Survivor Edgic: S46 Final Takes (E11) (2024)

Nicholas Wiltsie

27 min read

May 11, 2024

Fitting In and Being Accepted

This has been the major theme all season and it came roaring back this week. Let’s look back at what Jeff told us day 1:

And you all right now believe you can win this game, but it’s simply not true. Right now, there is at least one of you that cannot win. No matter who you go to the end with, it won’t matter. Something about your personality is not going to gel with this group and you won’t get the votes. And the beautiful thing about the confidence of a Survivor player is that you’re all nodding in agreement and yet none of you think you’re the one who can’t win. It’s one of the reasons Survivor is so fun to watch but it should be the number one reason why each of you play the game on your terms, because that blind optimism that you have right now, that specific point of view that you’re bringing into the game, is going to work or not work, but it is your single biggest weapon.

Right from the very beginning Jeff was talking about gelling with the group, and we’ve seen it play out. Characters like Venus, Bhanu, and Moriah struggled to fit in and were eventually voted out. Ben and Hunter referenced struggles fitting in off the island but excelled at it in the game. For others it was natural.

This theme is also about accepting others and being kind to those not fitting in. I’m looking at the way Ben helped a struggling Bhanu, and then how in turn Kenzie helped a struggling Ben. Is someone going to reach out and include outsiders while others are ostracizing them? Kenzie called Venus her friend this week — has anyone else done that all season? And how does being and giving yourself fit into this theme? Maybe it’s about giving yourself not just to the game, but to each other?

For awhile I’ve been fighting with the clash between Kenzie as my number one contender and this being my top theme. That finally got settled this week: in her opening confessional Kenzie’s explicitly references being “left out of the group.” She’s finally grappling with what it means to be left out. She’s found the theme.

Gaming vs. Vibing

In some ways this bleeds into fitting in, but it’s its own theme. I think this is barreling toward a strategy vs social theme at final tribal council. And this is where I’m going to now house the theme of being a good person. It’s about when it’s okay to let the game be just a game. It’s heart vs. heart from S44.

In many ways, this theme was represented by Nami vs. Siga. Nami was all gaming all the time, with personal relationships mattering very little. On the other hand, Siga just wanted to vibe out. This caused a Siga massacre in early merge, but the three remaining seemingly endured better than Nami. Q, a gamer in his own right, summed this theme up well in Episode 8:

It’s not okay just to come to camp and keke, hee-hee and ya-ya and not make real moves. I’m a game player and I’m a game changer and I’m going to change the way this game is played.

To the gamers, just hanging out is a waste of time. It’s all about strategy. Making the best moves. They also overlook the importance of being a good person and doing the right thing. The games wouldn’t understand Kenzie helping Ben despite it not being good for her game.

Underdogs, Threats, and Claiming Credit

This is a David vs. Goliath story… The underdog has a chance … This is the making of an underdog story

The underdog theming has been heavyhanded all merge. I don’t think you can win this story if you aren’t being presented as an underdog. I know the show is presenting Maria and Charlie as in the driver seat right now, but have they ever been underdogs?

This is directly tied to the idea of blind optimism, which Jeff mentioned during his mat monologue. Underdogs don’t have blind optimistism, they’re always worried. Tevin was blindly optimistic and went home. Hunter knew he was in trouble but was so optimistic he didn’t play his idol, a problem that followed to Tiffany and then Venus. Could Maria and Charlie be the next victims of blind optimism?

Everyone keeps talking about credit and threat level. There’s focus on this during hide and seek. Q clocked Hunter for hiding so well (and then he got voted out), but Kenzie got praised for camouflaging during hide and seek while seemingly slipping into the background. Charlie and Maria keep discussing threat level and credit. Charlie believes in letting others take credit to keep threat level down while Maria wants to claim as much credit as possible. Then we have Liz constantly frustrated by not getting credit and respect.

Where is this theme going? If someone’s getting a ton of credit (Maria), I don’t think they’re making the end. If someone isn’t getting credit (Liz and Charlie) I think they’re prime candidates to lose at the end. Our winner will be a goldilocks, like with most themes. Someone that can claim credit without getting exposed as a threat.

Synthesizing the themes together, what I think we’re looking for is someone that fits in, but knows what it means to be an outcast. Someone that vibes and does the right thing, while still remembering strategy. And someone that claims credit but doesn’t overhype their own threat level. If it’s not clear by now, to me that’s all Kenzie.

I really only have one contender at this point:

1. Kenzie (94%)

Premerge: She’s ready to party! She works in the beauty industry, which like this game is all about people. Part of her job as stylistic is connecting with people — she wants to be good with everyone. The game is much harder than she thought it would be; she knows she has what it takes to win, but needed a bit of a reset after the first tribal. Jess says Kenzie will “just sail to the F3 if they don’t get rid of her.” Bhanu describes her as a mermaid dragon, hiding her true self underneath a sweet exterior, and even tells people on journey that she’s a mastermind. She knows her tribe has had one of the roughests starts in survivor history, and sees all of Yanu’s misfortune as a bad survivor charmic curse, but thinks getting a break from Renden’s medivac could be the turning point for Yanu and winning the reward could be part of it. She snaps at Bhanu when he presses too hard to talk strategy after their reward win, but then goes out of her way to apologize and make him feel better. Not having flint/fire is killing her and her tribe; they need to be able to just have fun and stop losing everything. Their experience has been hell; a tough spot that just keeps getting tougher. She’s thrilled when they finally win immunity and get their flint: it’s a real turning point for Yanu after holding onto their spark for so long through such bad conditions.

Merging: Yanu’s spark is ignited and it’s going to keep them going. She knows going into merge that Yanu is in great shape because they have so much tribal experience and can now sit in the middle and choose who goes home: “I’m like an oiled up cast iron skillet.” Her and Yanu are all safe at mergeatory: “This is the making of an underdog story.” She comforts Ben during his panic attack; even though it might be better for her for him to be weak, it’s just a game and she needs to be there for him as a person. With her immunity win she feels like she’s really gaining footing in the game. She finds lying to Ben really hard after the two of them formed a friendship — she’s struggling to balance who she likes as a person against who she wants to work with. She’s annoyed at Q for so strongly dictating the vote. “The way Q is barking orders at us, has Tiff and I aware.” At tribal, voting out someone she loves is killing her, but Q talks her up for doing so great the entire game.

Mid-merge: She was expecting Venus to go in the split tribal, and is shocked to see she survived. She does a good job of hiding during hide and seek, which Q says shows she’s good at camouflaging and going undetected. She’s happy when Ben pitches her on the chill alliance and taking out Tevin, since she’s been driving so many votes and she wants the Yanu 3 to hide in the background and not control this one. She’s happy they stuck to their plan and voted out Tevin; she has no interest in helping Q quit. She refuses to work with Q, even when he tries revealing the 6 to her. She wants to use Q and Hunter as a distraction to blindside Tiffany; she knows it’s risky, but she’d rather go out swinging than eat popcorn on the sidelines. When that plan gets blown up, she says she’s fine with Hunter going even though she’d rather the vote be on Q personally.

Endgame: Tiff is her #1, but she knows Tiff’s presence in the game is a problem for her because it’s hard to differentiate their games. She’s not fooled by Q bringing her to Applebees, saying he’s like a toxic boyfriend trying to woo her back with food. She thinks it’s so cold for him to not bring Liz. She’s willing to sit out the immunity challenge to help get rice, but competes once Liz is able to get herself individual rice. She’s been working on the Tiff blindside for awhile, but it doesn’t feel right anymore. She doesn’t have respect for Q and he needs to go. Leaving him in the game would be “spitting in the face” of everyone in the game and on the jury.

Tiff going was the first time she was left out of a vote:

This tribal was the first time I’ve been left out of a vote. It’s the worst. It’s the worst feeling ever. What did I do to not be in the club? Why am I not trustworthy? I’m so confused. . . I was having this whimsical amazing time. I just let the game get away from me. . . Maybe this is what I needed to get my head back on straight. There’s a game out here to play and win. I’m just going to have to get a little more craft, pay a lot more attention. I can turn this around.

The next morning she realizes she was too comfy and now just needs to step up her game to succeed. She realizes she likes Venus and is her friend, and goes idol hunting with her not realizing she already has it. She and Liz agree Q and Maria are the linchpins and the biggest threats. She’s disgusted by Maria’s actions when picking who goes on reward. When Charlie is apprehensive about voting Q out, she says “the boys are being big babies.” She adamantly wants Q out and is frustrated by their hesitancy.

>>> I’m pretty much all in on Kenzie at this point. I know some are concerned with her continuing to not get her way, but that’s just not how I approach edgic. She’s hitting our themes on all cyllinders and giving me exactly what I wanted. Her presenting as an outcast being left out of the club is what I needed from her to go all in. And given the themes of the season, I’m envisioning her as a primarily social winner, that beats a more strategic winner at the end. I see her signature move being taking out the big bad that everyone hates, and getting rewarded for it with a million dollars.

Maybe I have the themes right, but I’m reading them wrong or just picking the wrong horse. That’s what my next two options represent:

2. Ben (3%)

Premerge: If he goes home, he wants to know he at least stepped up. He likes to look at the world as glass half full. His strategy is to be himself: chill, and make people laugh. It’s working: Tim calls him the dean of cultural affairs; Maria says he brings confidence to the tribe; Jem says he’s the epitome of Siga. He was always the kid with so much energy and insecurities — the power of rock helped him overcome his self doubt, but in his head he’s still an insecure kid. Making fire for Siga was out of his element and made him cry; now he feels like he can do anything. He has a duo with Charlie, which they solidify with a song battle. “These People are making it so enjoyable for me.” He comforts Bhanu when he’s emotional at the journey — tells him it’s a game of emotion and he appreciates Bhanu’s emotion. He fails at the journey puzzle and loses his vote, but sells his tribe on the intel he got from Bhanu being an advantage. He hypes up the tribe and comforts Maria after they lose reward. Feels himself getting more depleted by the conditions, but sees suffering as a chance to explore the depths of his mind. Moriah calls him the most charismatic likable person she’s ever met; “he can charm anyone.” The girls want to target him because he’s such a big time social threat. He knows that Jem is coming for him, and knows he needs to target and get rid of her. He doesn’t have a vote, but maneuvers the vote onto her socially by flagging how chaotic the energy she’s bringing is. Charlie notes Ben’s strength is his humor, but that it’s still a dangerous strength. Ben’s maneuvering pays off and Jem goes home.

Merging: Mo says voting for him sucked because he’s been honest and kind to her the entire game. He wants to stay Siga strong and doesn’t want to throw anyone under the bus, but sees that everyone wants a name. He has a panic attack after tribal, which is something he’s struggled with before, but Kenzie steps up and calms him down and shows him kindness. This was huge, because he was afraid he’d just be looked at as weirdo 6th grade Ben not fitting in. He knows he’s in trouble at the split against all the Yanu, but says he’s going down swinging and pitches Hunter. He knows the play, and especially letting Yanu tell Hunter to vote for him, is a risk, but he sees the game like gambling, and if he survives he will feel high for the rest of the game. At tribal he says he’s used to being everyone’s “entertainment monkey,” someone folks like as a party but don’t want to get deep with, but he’s been making real bonds in the game.

Mid-merge: He’s really sad about Tim going; he was Ben’s rock and kept him sane during the game. He wins hide and seek, which Q says means he’s “capable of playing an undercover game and being very powerful in the end.” After hearing Liz’s pitch to him, Ben, and Maria, he pitches Kenzie on the “chill alliance.” He calls Q a coward for wanting to be voted out because he’s afraid of being on the bottom — poser move! After the Tiffany plan gets ruined, Ben wants to put the vote on Hunter because he’s vulnerable and a threat. “I know if Hunter goes, I have more of a chance of winning something. . . it’s a golden platter.” At TC he unloads at Q for saying that no one is playing but Q.

Endgame: He can’t believe Q didn’t take Liz on the Applebees reward and calls him a villain for it. “What kind of person does that?” He’s been thinking about the vote: Q is a bully and he wants him out, but Tiffany’s idol makes her more dangerous, so strategically he knows that’s the better move. He regains energy when Maria brings him on the pizza reward. He personally wants Q out, but he sees how strategically it makes way more sense for his game to get Venus out first. She’s causing too much strategic chaos.

>>> I was ready to full eliminate Ben as he was getting completely blanked last episode, and then he had to go and give one shoehorned confessional explaining why Venus going was exactly the right move for him — shares of Michele. Ben remains far too low visability for a winner, but I can’t shake the clear edit manipulation with him; it’s there for a reason. If Kenzie goes home, Ben remains to best embodiment of the themes, so I can’t completely write him off. No, it’s not likely. But he’s still my favorite alternative to Kenzie.

3. Liz (2%)

Premerge: She’s allergic to everything. Others complain that she’s flaunting her money. She doesn’t need the money, but wants to win the game to show family she can do anything. She’s very excited about winning fish because she hasn’t been able to eat anything yet. She’s happy Soda is getting targeted because of her threat level. She doesn’t even try to look for the idol because she knows she won’t be able to find it.

Merging: Soda is her #1 target and she is so pumped when Tevin approaches her about targeting her; “I don’t care about being Nami strong, Soda has to go.”

Mid-merge: She’s frustrated by Venus and Tevin taking credit for the Soda vote — it was really her move! She doesn’t want to get lost in the shuffle and needs to start taking action. She realizes people are beginning to see him as the mastermind, which really worries her, because she needs to signal to everyone that she’s here to play her own game. She pitches to Ben, Charlie, and Maria that the four of them need to make a move to have a shot. She wants to blindside Tevin. She’s a fighter and is ready to start taking the lead. She’s super pissed about her Tevin move getting overshadowed by Q; she’s getting lost in the game. “Q stole my Thunder.”

Endgame: She’s super mad about getting left out of the Hunter vote and is trying to control her anger and stop herself from exploding. She’s so excited about Applebess — it’s her Wednesday night ritual with her daughter before watching Survivor. She is furious when Q refuses to let her come on the reward and lets out a primal scream! “I’m pissed!” She sees Q not picking her as particularly villainous — “I don’t know what kind of person does that.” It’s not just about food: she has an emotional connection to Applebees due to her upbringing and her tradition with her daughter. She’s distraught that no one ate the burger — it’s a slap in the face! But as much as not eating is making her crazy, she’s still got her eyes on the prize. She’s able to finally get herself rice by sitting out an immunity challenge. She sees the Q vs. Tiff decision as all about following her head versus her heart. She follows her head and Tiffany stays.

After tribal, she and Kenzie agree Q and Maria are the big threats that need to go. She’s done with Maria and Q after the pizza picking. “I can’t respect anyone that’s playing the game with that jerk.” She publicly lays into Maria for trying to accommodate Q. She says she’s done hiding how she feels to make everyone else happy. Normally she doesn’t hold grudges, but with Q it’s personal. She even lays into him at tribal council; she’s annoyed that no one will make a move on him.

>>> I can’t believe I’m putting Liz number three. No, I still don’t think she’s winning. I still feel very strongly that her edit is about not being seen for the move’s she’s making and not getting credit as a result. I think she’s one of the two most likely losing finalists because of all that. But what she does have going for her is that she’s being presented as someone we should root for. In a situation where we have clear good guys and villains, I think this is a season where the good guys win. She’s on the right side of the battle lines, so I begrudgingly un-eliminate her to doll out 2% of win equity.

There remains the chance that I have the themes completely wrong and my read on the season is backwards. Let’s explore that here:

4. Charlie (1%)

Premerge: This T-Swift fan is hiding he went to law school to keep his threat level down. He has lived a very simple, bubbled, sheltered life, but Survivor has people from all walks of life and he wants to pop that bubble. Him and Maria are in the middle of the tribe — the Malcolm and Denise alliance. He’s good at strategy but is concerned with the social game. He does a song battle with Ben to build a social connection. Ben is thankful for what he’s bringing, keeping his mind off the suffering, but they get clocked as a duo. He’s having so much fun with everyone he even starts salsa dancing, but it’s all part of his strategy to keep him in lockstep with Maria. After losing immunity he knows that losing as the vibe tribe is scary because vibes can turn from good to bad and is disheartened about the vote being on Ben, who he feels super close with. He and Maria are at the crossroads, needing to decide on going forward with Ben/Tim or Moriah/Jem. He seemingly gets his way as Jem goes home.

Merging: At mergeatory, he knows it’s a very important vote. He doesn’t want to lose Mo, but also doesn’t want to push too hard to save her; it’s the individual portion of the game and he needs to survive. He tells Venus he voted for her and gets scolded by Q for it, which makes him realize Q is running the show and needs to go. He knows he’s in a tough spot on a split with 4 Namis, but at least he has Maria, who he trusts most in the game. His fortune turns when the Nami’s turn on each other, giving him and Maria all the power.

Mid-merge: He’s trying his best to stay on Q’s good side because he can see the way Q is driving votes and positioning pieces for the endgame. He interviews for Q’s alliance and thinks it goes well, but is worried that he’s signing up to be bottom of the alliance and stuck with a bunch of people he can’t beat in the end. He’s happy to play hide and seek to “forget the strategy and play a silly little game.” He does well competing against Hunter for immunity, but not good enough as he finishes second. He doesn’t know what to make of the 11th hour chaos whipped up by Hunter, but sees him and Maria as in the middle between booting Tevin or Tiffany. Gets paired with Hunter in the immunity challenge and refuses to throw the challenge in order to target him, upsetting Q. He overcomes the odds and beats Hunter in the individual portion, winning immunity for himself and making Hunter vulnerable. He’s happy to let Kenzie take credit for a Tiffany move and build her threat level.

Endgame: Everyone wants to take out Q, but he thinks Tiffany is a bigger threat to he and Maria’s game. Wins his second straight immunity to keep Tiffany from being immune. He had practiced grip strength before coming onto the island, which paid off big here! He persuades Maria that Liz is the 5th vote they need to get Q out; she’s more dependable than Venus.

He tries talking to Kenzie after she’s left out of the vote to make sure they’re ok — he knows she feels bitter. Maria got to claim clear credit for the Tiff vote, but he sees it as making her a huge target and threat, which he’s fine with. He’s been in lockstep with her from the beginning, but now he wants Q out while Maria wants him around — their paths are diverging. Kenzie says he has no resume moves — he’s Maria’s jester. “I’m feeling my gut going in two directions. One way is going to win, and it might be making a move against Maria.” He can’t believe how Maria handled the pizza picking; “the four pizza losers are pissed!” He fuels the hate on Maria and Q in order to direct the vote toward Q. His plan is to hide and keep everyone looking everywhere but at himself; he wants all eyes on Q and Maria. He doesn’t want Q or Maria in his ideal F4, but Venus spooks him with her idol talk. He’s very on the fence between Venus/Q:

Even though I might have power tonight, I could make a mistake that sinks my game going forward. The way people are talking about Q and Maria, working with them could taint my image. I know I’m a little bit of a threat, but people aren’t mad at me. After tonight’s vote, the main concern is if I can pull people that I’ve burned back into a position that benefits me. I don’t know if I can do that if I burn people that are so dead set at getting Q out. It might be the last straw and I might be public enemy #1 for stringing them along.

>>> I know I’ve been on this bit for awhile, but after this episode I feel fully committed: Charlie is a losing finalist. He just got 16 confessionals telling us why! And this last one is the most damning. All season Charlie has talked about keeping his threat level down, seemingly unconcerned with credit. I think that will work, but too much, where he’s going to sit at FTC and have everyone refuse to give him credit for moves he made with Maria. Moreover, now that he’s thrown his hat in with the Q and Maria, I don’t think he’s going to be the juries friend. Imagine Parv in HvV being punished for working with Russel. Or Aubrey losing because the jury liked Michele better. Or maybe even Gavin, who played a good game but no one saw it. But maybe I’m wrong. Charlie has gotten a big, robust edit. I remain concerned about his lack of personal content. But if this just is a season about being strategic and good at survivor, he’s our winner. So I give him 1%, still alive. Charlie is my big hedge on being completely wrong.

In a world where Jeff says he doesn’t want villains, these two are being explicitly edited as (1) a bully; and (2) working with a bully and not caring that it upsets people. I can’t see either of those being winning stories.

Q

Premerge: He played football his whole life and is very competitive. He’s going to play full speed from day 1 — he’s the QB and going to be in control. He moves the first vote from Jess to Jalinsky because he doesn’t like quitters; he needs soldiers he can go to war with. He considers using Jess and Bhanu to take Kenzie out because he knows she’s a threat to his game. Let down his tribe in a challenge when the spotlight was on and is very tough on himself for it — needs to be better. He doesn’t handle the failure well and annoys his tribemates with self-deprecation. Wants to take out Kenzie instead of Bhanu because she’s a bigger threat, but is furious at Bhanu for raising his threat level by telling everyone he’s a duo with Tiffany. He wants to coach Bhanu to be the best player he can be, but can’t do it and votes him out. The conditions are killing him: no food, rain, bad shelter, etc. He feigns to Kenzie that he might want to go to disarm her. He would never actually quit, “I would pass out and die first.” Winning feels amazing and he can’t wait to have a bro moment on the journey with Tim and Hunter — the three of them agree to work together in the journey alliance.

Merging: He’s very excited about the journey six alliance at the merge, but he’s still a little weary about Tim and Maria, especially when he finds out Tim never told Maria about the alliance. He doesn’t like the vibe of the Siga tribe: just being friends and not being strategic. He’s very scared of Mo after she compares herself to Aubrey and is very mad about Venus not wanting to vote her out, calling her “ungrateful.” He gets mad at Charlie for telling Venus he voted for her; “he let his emotions get the best of him… he needed to be put in his place.” Right after he’s clocked as running the game like a dictator, during the challenge he runs a game to pass the time like a dictator, getting frustrated by others not doing it right. He claims he threw the split immunity challenge so he can test the strength of his alliance. He doesn’t want to target Hunter for being a physical threat because he feels he can beat him; he’s more worried about strategic threats. Decides to target Tim because he’s so Siga strong and wants to vote Hunter. He annoys Kenzie and Tiffany by being chaotic and controlling, demanding the vote move from Tim to Ben.

Mid-merge: He’s really upset about how much folks are just vibing and hanging out post tribal instead of making strategic moves.

It’s not ok to come to camp and just kekehehe and not make moves. . . I’m a game player and game changer and going to change the way this game is played.

He organizes a game of hide and seek which he uses to read the way people play the game; he wants to know who can hide in plain sight. He’s very concerned about what he views as Tiffany’s plan to take a goat to the end. He tells Maria about Tiffany’s idol. He goes to Tevin and Hunter to put the plan in motion to get rid of Tiffany so he can maintain mob boss control. He tries to spearhead a rice sitout, and is really frustrated they can’t get a deal done when it’s obvious Hunter will win anyway, dismayed they care about playing for fun. He still wants to target Tiffany because she broke his #1 rule — you target the 6 you go home. He’s furious when he hears the vote has shifted to Tevin; he hates when plans change.

I’m not the driver, and my game is based off me being in control. I want to gain control again.

He tells Hunter about the vote. He sends the entire tribal council into chaos by saying he wants to be voted out, but Hunter goes home. After Tevin’s boot, he tells us he felt guilty about messing up everyone’s game; that’s why he asked to be voted out. He tells Tiffany the reason he targeted her is because she brought up targeting Maria, but it blew up in his face and now he needs to work hard to get back in control. No one wants to pair up with Q for the 3-way teams immunity challenge. He wants Charlie to throw the IC so they can target Hunter and gets mad at him when he refuses. After losing immunity he thinks the writing’s on the wall — no one wants to work with him — but he wants to cause more chaos. He gets into a big fight with Tiffany at tribal before Hunter goes.

Endgame: Everyone is upset that Q continues to linger around and annoy everyone after surviving the Hunter vote. He knows everyone wants him out, but he knows he’s not out of the game. Wins the Applebees reward and infuriates Liz by refusing to bring her along despite her allergy issues. He says it was hard to make Liz upset, but he needed to bring Yanu on reward to try rebuilding his game from the beginning. He’s not concerned with Liz being mad at him. He doesn’t care what others think; it’s a business decision just like firing someone back at home. He knows the vote is life or death between him or Tiff, and he survives.

It pisses everyone off when Maria brings him on reward. He knows he shouldn’t have gone and that it’s not fair, but he doesn’t care or feel bad. He knows he can use it as a chance to make sure he doesn’t go home. He wants to take Venus out because she’s annoying and an immunity threat.

>>> I know a lot of people are slotting in Q as a losing finalist, but I see a very different role: our dragon. I think one of our heroic characters is slaying Q this week and claiming vanquishing his evil as her signature move to the jury. Why do I say this week? His edit has gotten very quiet the last couple of weeks compared to the first 9. That’s a telltale sign that his story is wrapping up and he’s ready to go.

Maria

Premerge: She’s a mom but isn’t going to play like one: “mommy’s going to lie, cheat, and steal.” She’s going to be in the minivan driving the game, not in a flashy red car. As an immigrant she has always had the struggle of “being enough” and the pressure to succeed, which causes losing reward to hit her hard. She’s working on shedding the shame and guilt of not succeeding. Her and Charlie are in the middle of the tribe. When they finally go to tribal, she wants to go with the girls because she thinks Jem will be more loyal, but they still vote out Jem.

Merging: She finds it strange that Tim considered her his #1 and that he never filled her in on the journey alliance, but she’s happy to have another group to keep her options open. She’s proud of herself for winning immunity — a dream come true! She dug deep and reminded herself she’s done harder things than this endurance challenge. Both Charlie and Tevin say they can trust her. After she tells Venus she doesn’t want to work with her, Venus says her ego is getting in the way of the game: “she likes calling the shots.”

Mid-merge: She does a good job of making a headdress to help fit in during hide and seek, which Venus says shows how adaptable she is to her surroundings. Q tells her about Tiffany’s idol, which makes her trust Q even more that Tiff is targeting her. She wants to work with Hunter and target Tiffany. She’s annoyed at Kenzie possibly getting credit for Tiffany going home — “that’s my move.”

Endgame: Everyone is now targeting Q, but she would rather build a relationship with him and have him as a number. She’s continuing to want Tiffany gone and is happy Kenize is seemingly still on board. At sanctuary, she’s very concerned that Tiff and Kenzie still want to target Q; he’s still a number for Maria. She’s worried about everyone still wanting him out. It seems to her that Kenzie is having cold feet about blindsiding Tiff, but she can’t wait anymore. She’s running the red light and going full steam ahead without her. She cobbles the numbers together, even getting Liz on board, to vote Tiffany out 5–3, which she says can be her game winning move.

Tribal couldn’t have gone any better: she wants her, Q, Liz, Ben, and Charlie to be the F5. She seems to have gotten full credit for the Tiffany move. She wins immunity and reward, but then horribly annoys others by making Q and Venus “state their case” and play rock, paper scissors for reward, especially after she says it’s about nourishing the needy not strategy. “She went from a hero to a villain real quick.” She’s not concerned with pissing people off, keeping Q happy is important to her game. She wants to save Q and send Venus home. Venus lays into her at tribal for the way she handled the reward choice.

>>> I’d love to say I don’t understand what they’ve done with Maria’s edit — a strong start and big finish with nothing for the middle 8 episodes. But the truth is, they do this all the time, especially with middle aged women. Just look at Julie last season. A few weeks ago I said we should be prepared for them to hype Maria’s threat level up soon to justify her departure, and here we are. They’ve even gone a step further this time in presenting Maria as an out and out villain, working with the devil with no regard for who she hurts. My money remains on a 5th place finish for her, but who knows, maybe a losing finalist spot has entered the realm of possibility. I just don’t think our winner gets portrayed this negatively this late in the season.

I think we’re getting a FTC sort of similar to Heroes vs. Villains. Parv was punished for working with Russel — I think that’s Charlie. Sandra was rewarded for having the courage to try getting him out — I think that’s Kenzie. The big difference is instead of Q Hanz sitting at FTC and getting zero votes, I see Kenzie landing the blow and him sitting on that jury voting for her.
Benzie still needs to come back around. All that anti Q content must be for something, right? Maybe we see a 3–2–1 this week with Ben voting with Liz and Kenzie, ruining a 2–2 split from Siga+Q.
My forecasted final 5 remains alive! Granted, I thought they’d all be working together, not going behind each other’s backs. But if Q goes this week, my predicted final 5 from week 8 will have made it!

Thank you all so much for reading, clapping, commenting, and subscribing. When I started a medium account to cover this season, my biggest fear was that I would be writing into a void. It makes me feel so good to know that anyone cares to read what I have to say. So if you made it this far, know how much I appreciate you.

See you next season!