Maria saves the most shocking move of the season for the last possible second.
Maria wanted to take out Charlie.
Charlie wanted to take out Maria.
Maria Shrime Gonzalez and Charlie Davis on ‘Survivor 46’.CBS
Little did we know the biggest shock was yet to come… and at the last possible second.
And when asked to vote for the winner ofSurvivor 46, she didnotvote for Charlie.
That is not a typo.
Kenzie Petty, Maria Shrime Gonzalez, Liz Wilcox, Ben Katzman, Charlie Davis, and Jeff Probst on ‘Survivor 46’.CBS
Maria Shrime Gonzalez voted for Kenzie to winSurvivor 46.
Even writing it out here feels like a mistake.
(Can someone hey fact-check this recap?)
Jeff Probst with Charlie Davis, Ben Katzman, Kenzie Petty, Liz Wilcox, and Maria Shrime Gonzalez on ‘Survivor 46’.CBS
(Well, $900,000 minus taxes.)
What a brutal and inexplicable way to lose a million dollars.
SO WHAT IS MARIA DOING VOTING FOR KENZIE?!?
Charlie Davis, Ben Katzman, Kenzie Petty, Liz Wilcox, and Maria Shrime Gonzalez on ‘Survivor 46’.CBS
That would be super hypocritical and make no sense.
She owned her game and her story just really moved me.
That’s nice, but Im still super confused.
Soda Thompson, Tevin Davis, Hunter McKnight, Tiffany Nicole Ervin, Venus Vafa, and Q Burdette on the ‘Survivor 46’ jury.CBS
And if you thinkI’mconfused, imagine how Charlie feels.
Im not going to say I drove a vote.
She said all that and yetstillwon!
Charlie Davis, Ben Katzman, Kenzie Petty, Liz Wilcox, and Maria Shrime Gonzalez on ‘Survivor 46’.CBS
If people like you, they will find a reason to vote for you.
came back and made it to the end.
People want to vote for their buddy!
Ben Katzman and Kenzie Petty on ‘Survivor 46’.CBS
And Kenzie became everyones buddy.
Thats not to say people didnt like Charlie or Ben.
Charlie also struck me as having a superb social game.
Kenzie Petty on ‘Survivor 46’.CBS
Hes a super likable guy with an only mildly disturbing Taylor Swift infatuation who played a great game.
Nothing to not like there.
And Ben is such a super genuine dude.
I felt it when I met him out in Fiji.
Who played the best game?
Depends on what game you are playing.
Even Kenzie would admit that Charlie had more control of the course of action than she did.
Im still stunned by it.
Okay, lets get into what else went down during the three-hourSurvivor 46finale and aftershow.
I say that for a few reasons.
- Bang a gong sounds inherently dirty even though it is not.
Because it was called the Medallion of Power and also made no sense.
But the gong was not the only intriguing addition to this challenge.
After going through a massive obstacle course, the contestants then had to solve a puzzle.
An obstacle course ending in a puzzle.
Is this all you might come up with,Survivorproducers?
Hold on… not unlike Kenzie Petty, I am being told that the challenge is not over.
But let me say this: I love it.
Such a smart wrinkle.
That would not be an issue here.
Only she had no idea what plank it was referring to.
She was more befuddled than yours truly trying to understand the rules of any singleDevils Plancompetition.
So Kenzie did something quite odd: She asked another player for help.
Next thing we knew, Liz was racing back to grab a plank.
I was hoping for that because it would have been 100% hilarious.
Teamwork makes the dream work, people!
Like, was he actually looking while pretending to help Maria?
And what was his plan if he accidentally found something while Maria was right next to him?
That search would have been the entire three-hour finale if I were in charge.
Just Charlie halfheartedly turning over flip-flops in search of an idol he had no desire to find.
You say boring; I say riveting.
Anyway, Maria got the full hero exit.
Thank God for Venus on the jury, by the way.
I want the bitter stares, the mocking expressions, the unimpressed gestures.
I want it all!
Venus at least gave it a good effort.
Oh, sorry, where were we again?
The second immunity challenge.
(Smiles, everyone!
I also have no idea why Liz pretended to be an old lady with a cane.
If there is one thing I have complained about when it comes toSurvivor….
Okay, that is not even remotely true.
Individually, all the changes were good, but the lack of diversity in their implementation annoyed me.
So lets give props where props are due.
In the final one, they had to solve a simpleSurvivorpuzzle.
A very good thing happened to Ben when he played it slow and steady and won the challenge.
What a cool moment for Ben.
Ben also struggled, albeit in different ways.
He had panic attacks.
He had night terrors.
He struggled emotionally after the Tim vote, as we saw in an EWexclusive deleted scene.
He freakin wrote down the wrong name at Tribal Council!
Like Jake, he got zero votes at final Tribal.
It may have taken him 25 days, but Ben got his signature moment.
Fire woman
I wont go on at length about the fire-making competition between Kenzie and Liz.
As expected, Kenzie won.
But I still dont like the expectation imbalance fire-making puts on players in the game.
Im sick of players being punished for not volunteering to go to fire.
This Chris Underwoodization of the game needs to stop.
If you win the final challenge, you have earned your spot at the end.
If it’s possible for you to convince someone to bring you there, you earned it as well.
We need to knock it off with all the nonsense.
I would have beat all of you.
Perhaps in an awesome Tribal Council face-making contest, but thats probably about it.
Give me the drama.
Give me the chaos.
Give me the anarchy.
Bitterness and revenge is the fuel on which mySurvivorfandom was formed.
And we got exactly that from theSurvivor 46jurors.
We are not looking forTaylor Swiftlyrics.
We are not looking for pop culture or rock & roll references.
We are looking for serious and thought-provoking responses, said Tiffany to kick off the proceedings.
It may not have been riveting television.
There was no angry pointing.
My guess is that will be the general assessment of Kenzie as a winner as well.
Nobody is going to mistake her forTony, orKim, orBoston Rob, orDee.
She even admitted she was never in any control of any vote.
But she once again proved the power of easy charm and likability.
And we are not done making connections here either.
It sticks at number 21, for now.
So I guess what I am saying is… its your fault I continue to ignore my family.
Okay, have a great summer, everyone!
Ill be back in September with another scoop of the crispy.
