Survivor 46: Randen Montalvo opens up on medical evacuation

Randen Montalvo was medically evacuated in episode 3 of Survivor 46, released on Wednesday, March 13. Titled Wackadoodles Win, the latest installment ended with contestant Randen waking up to sharp pain, leading to his right hand and wrist going numb. At one point, the 41-year-old was unable to grip anything.

After the doctor’s examination, it was estimated that he’d require an MRI scan for further diagnosis, which resulted in his eviction from the game. During an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Randen spoke at length about his medical condition, recalling the time he was escorted off the island.

All he reportedly wished was to get voted out of the CBS hit reality show instead of getting medevacked. The Flordia native remembers that the crew experienced a bad storm and that he was struggling to sleep.

“I realized that when I was sleeping I felt a very sharp pain behind my neck, and it was like a lightning bolt," Randen told EW.

---

Survivor 46’s Randen's official diagnosis after evacuation explored

Randen recalls everything appearing blurry to him. The Survivor contestant wanted to endure the pain for a little longer, assuming it might go away, but that wasn’t the case.

“When I woke up, I had no feeling in my arm and I had a massive headache throughout the night. It felt like the biggest migraine ever," the contestant told EW.

After getting medevacked, Randen claims he underwent a long MRI procedure with neurologists monitoring his health. The experience was “scary as hell” for him, as the 41-year-old was able to see his neck in 3D and doctors carefully examined a swelling that was pressing against a disc in his body. He added:

“I had another issue underneath my arm where it was like a compression and all of it was leading up to temporary paralysis.”

Finally, the medical experts concluded his swelling wouldn’t require surgery and would go down with anti-inflammatory drugs. However, it was made clear to him that had the swelling bulged a bit more, the team would have flown him to Australia for further treatment. Randen gave props to the CBS team for taking care of the situation efficiently.

The treatment procedure kicked off soon after the MRI scans, and Randen was put on anti-inflammatory medications and therapy for his arm. He claims to have bounced back to health within a couple of days, with the concerning swelling around his neck going down. The Survivor star recalled:

“They looked at it and they immediately put me on anti-inflammatories and I went into therapy for my arm. And I would say within a couple of days the swelling started to go down and they started monitoring it. And then I felt okay, thank God, because you can't repair a disc. It's a very serious thing.”

Randen found it “brutal” to watch the scenes of him getting medically evacuated play on screen. The Florida native claims no one has ever seen him get emotional and break down crying. But what he found impactful was the love and best wishes showered on him by viewers on social media.

“I've never seen myself crying and emotional, and neither has anybody who knows me, actually. So it was really hard for me. My social media right now is insane. I've made a couple of posts, but there are so many people giving me love and showing me love, and it's impactful," the Survivor 46 contestant revealed.

---

Survivor 46 will return with episode 4 titled Don't Touch the Oven on Wednesday, March 20, exclusively on CBS.