Each week, Christine Pallon and Gia Worthy will round up the previous week of Survivor 46 as they list their top moments in various important categories. This includes the most essential information, the stand-out castaways, and the key moments from the week.
Here, Christine and Gia break down all the action from the final episode.
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Top 3 Moments
Maria vs Charlie Part 2
Gia: Maria and Charlie failed to take each other out at the final six, so it was only natural that they both regrouped at the final five. Maria attempted to blame the other contestants for her voting Charlie but Charlie saw through the facade. It was pretty much guaranteed from this point forward that Maria was target number one for all the other players. Maria not winning immunity at the final five sealed her fate, but she fought like hell to put the target onto Ben for the remainder of her time in the game.
Liz Helps Kenzie
Christine: During the final five immunity challenge, Kenzie stepped into the lead as she assembled the puzzle portion, putting her in a position to prevent Maria from winning. When Kenzie got stumped on what numbers she needed for the combination lock, Liz stopped to go back and retrieve Kenzie’s plank and help her count the holes in it. This assistance was enough to secure the win for Kenzie, effectively ending Maria’s game right then and there.
Jeff’s decision to allow this cooperation has been the subject of much controversy already, and I suspect we’ll be talking about this for months (and, realistically, years) to come. While I do think that production needs to codify what specific kinds of interactions between players are permitted at challenges and which ones aren’t, I’m fine with cooperation like this being allowed within reason. It adds an intriguing social aspect to the challenges, and I think, ultimately, it will make them more interesting if there’s the possibility for a player to give up their own shot at immunity to help another.
An Unexpected Immunity Win
Gia: After Maria’s elimination, I was really unsure how the final four would play out, particularly regarding who would win immunity. With Charlie and Kenzie both having multiple wins, they seemed like the likeliest candidates. However, it ended up being Ben who came out on top and chose Kenzie and Liz to go to firemaking. Even though Ben became this season’s zero-vote finalist, seeing him get a win after struggling with sleeping throughout the season was heartwarming.
The Final Five
Kenzie
Christine: The mermaid dragon reigns supreme! From her early days on the disaster that was Yanu, Kenzie was a social force to be reckoned with. Even if the events of the post-merge didn’t always go exactly how she planned, she never found herself in a bad position and maintained the social connections necessary to get her to the end. While I think she could have won without firemaking, her victory there certainly helped her case. At Final Tribal Council, she won over not just the minds but also the hearts of this jury and secured herself the win. I’ve been a fan of hers all season, and it’s truly exciting to see a social player get such a strong edit with a coherent narrative. Congrats, Kenzie!
Charlie
Gia: Charlie was one of the most consistently strong players from beginning to end. He may have started the season as the resident ‘Swiftie,’ but it became clear very quickly that he was building himself up to be the strategic force of the season. His alliance with Maria was a major plot point of 46, but his ability to manage his threat level on such an unpredictable season was really impressive. The fact that the final vote was so close is a testament to how strong the finalists were. A solid runner-up for a crazy 26 days, Charlie played a fantastic game that he should be proud of.
Ben
Christine: Ben joins the zero-vote finalist club, and while that very much doesn’t rock for him, he’s in very good company there. He didn’t play a bad game or a particularly flawed game. In fact, he played a very solid under-the-radar social game that clearly worked well for him and got him to the end. But his game lacked the “wow” factors of Charlie’s and Kenzie’s, and he didn’t have concrete “moves” he could point to to shift the jury’s perspective on him. Ben has a lot to be proud of, especially winning that final immunity, and had one of the more touching journeys this season as he worked through his night terrors while playing the game.
Liz
Gia: Without a doubt, Liz was one of my favorite contestants this season. She was equal parts humorous and strategic, willing to be a part of the joke while always thinking about her game. Her self-awareness was one of my favorite aspects of her time on the show. She refused to let her vulnerability be a weakness and was successfully able to use these moments as ways to advance herself further in the game. Most of all, she made me laugh constantly, which is always an appreciated aspect of any Survivor player. Millionaire or not, Liz was an underappreciated character on a season filled with memorable contestants.
Maria
Christine: Maria was a force to be reckoned with this season. Her move against Charlie last week was bold, but once that plan was foiled and Q left instead, Maria’s one path to the end was basically “win immunity and fire.” Her threat level got way too high, and while she did her best to turn the tables on Ben to save herself, she was unfortunately just too obvious a threat for the remaining players to let her sneak by. Even after she was voted out, Maria gave us the most shocking moment of the finale by not voting for Charlie to win -– a choice that was hers to make as a juror, even if the viewers disagreed.
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