Kimmi Kappenberg trudges through the heat and humidity, alongside her two closest allies. Nothing holds her back. She wields her weapon of choice, a three-word mantra, sharp as a sword: “I got this.” This is not Kimmi in Cambodia. This is Kimmi in Houston, Texas, dropping her kids Karter and Kannon off at the bus stop at the end of their driveway. It’s a short walk, but she’s sweating already. Business as usual, she says, and usual enough to get her used to the business ahead. “This is normal,” Kimmi tells me when we speak on the eve of Survivor: Cambodia — Second Chance, talking about the oppressive weather outside. “I’m used to this. I’ve been running in this. I walk my dog in this. I play football with my kids in this. I have Nerf gun wars in all this weather. I’ve been nine months pregnant in this kind of weather.” “I feel like I have the home court advantage,” she says. “I got this.” We’re a long way from Houston right now, and even further away from The Australian Outback, the second season of Survivor, and one of the most widely-viewed editions of the show. That was 15 years ago, in the days when hidden immunity idols were still a faraway dream, when the threat of tribe swaps was within sight but not yet here. A simpler time. Kimmi is not worried about how much the game has changed since then. “Survivor is always going to throw you a curveball,” she says. “They’ve had Redemption Island, they have immunity idols, they have all these extra hidden immunity idols… whatever they throw at us, nobody is going to be prepared.” “I think you come in here with an idea of the game, but I think the best preparation is just to be open to anything,” she continues. “For me, especially, I know that I need to look at things and observe before I just automatically react. I want to see what people are doing and see what’s going on around me. I have to watch a little bit more, and see if people’s actions back up their words.” Not only is Kimmi not worried about the distance between now and her first time playing Survivor, she actually thinks the layoff between seasons works in her favor — because, she says, she has something many of these players do not. “Some of these players are still young and only played a couple of years ago. I don’t know how much growth, reflection and knowledge they’ve gained since they played their first time,” she says. “I’ve grown a lot as a person. You get older, you get wiser.” So, who is the older, wiser Kimmi? She looks something like this… ON THE NEXT PAGE: From Kucha to Cambodia With Love

Once upon a time, a 27-year-old bartender and vegetarian from Long Island, New York stepped out of a No. 38 Squadron Caribou DHC-4 military aircraft and into the adventure of a lifetime. She was one of 16 Americans competing for the million dollar prize on the second season of Survivor, the television phenomenon that was about to find out if it could capture lightning in a bottle twice. Turns out, it could, thanks in large to Kimmi Kappenberg and her surrounding castaways. Back then, Kimmi was part of Kucha, one of the most beloved tribes in Survivor history, still to this day. She was not the most beloved member. Kimmi could eat a worm, but not a chicken. She did not have tan lines, she had dirt lines, according to Mike Skupin — and if he’s calling you dirty, something’s up. Kimmi’s bedtime stories were not exactly fit for a family-friendly audience, or even for certain adults, for that matter. “Kimmi will not shut up,” her tribe mate Jeff Varner said during their first night in Australia. “I wanna just grab her by the neck and shake the [expletive] out of her.” Kimmi lasted 15 days. Fifteen years later, she’s on the precipice of a new Survivor thrill ride, but this one comes at a higher cost. “My reasons for playing back then… the money would have been great, but I was having an adventure for myself,” she tells me. “This time, I get to have an adventure, but also be a role model for my kids and make some money. A lot of money, I hope.” In the years since she was voted out by an overwhelming finger-wagging majority of her tribe mates, Kimmi has left New York behind for Texas, and has experienced a journey completely unrelated to anything Survivor has to offer. “I’ve been divorced for almost six years,” she says. “I’m raising a six-year-old and an eight-year old by myself in Houston. I’m in a totally different place in my life.” Kimmi’s bedtime stories have become more age-appropriate for Karter and Kannon. “When I’m home, I tuck them in and always sing them the same song.” But not everything has changed. “I’m the same person, but I’m at a different place in my life, with a lot more responsibilities.” She still has “footloose and carefree and free-spirited” adventures, like attending motorcycle rallies in Houston and meeting Sons of Anarchy actors like Kim Coates and Tommy Flanagan. “I love Chibs! He gets me going,” she says, roaring with laughter. “He pinched my butt in November!” See? In many important ways, it’s the same Kimmi, different year. Different Survivor season, too, but not a top-to-bottom different cast: Varner, the man who wanted to strangle her in the middle of Australia 15 years ago, sleeps a few tents away from her here in Ponderosa, and will be just one beach away in little more than a day. “I’m really excited that he’s here,” says Kimmi, despite the friction they experienced in the past. “As much as he and I may have butt heads or not butt heads in the past, it’s just nice to have a familiar face out here. It wouldn’t matter who it was.” Not even Alicia Calaway, the fitness instructor who wagged her finger in Kimmi’s face in the midst of a heated chicken fight? First of all, Kimmi wants to clear that up. “I have no problem with people cooking chicken,” she shouts, her tone a combination of deep exasperation, great amusement, and grave seriousness. “That was never the problem to begin with! The problem was that while we had these chickens, we had to have a safe place to feed them and water them and that’s what I did, because guess what? Every farmer and rancher out there, they protect and feed their livestock! If they’re going to do it, I sure as hell was! You have to be humane. They’re living, breathing creatures.” I tell Kimmi that my wife, who raised chickens in her childhood, will be thrilled with this answer. “Hopefully,” says Kimmi, “I have a whole chicken fan club.” Damn, but wouldn’t that be nice? But not everyone on Second Chance would be applying for membership. ON THE FINAL PAGE: Unbreakable Kimmi Kappenberg