The following contains spoilers from Wednesday’s season finale ofSurvivor46.
It takes two to win one million dollars.
In Wednesday’s three-hour finale, Kenzie and Liz worked together to slay “Mamma Bear” Maria, only to wind up facing each other in the Final 4 fire-making challenge. But when Kenzie came out on top, nothing could slow her roll, and the momentum led the social butterfly and hair salon owner to defeat Ben and Charlie at the Final Tribal Council by a vote of 5-3-0. (Read our full recap here.)
Below, Kenzie talks to TVLine about what it feels like to win a million bucks (and the title of Sole Survivor, of course), why she thought Liz was a huge threat and how hard her early days at Yanu beach really were.
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TVLINE | There’s so much to congratulate you on — your pregnancy, winning Survivor! How are you feeling right now?
KENZIE PETTY | It’s really my year! I’m just so excited, so relieved. I’m so grateful. I’m so proud. It’s just so much joy and I’m happy to be able to share it with the world now that the cat’s out of the bag.
TVLINE | What was it like having to keep that secret for so long?
It washard, but I wanted everyone to be excited and go through it with me. When you’ve got a big, old NDA, it makes it a lot easier. [Laughs]
TVLINE | Going into Final Tribal, how confident were you feeling?
Going in, I was feeling very comfortable. I was just coming off of making fire, so I was like, “Oh, I got this!” Then we started Final Tribal and Ben and Charlie had such good answers that I was like, “Oh, I gotta step it up.” They were fighting so hard. Every answer I was like, “OK, Charlie!” and then another one and I was like, “OK, Ben!” Then you get in your head, where it’s like, “OK, I’m looking at all these people that I’ve helped vote out and if I say this, it might make that one mad, but if I say this, it might get this one…” It was a lot of balancing that while staying like true to your game and who you are and just owning that. Yeah, in the middle there, I was like, “Uh-oh, the boys are battling!”
TVLINE | Were you surprised by Maria’s vote?
I think everyone was pretty surprised by Maria. I was surprised by Maria, but you know, the jury decides who they want to vote for a plethora of different things and I am forever grateful that she voted for me. You have to just be yourself and fight as hard as you can. You never know what’s going to resonate with who or why. I think that’s the big shocker for everyone.
TVLINE | Looking back at the fire-making challenge, were you surprised that you weren’t put up against Charlie instead?
It’s all perspective, right? We were looking at Liz, she’s got four Nami on the jury and she’s saying she’s friends with all of them. Liz told me, “Me and Tevin and Hunter, we’re all together. Me and Venus are close.” So I was like, “OK, well, she’s literally telling me these people are gonna vote for her and was raising her threat level so high. To us, Liz was the biggest threat and Liz was playing an amazing game and she could have sold it at Final Tribal. Actually, I was surprised Ben didn’t put Charlie in because Charlie was making fire all day and I was choking. And our main goal was to get Liz out because Liz was such a big threat, so I was more surprised by that, not me and Charlie going against each other.
I think she was playing hard and I think it’s because her and I just talked strategy a lot and I didn’t talk strategy with a lot of other people. Laying low is a good strategy if you can sell it, and Liz actually can get a point across and is a really level-headed person regardless of what the edit shows. That’s why we were scared of her.
TVLINE | You won the immunity challenge that ultimately set up the Maria vote.If Liz hadn’t helped you win that, could you still have pulled it off?
I do think I could have pulled it off. I think it would have been a lot closer than it was. I got my puzzle done really quickly and Liz was helping me before my puzzle was even done. She had read the things while I was finishing it. That’s when I realized she was helping me. I was like, “Oh, we’re gonna do this quick!” So I got the puzzle done quickly (Maria got hers done quickly too)… it would have been really close.
TVLINE | You had a really rough beginning at Yanu. What was the hardest part of those early days?
The constant loss, like that momentum. It really weighs on your psyche. You saw it in Q, you saw it in me, I don’t know if you saw it in Tiff, but I did. The constant getting beat down by losing, it gets in your head. Then on top of that, our shelter was terrible. On top of that, we had no fire. On top of that, we weren’t eating anything because we didn’t even want to open coconuts anymore because it took too much physical exertion. There was a 20-hour period where Q and Tiff and I just laid around and no one talked to each other. It was pretty bleak over there in the beginning. It was tough and I think if we could have gotten some momentum, it would have been a little better. But I am grateful for the start on Yanu becauseonce I got to the merge and saw their camp, I was like, “Did production build this?” It was Hunter. But I was like, “This is the Taj Mahal of Survivor!” My standards were so low that everything else was great. I’d been in the slums the whole time.
TVLINE | Things obviously worked out for you, but do you have any regrets from your time out there?
I wish I would have worn my hair differently at Final Tribal. [Laughs] But no, I really wish I wouldn’t have floated Tiff’s name because everyone wanted her out anyway. It was going to happen regardless. I just ended up looking like an idiot for floating my No. 1’s name and being left out. I wish I wouldn’t have done that. Ultimately it worked out for me, but maybe don’t target your No. 1, and if you do, go through with it… I don’t know! If I would have gone through with it, the target would have been on me. I just looked dumb for no reason.
TVLINE | If Jeff comes calling again, would you ever go out for Round 2?
I’m never gonna say never, but I think I’m in my mommy era, my mommy homemaker era. I really got everything I wanted out of the game. I got every Sanctuary reward. I got the letters, I got the million, I got the friends, I got to hug Jeff, I got to wear the necklace. The only thing I didn’t do was find my own idol, which I am so grateful for, being on this season.
TVLINE | Yeah, that didn’t work out for anyone this season!
Yeah, that was the only thing on my bucket list that I didn’t do, but I was with Tiff when she found hers and I helped her find it. So I take like 0.2 of that. It really was all her. I pretty much checked all my boxes and I feel very full from the island right now. Maybe if they call me, I’ll rethink it, but right now, I would love to see one of my friends win.
