Survivor 46 Finale "Friends Going to War" Gameplay Analysis

 "Holy hot dog on a stick!"

-Liz Wilcox

I'm not going to lie, this finale left a bit of a bad taste in my mouth.  It's a damn shame too because this season was on its way to becoming my favorite of the new era seasons, but the finale causes it to drop quite a bit.  I'm really annoyed with both Maria and Q for the way they voted at Final Tribal Council.  I'm not necessarily mad that they voted for Kenzie or that Kenzie won, I'm angry at Maria and Q's reasoning.  I'm a firm believer that whoever needs the money the most or what the contestants plan to do with the money should play zero factor in who wins.  And I honestly don't want anyone who believes otherwise to be on this show.  This is some season 1 crap that I don't like to see.  Plus I hate that the fire-making challenge ever plays a role in who wins the game.  It's a bad addition to the game that I want to see gone.  I think Maria was a poor sport for voting for Kenzie over Charlie and her reasoning is a bunch of B.S.  As far as I'm concerned, she single-handedly robbed Charlie of the win and that is a crappy way to end the season.  Good for Charlie for having as much composure as he did during the after show.  I doubt I could have lost with that much grace in the face of that betrayal.  Anyway, now that it has been established that I think Maria and Q suck as Jurors and I don't want to see either of them play again, let's get into the gameplay itself and who played well and who sucked.  We'll start with the Final 5!

Final 5

Who Played Well:

Coming back from Tribal Council, I love the way Charlie kept his cool in the face of Maria's betrayal.  He kept that relationship open in case of Maria winning Immunity or finding an Idol.  It's telling that she voted for Ben instead of Charlie here and he made the correct movie in getting rid of Maria as did Ben, Liz, and Kenzie.

Speaking of Liz and Kenzie, I loved the way they worked together to take down Maria in the Immunity Challenge.  Was it a bit dirty?  Sure, but I still like the move.  Maria had to be stopped in order for anyone else to win.  I'm a little surprised production allowed Liz to grab Kenzie's plank, but I'm okay with this being allowed.  It was a cutthroat and smart move for them to make to get Kenzie Immunity over Maria.

Who Sucked:

None of the remaining players played poorly here.

As for Maria, I think going after Ben was an error.  No one was taking Ben seriously as a threat and since Kenzie won Immunity, she should have been campaigning against Charlie as jury threat instead of working with him.

Verdict:

Best Player of the Final 5 goes to Kenzie Petty for winning Immunity and taking out Maria.

I'm not giving out a Worst Player here because the person who was eliminated isn't eligible for either Award and no one else played poorly.

Let's move on to the Final 4!

Final 4

Who Played Well:

Kenzie is the only person I have in this section simply because she won the fire-making challenge which was a good look in front of the Jury.

Who Sucked:

Ben may have won Immunity and had the choice to decide who was making fire, but unfortunately he didn't make the optimal move for him to have a chance of winning.  I hate fire-making and I wish it wasn't it the game.  I hate that I have to give out advice on how to handle this section of the game that I disagree with so much, but it's part of the game for now, so I'll suck it up.  Ben should have put himself into fire against either Charlie or Kenzie, depending on who he saw as the bigger threat to win.  

Charlie managed to get himself taken to end, which I want to give him credit for.  If I were on the Jury, it wouldn't bother me at all that he wasn't interested in making fire.  I hate this mentality that you have to make fire to get people's votes.  But we have had plenty of Jurors who disagree, which is part of the game.  I think the move going forward is to put up a front at Tribal Council by saying you want to make fire and you're totally up for the challenge.  It doesn't have to be true, but it's what you apparently have to say.  That way no one can criticize you on that front if you make it to Final Tribal Council.

As for Liz, she really wasn't built for Survivor.  You need to be a fire master at this point in the show.  It sucks that she has problems with her wrists, but she knew this was a possibility and wasn't prepared for it.

Verdict:

Best Player of the Final 4 goes to Kenzie Petty for winning the fire-making challenge.

Worst Player of the Final 4 goes to Ben Katzman for not putting himself into the fire-making challenge.

Final Tribal Council

Ben didn't have much of a chance going into the Final Tribal Council.  He answered honestly but just didn't do enough to have a chance to win.

Charlie did pretty well, but I think he should have been a little more aggressive.  He should have gone after Kenzie a little more by saying she was left out of the Tiffany vote and never had a true move on her own.

Kenzie also did pretty well and owned her game, flaws and all.  She had a great social game and again, I have nothing against Kenzie for winning.  I only have problems with Maria and Q for their reasoning.  

Verdict:

Best Player of the Season goes to Charlie Davis.  He did have an incredible social and strategic game and had his finger on the pulse of the game at all times.  I do genuinely think he was robbed at the last minute by Maria.

Worst Player of the Season (and I'm only counting people who made the merge) is Q Burdette.  The guy was terrible socially and never won Immunity.  He had some strategic chops, but not a whole lot.  You could say the same thing about Venus, but the tie-breaker for me was that Q wanted to quit twice.

And that's it for Survivor 46.  It's shame it ended on such a sour note when the rest of the season was so chaotic and fun.  

I'm excited to see what happens next! If you liked this breakdown, check out my other write-ups at www.stacysbloggoingon.blogspot.com/.