Survivor 46 Winner: Who Won Between Kenzie, Charlie, Maria?

Beyond that, this season was filled with surprise moments like an Applebee’s meltdown, Jelinsky believing that “several” meant seven, “Sassy Jeff’s” comeback, and a Metallica and Taylor Swift song showdown. All of that led up to the big finale—who made the final three and who is going to make that fire flameworthy?

Survivor 46 Winner

Being isolated on an island for nearly 30 days can be lonely sometimes, but that won’t discourage Survivor contestants. “There are people in this game who aren’t rooting for you, but there are people at home who are,” Liz said when she opened family letters. There’s also a strong and widenet Survivor fanbase and here’s who won it all.

Kenzie Petty

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Winner: Kenzie Petty (née Veurink)

Kenzie won Survivor 46 as the “Sole Survivor.” She postponed her wedding to appear on the show, and she’s gotten along with basically everyone who’s on and off the jury. In a 5-3 vote against Charlie, the majority of the jury voted for her. During the Final Tribal Council, she emphasized her use of the million dollars as an investment and that she was in the game for herself only.

“I had practiced my story all day, I was ready to go,” she told Entertainment Weekly. “And once we got into it, and Charlie had such a good story and was so good at articulating it, Ben had some really good points, I was like, ‘Oh, I have to really fight now. I have to really go for it.’”

On her ongoing strategy of befriending everyone, she told Entertainment Weekly, “I’m very proud of the fact I managed going from “getting away with murder,” “mastermind,” and a huge threat to being everyone’s bestie. I was able take my threat level from so high to having everyone forgetting all about that and thinking I was just a floater.”
Charlie Davis

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Charlie was in the final 3 of Survivor 46. However in a vote of 5-3-0, he lost the title of “Sole Survivor” to Kenzie. In a twist of events, he lost the split vote to his number one confidante Maria. After winning the reward challenge in the penultimate episode, this Swiftie’s cunning strategy helped him vote out Q.

One Reddit poster said that Charlie “has the best overall game so far, not mostly social like kenzie. he’s tough at challenges, he’s got great social game and he pivots with ease always considering the next move like last episode where he insisted they keep maria in the loop about Q rather than burn her and suffer her potential vengeance next vote. he’s managed to remain likeable while cutting throats and winning challenges.”

Once the tribes merged, Charlie never gave up. “At the final seven vote, my whole strategy was to keep Q and Maria in the game as my shields going into the final six — all while creating a hidden alliance of four that was ready to vote out whoever lost immunity out of Q and Maria,” Charlie told Entertainment Weekly. “It went off without a hitch, but it was not easy!”
Ben Katzman

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Ben Katzman is the resident Mr. Rock & Roll on the island, but had a tiresome and anxiety-filled couple of days on the island. He accidentally wrote his best friend’s name during Tribal Council, but that won’t stop their friendship at all, as he took both Kenzie and Charlie to the top 3.

He seems to be a good sport about his experiences, despite the night terrors. “I think my favorite was just seeing six people try to vibe and work as a tribe,” he told EW. When I look back on the fun stuff, it was Tim and I going fishing, Charlie wearing Jem’s crop top, Mo coming up with creative ways to cook coconut. I know some people come out to Survivor to play hard, but I think what kept us motivated and in the game was actually chillin’ hard!”
Liz Wilcox

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Though we love her and her antics of her rivalry with Q, Applebee’s breakdown, not pooping for 22 days, and overall quirkiness, Liz Wilcox came out fourth after losing the Final Fire challenge to Kenzie.

“I’m most proud of my unique gameplay,” she reminsced to Entertainment Weekly. “I think playing so ‘out of the box’ is a move in itself. Like, who in their right mind would come into a game like Survivor exaggerating their wealth instead of trying to mask their success? Who wouldn’t want to look for idols? What type of person thinks out there “I can get to the end without any allies. In fact, I should put my entire tribe on the jury?” Oh hey. That’s me. Liz Wilcox. I’m the one you’ve been dismissing this whole time as a little off, but here’s the deal…”
Maria Shrime Gonzalez

Image Credit: Robert Voets/CBS

We saw Maria’s lowest point when Charlie didn’t pick her for Family Letters in the penultimate episode. An alliance might be dissolved, but as someone who’s won many Immunity Challenges, Maria has so much drive to come out on the top five. She was eliminated first out of the five, and was the split vote between Charlie and Kenzie—voting for the latter during the last Tribal Council.

“I was absolutely devastated not being able to read my babies’ letters,” she said about her lowest moment on the island. “I was crushed, knowing how much time they probably spent on them and how much care they would have put into writing them and drawing pictures for me. We had talked about this moment before I left for Fiji, and I knew they were excited to see me reading their letters on TV. It shook me to my core knowing that I would have to tell them that I never got to read those letters when I needed them the most.”

As someone who knows how to make fire, she has such an advantage if she’s picked for the Final Fire. One Redditor posted, “Even if she manages to make it to the end, she makes it there with Charlie or Kenzie and I can’t imagine her winning over either. Charlie and her made the same moves but Charlie seems to have a much better social game, Kenzie overall I feel is way more liked.”