Kelly was a castaway on Survivor: Worlds Apart and was part of the Escameca (Blue Collar) tribe originally. As a state trooper, she kept her occupation a secret, after the success of Sarah and Tony on Cagayan. She immediately formed a connected, and later an alliance, with Mike Holloway. They would include Dan and Rodney into their alliance as well. Kelly enjoyed safety due to Escameca winning the first three immunity challenges. During one memorable blindfold challenge, Kelly ran into something and blood started running down her face, causing Jeff to pause the challenge. They lost immunity for the first time on Day 11. After Rodney and Lindsey had an explosive argument, the two targeted each other. Kelly鈥檚 alliance decided to split the vote between Lindsey and her ally Sierra, with the two of them targeting Rodney. After a 3-way tie, Lindsey was sent home. The very next day there was a tribe swap, with the 3 tribes becoming 2. Kelly went from Escameca to Nagarote and was the sole Blue Collar on her new tribe, possibly setting her up to be tribe fucked.
Despite being the sole Blue Collar, due to the annoyance of Max and Shirin, the attention shifted away from her, as she sat back and watch Max being voted out, with Kelly and Carolyn teaming up with the No Collars. At the next immunity challenge, Mike whispered to her that he was throwing the challenge for her. After that, Kelly made the merge and was part of the Merica tribe. She rejoined her Blue Collar allies who teamed up with the remaining White Collars (minus Shirin) to target Jenn. The plan backfired when Jenn pulled out an Idol and Kelly was sent home in a 4-1-0 vote, with all the votes against Jenn being thrown out. Kelly went home on day 19 and was the 7th voted out, one spot right before the jury. Kelly was the oldest blue collar women and the second Kelly (after Sharbaugh) idoled out of the game. She is the first person since Corinne on Caramoan to make the merge but not be part of the jury.