Editor's Note: The following article contains spoilers for 'Survivor 46's finale.
The Big Picture
- Two allies turned adversaries in a nail-biter challenge in a Survivor 46 finale that held nothing back!
- Unpredictability reigns in Survivor 46's finale, redeeming a topsy-turvy season and securing a spot in the top tier of the New Era of Survivor.
- Unexpected twists and turns mark Survivor 46's finale, such as two players helping each other secure immunity.
Two castaways working together in an Immunity Challenge to prevent another from winning. The man suffering from anxiety winning the most anxiety-filled challenge. The most tears when deciding who will go into the Final Four Fire Making Challenge. A nail-biter Final Tribal. And one castaway betraying their number one ally with their final vote. The Survivor 46 finale had everything! While some of the results played out as expected, the journey to get there redeemed the season, landing it towards the top tier in the New Era of Survivor. Unpredictability is why Survivor remains the greatest show on television.
Survivor 46 has been a whiplash of a season. It started with a hot mess tribe that kept on losing, which was followed up with five castaways leaving the game with the Hidden Immunity Idol in their pocket. Q Burdette wanted to quit the game, but some of his tribe mates kept him around as a smoke screen to blindside the actual threats in the game. And this was all after the plethora of twists and turns that have haunted the New Era of Survivor. Thankfully, the finale ended in a manner that kept everyone on their toes. The unexpected journey that was the Survivor 46 finale was certainly one for the record books. The final five, as well as the jury, made Survivor 46 one of the most buzzed about seasons in recent memory. So let's figure out how we got there!
Survivor
TV-PG
Adventure
Reality TV
Game Show
Where to Watch
*Availability in US
- stream
- rent
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Not available
A reality show where a group of contestants are stranded in a remote location with little more than the clothes on their back. The lone survivor of this contest takes home a million dollars.
- Release Date
- May 31, 2000
- Cast
- Jeff Probst
- Seasons
- 46
- Studio
- CBS
The Last Two Immunity Challenges Raised the Stakes on 'Survivor 46'
To kick things off, the final five had just come off a crucial Tribal Council where Maria Shrime Gonzalez was blindsided as the other four castaways voted out her ally, Q Burdette, with an idol in his pocket. Maria was not only shocked at the result, her vote for her true number one ally, Charlie Davis, drew a major line in the sand. With everyone knowing that Maria was a major threat to win, they had to ensure that she did not win the Immunity Challenge. In many challenges, puzzles have often been the deciding factor in many Survivor challenges. You might have the physical prowess to whip through the obstacle course, but if your brain can't compute a puzzle, it's all for naught.
In order to ensure Maria's loss, Liz Wilcox gave up her shot at winning the challenge and assisted Kenzie Petty, running to the start of the challenge to help her solve the puzzle. In the end, Kenzie won and Maria was voted out unanimously. There has been intense discourse regarding the fairness of one castaway helping another, but if there's no rule in the rule book and Jeff Probst didn't stop it, all's fair in love and Survivor! This shocking moment displayed just how integral removing Maria from the game was.
In the final Immunity Challenge of the season, the Final Four had to complete a puzzle while also tossing a ball up a giant pinball-inspired contraption. Coming into this challenge, viewers were aware of the anxiety and panic attacks Ben Katzman had been experiencing on the beach. He had warned Jeff before this challenge began that his head was all over the place. And yet, the man who had been vocally dealing with anxiety was victorious in the most anxiety-inducing challenge of the season — and he was the only one of the four who never let his ball drop. This marked his first and only individual Immunity Challenge win of the season. The odds were not on his side, and yet he defied them, allowing a beautifully unexpected moment to arise.
Ben Katzman Was Quite Emotional With His Big Decision
As unfortunate of a tradition as it is, the winner of the Final Four Immunity Challenge has the most power leading into the Final Tribal Council. Because he was the winner of the challenge, Ben has the distinct honor of deciding who he brings to the Final Three. In turn, this decides who will be forced to compete in the Final Four Fire-Making Challenge, which can alter the entire result of the season. Not saying Ben took his decision too much to heart, but his tears might have said otherwise. Ben has been quite open about his journey on Survivor and how important the connections he has made are to him. It's very much the "friends along the way" mentality. For Ben, it was a series of easy decisions as well as one majorly hard one. It was certain he would not be risking his place in the game and would not be sending himself into the Final Four Fire Making Challenge. He was more than fine to allow his resume to speak for itself.
Ben was also certain that his fear of Liz's potential to win was essential for her to make fire. He wanted her out of the game, so it would be up to Kenzie or Charlie to make it happen. He had tears in his eyes as he spoke to them individually about the decision he was about to make, knowing he would lose one of them. At Tribal Council, he revealed that his close connections made this choice hard on him; while they both showed him kindness, one did it from day one, the other did it at the merge, prompting him to bring Charlie to the Final Three with him. This was quite an unexpected decision for fans because, while he and Charlie had a friendship with one another on the Siga Tribe, it was not as overt in the edit. However, when it comes to his bond with Kenzie, fans literally saw him being comforted and consoled by Kenzie during his nighttime panic attacks. She was there, holding his hand, even when he "accidentally" wrote her name down at a previous Tribal Council. Ben's decision ended up having more weight than he could imagine.
Related
‘Survivor’ Alums React to Liz Helping Kenzie Win Immunity
Liz Wilcox secured an Immunity win for Kenzie Petty in Survivor 46, prompting a flurry of tweets from previous Survivors
'Survivor 46's Final Tribal Council Was Epic
In this new version of Final Tribal Council, each jury member will pose a question to the Final Three where they can answer how they see fit.This jury did an admirable job guiding the conversation, but there were certainly some individuals who were championing their pick to win. Not surprising, but it allowed things to get more heated than recent history. Tiffany Nicole Ervin was quite vocal about backing up Kenzie during the questioning. She kept Q in line, who really needed to be reeled in. At least in the edit, the jury seemed to discredit Ben completely, focusing their attention mostly on Kenzie and Charlie and their games. Charlie's jury performance was not as strong as it could be as he did get shut down a couple of times because some of his statements were found not completely precise and accurate. Sometimes the jury knows exactly who they plan to vote for. Not the case here. This was a very live Final Tribal Council and the Final Three's performances swayed opinions.
With all eight votes read, Kenzie won 5 to 3. Many fans were expecting the extremely rare potential of a tie vote. It didn't happen here. But once Jeff shared where the votes landed, that possibility was quite real. Charlie received votes from Hunter McKnight, Liz Wilcox, and Soda Thompson. Kenzie received votes from Q Burdette, Tiffany Nicole Ervin, Venus Vafa, Tevin Davis, and Maria Shrime Gonzalez. Yes, Maria voted against Charlie, her number one ally since the start of the game. It was quite possibly the most shocking and unexpected vote from any single jury member in the New Era of Survivor. If you do the math, had Maria not switched her vote, it would have been a tie and Ben would have cast the tie-breaking vote. Based on him bringing Charlie to the Final Three, it is most likely he would have cast his vote in favor of Charlie, and the results of Survivor 46 would be completely different.
During the Reunion, when Jeff flat out asked Maria what prompted her to vote for Kenzie, she stated that it started with fire; she saw the passion in her eyes. Since the show aired, Maria has doubled down on her decision, saying she does not regret her vote. She revealed that Kenzie's plea about using the money to better herself and start a family touched her as a woman. Charlie has not been too keen on Maria's answers — stating that he was willing to sever their friendship in the real world. It's been speculated that Maria's decision might go deeper than Kenzie's performance over the last two days of the game. It's quite possible that she might have been a bitter jury member as Charlie was part of her demise in the game. To be fair, they were both targeting one another. That is the game of Survivor!
The final episode of Survivor 46 was completely unexpected, making it one of, if not the best, this season. With so many iconic moments filling the three-hour episode, the season truly ended with a bang. Through all the shock, it has left fans with a lot to discuss and debate in the off season. And there's a lot to look forward to when Survivor 47 returns in the fall! Podcaster and speechwriter Jon Lovett will be part of the cast, leaving fans with a hilarious soundbite in the preview to last the Survivor-less summer. With 46 seasons in the books, Survivor has continued to amaze audiences. Anything can happen and will happen on Survivor. It may be the tagline of their sister program, but when it comes to this show: expect the unexpected!
All seasons and episodes of Survivor are available to stream on Paramount+ in the U.S.
