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Charlie, Ben, Maria, Kenzie, Liz. One of these Survivor castaways just won a million bucks!
It’s been a long season full of blindsides, backstabs and, well, zero correct idol plays, but that didn’t stop Season 46 from going full tilt boogie right on through to the very end! While that idol tally still remains one giant goose egg by finale’s end, there were still some big surprises in store for viewers Wednesday, and yes, my friends, some big heartbreak as well.
When the episode begins, Maria’s got some serious damage control to do. Her apology to her No. 1 is pretty half-assed, though, right? Charlie knows it. We know it. Jeff Probst’s Monster knows it. The towering statues of Rob and Sandra know it. She took a shot and it backfired, and now she’s on the bottom. Plain and simple. And this next immunity challenge will undoubtedly be do-or-die for her. About that…
IMMUNITY IS BACK UP FOR GRABS | The challenge is a massive obstacle course filled with mud, ropes, bridges, puzzle pieces and more. But after the puzzle is completed, the players must use the hints it provides to solve a combination in order to win. (They’re also competing for a pasta dinner with all of the fixings, but this late in the game, does that even matter!?)
It’s neck and neck between Maria and Charlie until Kenzie swoops in and beasts the puzzle portion. But she can’t figure out the clues! She’s flustered and seems to forget what she even needs to do next. Liz abandons her puzzle and runs back to grab Kenzie’s plank, a key element to figuring out the combination. With their powers combined, Kenzie wins the challenge and Maria looks absolutely devastated. (Which is exactly how I feel watching this all go down.)
Back at camp, Maria goes on the hunt for an idol and makes a Hail Mary pitch to Kenzie about Ben not being trustworthy. Kenzie isn’t having it. Maria continues to try to turn the tides on Ben in a conversation with Charlie and Liz. Will it work or is it all falling on deaf ears? And is it possible that Maria did find an idol and they just aren’t showing us yet?
TRIBAL COUNCIL NO. 1 | How do you solve a problem like Maria? Well, you vote her out, I guess. Everyone gives the mom of three her dues. They shower her with love and respect, as Ben and Kenzie confess out loud why they have to write her name down. Jeff tells her she’s been “gracious” throughout the game and in defeat. Maria states that she wants to set a good example for her kids. As for me? I’m wishin’ and prayin’ that she’s about to pull an idol out and that it’s all a bit of editing trickery. But it’s all a bunch of wishful thinking. Instead, everyone votes for her and Jeff snuffs her torch.
FINAL IMMUNITY CHALLENGE | The main goal: Complete a Survivor logo puzzle. The catch? They can’t let a ball drop from a Plinko-like ramp. If their ball hits the trap on the bottom, they must wait for it to sloooowly make its way to the bottom, and they cannot work on the puzzle during the penalty.
Charlie and Liz are both subject to the time penalty, while Kenzie launches her ball behind the contraption! Charlie takes a second penalty, but at that point, Ben’s already running away with it. He snags the necklace and earns a spot in the Final 3, fair and square. (I’ve got to admit: I didn’t see that coming.)
STRATEGY | While Ben celebrates his win, Liz tells him… she’s a millionaire and doesn’t need the money. (Should I just end this strategy section there? WHY is she telling everyone that?!) He tells her she’s more or less going into the fire-making challenge, so really, the only thing left for him to decide is who’s going to face her. Then Liz cries. She says she can barely hold a knife. She hasn’t practiced fire-making. Well. Yeeeeeah. It’s another pity party for ol’ grandma Liz. (Also, Ben thinking that Liz is the biggest threat is CRAZY. Is he that blind to Charlie’s gameplay?)
Then, Ben starts the waterworks. It seems that having to make his first real decision in 20-something days is just too much for the softy to take (a very rockin’ softy, that is). Tell me, Survivor fans: Isn’t it absurd that Ben isn’t throwing Kenzie and Charlie against each other. Am I wrong? Am I taking crazy pills? I want to hear your thoughts in the comments!
FIRE | Did you see Venus’ reaction when Liz tells Jeff that she was the biggest threat left in the game? Girl, same!
All of Ben’s responses to Jeff feel very emotional rather than strategic, which is kind of frustrating to see this late in the game. Alas, Ben chooses to give Charlie a fast-pass to the Final 3, while Kenzie goes in to face Liz in the fire-making challenge.
I know you’re sick of me saying this, but I need to once again go on the record: I hate the fire-making challenge!!! I hate how Final 4 is played. I hate it allllll. JUSTICE FOR CHRISSY.
Phew! Thanks for stickin’ with me season after season, you guys. Even through all my griping.
When the challenge begins, I was getting some serious Becky/Sundra vibes there for a second! Kenzie winds up pulling it together and sends Liz and her bad attitude to the jury. (Her eyeroll when Kenzie hugged her? Her quip to Charlie mid-challenge? GOODBYE LIZ.)
THE JURY HAS SPOKEN | The first question is a hard one for Ben: Can you name one specific move that you made to change the course of the game? Well… he kind of can’t? He also gets dinged for that wonky Kenzie vote. But Kenzie and Charlie are very well spoken, and throughout the entire questioning process, it feels like a true toss-up between them.
Hunter calls out Charlie for not throwing himself into fire to save Liz, someone Charlie says he could’ve beaten in the end. And that’s another big problem I have with the fire-making challenge! Why are people often questioned or looked down on for not putting themselves at risk? It doesn’t make sense. Future jurors: Quit it! If someone wants to go all Heidi Lagares-Greenblatt (or Chris Underwood) because you think your resumé needs the boost, more power to ya! But it shouldn’t be a make-or-break element of the endgame. Then again, I’m not a juror so I have absolutely zero say in anything!
So which of the three finalists takes home the bag? The jury votes and when Jeff tallies ’em all up, Kenzie wins the game by a 5-3 vote. Charlie places second… and his ally Maria didn’t even vote for him. (Read our Q&As with Kenzie, Charlie and Maria.)
Were you happy with the result? Grade the finale and season in our polls below, then for the last time this season, go full tilt boogie in that comments section!
I was good with Kelsey winning. I give props to the jury they did a good job of asking good questions. I think Maria was a little bit of a sore loser and that is why she didn’t vote for Charlie. Liz, delusional Liz thinking she would have won if she could have made fire. I wish Jeff had asked if anyone would have voted for her if she was in the final. Not a great season but I thought it was a good last show. I think Kelsey is a good person and Charlie played a better game but the jury recognized the money would make a better difference in Kelsey’s life.
It’s Kenzie, Q.
You are right sorry don’t think I can edit
I thought it was a great finale, and based on their answers at final tribal, I would have been happy with any of the final 3 to have won. I don’t feel Ben would have deserved it, but I would have been happy for him if he did win. I thought Charlie would win until Kenzie answered how she’d use the million, and that cinched it for me. I enjoyed it… especially Liz running up stairs while Jeff shook his head LOL
I was extremely disappointed that cheating was allowed when another player was allowed to help the one player to win the last challenge. I feel each player should of had to play their OWN game. I feel this was cheating and very much an injustice to Maria’s game. The game was not set up for TWO people to work together to make another player lose. Very disturbing!!!
It apparently wasn’t against the rules, so not sure that makes it cheating. I actually thought it was cool.
The same thing was tried in an immunity challenge against Ozzy. It was deemed then to be against the rules. The precedent was set. Liz cheated end of discussion. I am fine with Kenzie winning as I liked her from the beginning, but it is unfortunate for her to win under these circumstances because it leaves many people to speculate she won unjustly
Apparently it isn’t any longer against the rules, if it ever was an actual rule to start with, or Jeff would have stopped it. End of discussion.
AMEN !!!!!
Your right both should have been disqualified for working together on a challenge. Maria should have won the whole thing.
It’s a travesty that Liz was allowed to CHEAT in order to sabotage Maria and keep her from setting a record & winning immunity.
Jeff should have done something — because Liz had NOT finished her puzzle. It’s as simple as that. She she not have been allowed to go back – for herself or anyone else – because her puzzle was not complete.
Maria is a sore loser not voting for Charlie. How will you use the money? Who cares – who played the best game. I’m going to Vegas to see if they let me win because I have to pay my mortgage.
Personally, I would call Maria way more than a sore loser!!! Her rationale was her trying to look good and instead, in my opinion, she came across as a nasty selfish person! Loved the rest of your comment!
Charlie deserved to win, Maria is rotten for costing him a million dollars after they worked together all season. I liked Kenzie so it wasn’t the worst ending, but the jury seemed weirdly angry with Charlie and I didn’t get it
Charlie came across a little arrogant maybe? Only thing I could think
Maria not voting for Charlie came across as spiteful . He won have voted for her if rolls had been reversed. Sore loser! I wonder if she regrets her vote.
No way Liz would have won
Good casting and as always I love Jeff Prodst.
As always he does a great job,
Charlie deserved to win imo even though Kenzie was very nice. Maria seemed bitter that Charlie didn’t pick her for the letters from home reward. I hate that good players are penalized for not needing to make fire in the final 4. I also wish that Liz had found out that she didn’t really play that good of a game. She was a bit delusional. Charlie not winning made the entire season a bit of a disappointment but he was very classy when he said Kenzie deserved to win.
I thought it was a good finale and final few episodes. I was disappointed that Maria got voted out but that is the game. What I didn’t think was fair was that Liz could help Kenzie win INDIVIDUAL Immunity. If it were TEAM Immunity, I wouldn’t have had an issue with it.
Kenzie was very likeable and so I too was not disappointed with her win.
Charlie was likeable as well but I don’t think he was a better player than Maria. They were both gunning for each other near the end and if Q had played his Idol, then Maria’s play would have won. I wished she would have owned her power move against Charlie but I think she tried badly to outwit them in the end but you have to try everything. I think Charlie and Kenzie played similar games. They were both on the right side of the votes, neither of them really were the main force behind any vote to lead it. I believe they both won the same amount of Immunities as well in the end. Charlie’s power move was aligning himself with other players but so was Kenzie’s as well in that she was so sociable and likeable. I really liked how she helped Ben through his night terrors. There is so much that is edited out, I wish we could see it all including The Ranch and how ppl react to the ones coming in with Idols still in their pockets. That was a head scratcher this season. You would think one of the latter ones might have learned. Not my favorite season, but still entertaining especially near the end. Looking forward to Season 50 and all it may have in store. I hope it’s nostalgic.
You hit on a lot of my thoughts…
Liz helping Kenzie obviously wasn’t against the rules, but I think it is against the spirit of winning individual immunity. I also think this will happen in future seasons…imagine if Hunter was in the Final 5 and only there because he kept winning challenges and so the other 4 just gang up and do the same puzzle and split up the duties of getting anything for the combo…hopefully they button this up otherwise it will get abused especially since they are only casting super fans now, they will all take note of this moment.
I wanted Liz to get to the final three just so she would get no votes and finally shut up about how good she is.
My only knock on Maria at the end is she didn’t “own it” with trying to get Charlie out, making up a lie wasn’t going to work…and it would have been really easy to look him in the eyes and tell him that she thought he was her biggest threat and she tried to make a move.
Charlie deserved the win. Prize isn’t based on backstory rather how one plays the game. The final three had strong social capital and I appreciated that. I found most jury members to be unpleasant. Hunter was the exception. Maria’s final actions made her a disappointment to me. Liz is self centered and lucky she made it to fourth place.
Tiff was downright scary in that jury. Why SO SERIOUS?
Hunter was great , and enjoying himself.
Agree with your entire comment!
Maria….sore loser
Q based his vote on what the winner would do with money. How stupidly Q of him. Throw aside how well the person played and just pick a winner based on their plans for the money. Q sucked at strategically playing the game and he sucked at logically voting, too.
Color me surprised. Kenzie came on strong at the end, when it was needed.
If Charlie had won the last immunity challenge, the results might’ve been different.
Tiff and Q kept acting like they were in charge, even on the jury. That annoyed me. And Q likes talking in the third person. Still arrogant and annoying, Q.
I thought this was a really good, enjoyable season. Not the best, but certainly not the worst. I found people to root for – Tiff, Kenzie, Charlie, Hunter, and even Venus (Venise) – and there were those who were alternately frustrating and comical (Jelinsky, Bhanu, Liz, Q). I really liked Maria until she seemed to make a number of unforced errors, starting with the Applebee’s fiasco. By the end and her seemingly bitter refusal to vote for her season long #1, I was off the Maria train. Charlie impressed me with how he responded to Jeff’s question about his feelings on Maria not voting for him. I wish he hadn’t done that, but I also hope maybe Maria had a little bit of remorse for how she handled things listening to someone with great character.
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I was happy with the final 3 and glad Liz was not in it. Kenzie was a deserving winner although Charlie would have been too.
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Can’t wait for season 47!
where do we begin here .. where does it say you can help someone with an individual ammunity? Liz helping Kenzie. The look on Marias face when she lost.. Made the same face when she asked Charlie to talk after tribal so she could mend that friendship she threw in the fire. Maria talked about the competitiveness yet she awards Kenzie the money so she can start her new business..? Screws her bestie.. Charlie was paying for law school and the other was helping other musicians in need. Shame on Q for asking that question. NO one’s business. Charlie is from my hometown and the local news interviewed him. He is a genuine kid working hard to pay for school… played a good game . So did some others but man what a crappy yawn idol no show season… See you at #47
Uh. Where does it say that you CAN’T help someone with an individual immunity challenge? If it was against the rules, Probst would’ve called Liz out on that. It’s not like this was the first time other players helping another player win immunity happened.
Nobody has ever touched another persons challenge before, sure there have been some people vocalizing / giving tips on puzzles which already feels dirty but actually getting hands on with another persons puzzle is crazy.
I believe Ben knew that he didn’t have a shot at winning and instead of picking the winner himself (by bring Liz and allowing fire making to choose between Charlie & Kenzie) he brought the two people who helped him get to the end (I’m pretty sure anyone out there could have beat Liz at fire). He showed the most integrity of all.
I think Charlie’s downfall was his answers, specifically to Soto & Q’s questions. He kept harping on the fact that “he” got out Q & Maria and while he was a vote, it was a group effort at best. He also let his mouth get the better of him multiple times (including telling Maria that they were going after Q) and the only reason he wasn’t voted out that vote was Maria’s (and Q’s) hubris. On Q’s question, he came across as arrogant and self serving while pretending to act noble (I am going to put myself through law school… for immigration law. I will give to charities (but no real mention of which ones).
Kenzie won IMO by the answer to those same questions. Soto – tried to paint her as an emotional liability and she turned it around to show that she used her emotions and relationships as strategy. She made herself invaluable… as a counselor. Q’s question – she took a risk and told the truth. She took ownership in that she played a selfish game, caring about others, but ultimately looking out for herself. It’s what they all did (with possibly the exception of Ben) and she owned it.
The reasons Maria and Q voted Kenzie must be the stupidest ever. Ignore all game, strategy, social game, planning. Just explain what you will do with million dollars and you get my vote lol. Or have “fire in the eyes” when making fire so I can throw my best ally, friend for life, etc under the bus. Cringe. Maria is biggest snake in this season and I am so happy she was ousted out without a chance for a million. I hope Charlie will never stay friends with her after what she did.
Survivor is no longer the show it once was. I have never missed a season but going forward I’ll stick with Amazing Race. Survivor is now all aboulindat emotions not being the outwit,out play, survivor. Trying to hear everyone’s life story instead of really playing the game. Trying to represent all people seems to have gone off the rails. Very disappointed.
I could not agree MORE!
And for the love of God, get better challenges.
So boring, and Jeff is beyond annoying now.
Individual immunity is just that. Other participants in the game should be ruled out for touching other players game pieces. This creates an unfair advantage
Kenzie cheated in the challenge by having help. Not fair. Maria should have won. Very disappointed 😞
I think Charlie lost when he said he’d use the money to pay for law school!
This finale was truly a disappointing note to end on. It’s not that Knezie won, it’s how she won. The jury felt right from the beginning that they were leaning toward Kenzie. Didn’t help that Tiffany was gun ho on leading the charge, which why was she running the show at tribal? This jury was a bitter jury to Charlie. Then the Maria backstab for no good reason left just a sour taste in my mouth.
It didn’t help we got off to such a terrible start when Jeff allowed Liz to help Kenzie like that. It’s one thing when your looking at other puzzles, It’s another when you do part of the course for her. Gameplay is so important and to be allowed to do something like that, just irked me to no end and really set the tone for the whole episode. Jeff needs to answer for that.
Also they need to do something about the post show. To not get time to decompress after that is hard to watch. This was a great season till the finale.
Anyone have a guess on why Liz voted for Charlie? Didn’t see that one coming at all, especially after Liz went out of her way to help Kenzie win the F5 immunity.
Can we talk about liz in the challenge? We have seen people help others in individual challenges before by talking but actually touching the other persons puzzle? How tf is this not cheating, gonna cause a new survivor meta of people teaming up on puzzles for sure though.
When The survivors are competing against each other, that effort should not be allowed for others to help them! What happened on the finale was definitely cheating!!!!
The two on one sucked!!! She probably wouldn’t have won without Liz giving up and stacking the odds. Maria played a great game and got robbed!!! That should NOT BE ALLOWED! I wasn’t aware it could even be done.