Survivor 46 episode 11 is winding down, and as things change for the castaways, the drama is intensifying as they get closer and closer to the endgame and the $1 million grand prize. After the last several episodes of Survivor 46, the castways have struggled with deciding who will be their next boot and have relished in blindsiding many of the contestants who felt untouchable. With several tribal councils that left the majority of the castaways confused about who was going home until the last possible second, Survivor 46 has proven to be a season ruled by complicated social dynamics.
Throughout Survivor 46, there have been some set alliances that haven’t budged, while some castaways have never had a group to have their backs. Prior to the merge, the tribes operated in their own groups, but now that they’ve merged, things are becoming trickier to navigate. The remaining castaways consisting of former Yanu tribe members Kenzie Petty and Q Burdette, former Siga tribe members Charlie Davis, Maria Maria Shrime Gonzalez, and Ben Katzman, and former Nami tribe members Liz Wilcox and Venus Vafa, have all been struggling to the finish. With the finale on the horizon, who will fall short?
After the blindside vote at the previous tribal council that left Kenzie and Venus out of Tiffany Ervin’s elimination, both were feeling somewhat uneasy about the status quo back at camp. Charlie spoke to Kenzie as soon as he could, trying to comfort her and letting her know that the decision to eliminate Tiffany hadn’t been his. While Kenzie was taking losing her ally hard, she was taking it harder that voting out Tiffany had been something she’d wanted on her resume. Venus checked in with Kenize, sharing that they needed to regroup and try working together if they could.
While Maria has been quiet throughout the game about the power she’s wielded on Survivor, she wanted to own the move that led to Tiffany’s blindside. Sharing that she was excited to be able to pull off such a big move, she kept telling others that it felt like something that could win her the game. Though she wasn’t required to be humble or quiet about her game strategy, playing off the blindside in everyone’s faces wasn’t something the other castaways found to be smart. Maria’s decision to be cocky about her game made her look less controlled and strategic.
After Tiffany’s elimination, her immunity idol was put back into the jungle and hidden for the rest of the Survivor 46 cast to search for. Each castaway did their best to find the idol, searching both together and separately through the thicket of trees and shrubs to try to find it. Venus, who felt that she was the most familiar with the camp, ultimately found the idol and was ecstatic to have some protection surrounding the next tribal council. She kept the idol to herself, sharing that she wasn’t sure if she would play it in the next tribal.
After some consideration, Kenzie decided that the best move she could make in the game was to work with Venus as long as it would benefit her. Kenzie knew that after the blindside, she couldn’t trust Maria, she didn’t trust Q, and Ben was associated with them by proxy. Though Kenzie and Venus have been on the opposite side of some votes, they discussed the fact that they were the only two left out of the last vote, which was something neither of them was interested in happening again. While they were both skeptical, they agreed to work together.
While Charlie has been aligned with Maria throughout the game, he shared in a confessional moment that he felt it may be the time for him to distance himself from their alliance and look at taking her out. Charlie shared that with Maria getting closer to Q and owning the Tiffany blindside, she was making enemies at camp and ultimately, he didn’t know if he wanted to be associated with her gameplay anymore. Though she was a bigger target than him, Charlie felt that with the endgame close, Maria should be one of the next castaways eliminated from the game.
While searching for an idol, Kenzie, Liz, and Venus decided that they needed to band together in order to take Maria out during that evening’s tribal council if possible. Though they knew they would need another vote on their side to have the majority, they shared that they needed to take Maria out quickly, because she was getting to a point where the power was going to her head. While Maria had been playing strategically, the decision to blindside Tiffany and then brag about it openly felt like too much for the women to continue to condone.
The immunity challenge, which featured an obstacle course and ended in an elaborate snake puzzle that required balance and precision, was difficult for everyone. Maria ultimately won the challenge, earning her second immunity necklace of the season, but others had several chances to win throughout the game. Maria earned a reward, as well, and had to choose castaways to join her in eating an abundance of pizza.
Maria shared she would be choosing based on who needed to eat more, picking Ben, and then asking Venus, Liz, and Q to state their cases. After Venus backed out from the competition, Maria still felt stressed about the choice and asked Q and Liz to play rock, paper, scissors to determine who would get to eat with her. Q ultimately won over Liz, causing another rift in the tribe as Maria’s choice was baffling to everyone.
The group who didn’t get to eat with Maria consisted of Charlie, Venus, Kenzie, and Liz, who all shared that they felt Q and Maria were getting too close, and wanted to vote out Q now that Maria was no longer an option. Maria, Ben, and Q spoke about getting rid of Venus, as she caused too much chaos around camp for their liking. Charlie, who was playing the middle, was ready to vote Q out, but a conversation with Venus conflicted him. After she dangled the idea of an advantage in his face, Charlie wasn’t sure what to do.
As the tribal council meeting got underway, Survivor host Jeff Probst asked the castaways about their feelings surrounding the reward decision, Q, and Venus. While his questions weren’t difficult to answer, Liz, Venus, and Q all got passionate about sharing their thoughts. Though Q and Maria were clearly aligned in their thinking, the rest of the tribe seemed uncertain about who they agreed with overall. Deciding not to use her idol because she felt certain Q would be voted out, Venus was the next castaway voted out of Survivor 46, joining the jury after being blindsided by her tribe.
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