, but she could not help it–I think that changed everybody to realize she's not playing checkers; she's playing chess.
The winner that I liked from a modern perspective, I like opposites. I liked Maryanne. People say, "Why? You're nothing like Maryanne." But let me tell you something. I love the art of relationship building, conversation. Maryanne, they counted her out. Everybody counted her out not winning. They brought her there because they thought that they can win. If they brought her to the end, she would be a misnomer. Nobody would want to give her a vote. They didn't count the power of her voice and the power of her game. And some of the moves that she played with her throwing twon on Omar, it was a masterful art of counting somebody out, you think they're invisible. They become visible. By the time you see them, it's too late.
What's one life experience you feel has prepared you most for the game?
Well, nothing really is like Survivor in life. But they are nuances that correlate. So for me, I didn't have a great childhood. I suffered. I ran away from the foster care system when I was younger. I know what it's like to be invisible, which is why I relate to some of the Survivor winners and players. I used to run away from foster care, used to be on the streets. I don't know my parents. I have siblings that I actually don't even know. I know more about Jeff Probst than I do my own biological mother, and I'm not proud of that. And respect to her. I know she's alive somewhere. We're just not there. I just don't have that.
I had a really tough childhood. I'm 40 now, so I've grown a lot from it. But it gave me a certain sense of understanding the moment, being really keen on relationships, and understanding people from the experience of people not seeing me. All my life, I had to struggle to figure out how to be seen. I was an extreme introvert when I was a child, and I still am. People don't know that. If I was on this beach right now, I would have a book and a glass of wine. I'd probably sit here for hours. But guess what? Nobody sees you sometimes. And it's sad. So, I had to teach myself how to be an extrovert.
Right, you have to be the social butterfly that's actually a moth.
Oh my god, the squeaky wheel gets oil. And I had to teach myself how to do that. So people see me, and they're like, "You speak so freely. You don't have any hesitation". I have trained myself. Because if not, I just found that I just mesh into the background.
Now, how is that going to carry over into this game? Because the players like Carolyn and Maryanne that you mentioned were able to successfully mesh into the background until it became time to emerge onto the scene. How are you going to balance your innate introvert with your trained extrovert?
You have to play it day by day. Situational awareness is very keen. So maybe one day, I would look at somebody's game where we're having a conversation, and I see that they need me to be a certain way in order to motivate them a certain way. But you can't be full-tilt hands-on. Yam Yam, for instance, he wasn't 100% full on at all times with his funniness and his humor. He peeled back sometimes. He also had great [rapport] with with Carolyn. Sometimes, there was some cattiness going on. "I can make a fire faster than you." It's like driving a car. You have to know when to hit the gas, and you have to know when to brake. If you do everything too much for too long, people will find out your game. They'll call you on it. And you'll be taking a free flight home.
How do you think you'll be perceived initially? You talk about your tough childhood and the way people talk about you. Do you think that will play off on the beach?
Remember, I told you I do not have the first impression I think. According to my wife, [I'm not the guy] that brings cookies and milk on Sundays. So I think I'm gonna have a really tough game. I'm not gonna lie. I think the odds are heavily stacked against me. In my livelihood, I analyze things. That's part of my other job. I have to play so hard to connect with people. If I don't connect with people, if I can't build a relationship using my words. No matter if I win challenges. I know people are gonna see me as a threat, because my presence is a threat unless I speak to you. And I can tell you right now, I'm not the fastest. I'm not the fastest runner here. I'm not the fastest swimmer here. I'm not the tallest, not the shortest, not the strongest. So, all we have is our bonds at this point. That has to be my body.
What are you looking for in an alliance?
Everybody has seen 44 already. We have the blueprint. I know that some people are going to try to recreate that, and they're going to fail because you can't be them. That Three Stooges, that's been set in stone, that's a Hall of Fame. And you can't recreate that. So for me, I want my alliance to be healthy tension, chaotic. I want us to misdirect like we're not getting along, like we're not really an alliance.
I want to be able to talk to somebody and say, "Hey, listen, when we're in Tribal, act like you don't like me. And be nuanced about it. Don't fake it. Just act like you don't like me. I don't want you to always like me." And I want to develop a sphere of people that understand that this game, we can't be buddies all the time. Because eventually, somebody's gotta go.
Let's talk about that sphere of people a bit more. Who are you picking up good vibes from here in the preseason?
I can tell you that there's already two survivors that I've seen that really want to talk to me. I can tell. They're always looking at me. They're always watching what I'm doing. They're studying me, because they know that I can talk. That's a gift and a curse. Remember, I told you I'm not the oldest; I'm not the youngest. I know that already. I can tell, just because of the vibes. I'm just purely Randen speaking, being honest with you. There's one person here who I'm going to struggle the most with.
She's a beautiful, mature woman. And I have a feeling that she's been around in terms of understanding personalities. And I have a feeling I'm going to have to get her out immediately. She wants to connect with, I think, some of the females. And I see the effort there. I see certain nuances in looks. She won't make eye contact with me at all. I noticed that. I actually tip my hat off to her because I respect it. So she's going to be hard.
There's another player, another female, that I think is not making eye contact with anybody. She's hardcore. It's not hardcore because of no eye contact. You can tell that she knows what she wants in this game. The others are trying to be nice in the beginning. Now, that can change. But, remember, I told you if I can't build a relationship, I'm going to lose. I have to build a relationship where it matters. So it's either I get her out, because I could not do it. When I go into the game immediately, if I can't build a relationship with her, I want her out. Because she's gonna go where she feels welcome.
So there's one brother. I describe him as that guy from Sparta. He has a beard from like a Greek god, okay. It's just ridiculous. I don't know if it's real. I will ask him politely in person. But he has this amazing beard. And I'm just saying this because I'm a fan of the beard. I've been trying to grow one for quite some time. I have to shave it every month because of the military. I can tell that he's willing to deal. I get a sense of him that he's been always checking out for me. It's hard because we're very restricted in what we can do. But he's always cognizant of what I'm doing. And he always gives me the the nods, the eyes. And I'm like, "Okay, brother. I see what you're wondering."
[Author's note: The contestant Randen was describing was an alternate cast member for 46 and ultimately did not make the season's final cast.]
There's another dude. He's very tall. He's the tallest of the bunch. So you can't miss him. I can tell he was a swimmer or he does something in the water because he's always wearing water gear. He looks like a swimmer. I used to swim. Something about him is very out there in terms of the water, And he's always looking at me like he's trying to give me a thumbs up. And I can tell either A, he wants to work, he wants to cook, or he's pandering. I don't know. This is a tough one.
Related: Everything to Know About Survivor 46
Let's say a boat shows up at your camp on Day 2, asking one person to go on a journey. How would you approach the situation?
That's hard, because I haven't developed a relationship yet. Remember the young lady I told you I think it'd be hard for me to develop a relationship [with]? Sometimes, I would have to tell my alliance, "Hey, you know what's going on. I'm trying to build our alliance further. In order for me to do that, a win is a win." So if I take her and I'm able to break bread with her, maybe I say something in that moment when we're eating that makes the difference for us later in the game. But you have to take somebody you're comfortable with, and you take somebody that you're completely uncomfortable with that will be of value who has relationships already to get you further in the game. That's how I would play it.
How are you approaching advantages in general?
Advantages are tough. I feel like advantages now are such a catch-22. Right. You literally can lose your game if you if you pick the wrong Beware Advantage. [Laughs.] So it's hard. Even idols are not gimmies anymore. Even when you find them, they're not gimmies. I mean, sometimes you pick up something, and it's like, "Do I want to open this? Or do I want to put it back?"
But I didn't play Survivor to be coy. I want to take risks. And the way I see it is this. Look, I know I'm gonna have a tough game. I know there's gonna be a lot of people probably not rooting for me. Because, like I said, I have to focus so much on that, it's gonna be exhausting, especially without food. But I think that I will take risks. And I think it's either going to make or break me. But I didn't play here to be safe. I want to play like I'm going to be voted off every night.
Well, your family certainly thinks you might. [Laughs.]
[Laughs.] "You're number one, Dad!" Thanks, honey! Thanks.
What's been your preparation before coming out to play Survivor?
That's a good one. I've had a hard time. I mean, I'm a runner. I've run multiple marathons. So I can run probably for 14 miles any day of the week, any time I want. I'm just conditioned for that. I've been swimming a lot. I used to professionally swim. So I love swimming. But I'm 40 now, so I'm trying to say, "Hey, listen, you're not swimming the same way you did at 25." So I could swim; I still am on my forms. But I have to be very careful to know my lane. This is a team game, and a lot of the stuff in the beginning until the merge. So I gotta make sure that I'm placed in places where I know I can give the most impact. People say, "Age ain't nothing but a number." Great song, Aaliyah. But I have to be very, very careful because you can get voted out if you don't cut your run of the bargain.
Talk me through your decision-making process. How do you typically make an important choice in your choice?
So, being obviously a technical consultant and in the military, a lot of things are calculated. But I try to make decisions as seamless as possible, meaning actually use humor. And as I'm trying to analyze something, I don't want you to feel like I'm writing arithmetic on a paper. I want to make it fun. So sometimes, when I'm joking, it's because I'm nervous. Or it's because I'm thinking about what we're talking about, and my brain can go into a mode where I'm just joking with somebody, and meanwhile, I'm trying to think about what they're thinking about, why this person is doing this. Joking is very easy for me sometimes in the moment. And it's really a deflection. It's really just for me to process what's going on.
So, I do like to think ahead. But I think situational awareness in this game, can you have to make split decisions, split hair decisions very quickly, very fast sometimes? Because you can come out, and somebody could say, "That didn't feel right. You're thinking too long about supporting me. Did you throw my name out or not?" If you say, "Ah, I don't know." Well, come on, now! Yam Yam, if you look at his game in season 44, he said, "Hey, did you vote me out?" And he made a joke, and he got the person to say, "Yes, I did." What happened to that person? They got a free flight home.
What's your hottest Survivor take?
This is a hot topic in my family. Because we watched 44. Like I said, it was really hot-seated. So my daughter was going for Carson. My wife was going for Yam Yam. And I was going for Carolyn.
You were a Three Stooges household!
My goodness. I wanted Carolyn to win. I thought she won. She was getting directions and Air Force guidelines from Carson. And he didn't even put a vote in for her! I was like, "What is this?" But to his respect, I do work near NASA. And he probably quantified that Yam Yam, through his game, maybe earned it. But I really thought Carolyn had that in the bag. And I didn't understand it. She didn't get one vote. It just tells you how dynamic the game has become. The beginning first take to the end first take, to me, was like art. It was a lot of nights of arguing nicely in a family setting. It was astonishing.
What celebrity or fictional character would you want to come out for a Loved Ones visit?
Oh, that's hard, man. A lot of people are gonna laugh at me about this, but I'm going to keep it real with you. So, I'm a Tom Cruise fan. I've been a Tom Cruise fan since I was a kid. I want you to know that about me. I know it's cheesy. But guess what? I like Tom Cruise. And Jeff Probst, I don't know if you know this, but if you've ever seen him come out of a helicopter, his hair, his whole vibe. I think this guy is the Tom Cruise of hosts. Because Tom Cruise flies planes, he does his own stunts. And I watched Jeff one moment. He came out of a helicopter, and he's just got this vibe that's so classic. Where he goes beyond the show. I don't know what happens, but that is iconic. He's an icon. Tom Cruise is an icon.
Next, check out our interview with Survivor 46 contestant Liz Wilcox.
