Survivor 46

In a marked contrast to the previous installments of Survivor's "new era", Survivor 46 saw greater levels of interpersonal tension between its cast, which frequently conflicted to explosive results. Dramatic highlights included Bhanu Gopal's desperate pleas for survival on the failing Yanu tribe; Venus Vafa's social ostracism from her castmates; Q Burdette's spiel at the final ten goading his tribemates to vote him out; Liz Wilcox's hunger-driven meltdown at the final eight; and a string of blindsides leading to a record number of "flushed" Hidden Immunity Idols. After an unpredictable season, salon owner Kenzie Petty beat out law student Charlie Davis and musician Ben Katzman to become the 46th Sole Survivor.

Production[]

Continuing from the previous season, Survivor 46 and The Amazing Race 36 retained their 90-minute runtimes, with the first two episodes of Survivor 46 running for 2 hours. Notably, unlike its predecessor, Survivor 46 was not produced with a 90-minute runtime in mind, and the show had to be edited around the extended runtime.^[3]

The season's motif is predominantly inspired by Japanese culture. This is also reflected in the Nami tribe's name which, as opposed to the Fijian root words for Siga and Yanu, originates from the Japanese language.

Twists/Changes[]

• 26-Day Game
• Tribe Division: The 18 castaways were divided into 3 tribes of 6. No unifying theme was used in dividing the tribes.
• Penalties for Losing Immunity Challenges
• Shot in the Dark
• Beware Advantage/Hidden Immunity Idol: Each camp had a Beware Advantage that directed its finder to locate an idol locked in a box hidden at camp. Once the box was found, they would be informed that the key to unlock the box is hidden somewhere on the camp, but the location would be revealed only upon their tribe's next Immunity Challenge lost. Until the box was unlocked, their finders would not be allowed to vote at Tribal Council. Regular Hidden Immunity Idols with no restrictions were also hidden after the merge.
• Journeys
  • Extra Vote: The castaways attending the journey on Day 2 will play a game. They will first draw one of three cards bearing either a torch, skull, or vote. The person who draws the torch must decide which of the other castaways drew the vote card. If they pick correctly, the torch card and vote card holders will win an extra vote, while the skull card holder becomes ineligible to vote at their next Tribal Council, and vice versa.
  • (Unknown Advantage): Two of the three castaways attending the journey on Day 7 will be randomly selected to compete in an individual challenge to win an advantage. If they fail to complete the challenge in time, they will lose their vote.
  • (Unknown Advantage): The three castaways attending the journey on Day 11 will select one person among themselves to compete in an individual challenge to win an advantage. If they fail to complete the challenge in time, they will lose their vote.
• Earn the Merge: The final 13 players were divided into 2 teams of 6 by random draw. The teams competed in an Immunity Challenge where the members of the winning team won individual immunity, a spot on the merge tribe, and the merge feast. Before the challenge, the odd player out predicted which team would win the challenge; if they were correct, they would also receive immunity and the merge feast.
• Double Elimination: On Day 14, the Nuinui tribe was subjected to a Double Elimination, where the tribe was divided into two groups of six and two castaways were eliminated through two separate Tribal Councils, the first of whom would not join the jury. Following the Immunity Challenge, one group remained at the Nuinui camp, while the other was sequestered at the old Siga camp for the afternoon.
• Simplified Final Four Tribal Council
• Expanded Jury and Final Three: The Final Tribal Council was held with a Final Three facing an eight-person jury.
• Reformatted Final Tribal Council: Instead of having each jury member speak individually, an open forum was held to ensure a more insightful rapport between the jury and finalists. Unlike previous seasons, this season's Final Tribal Council was held as a single continuous discussion without being divided into sections.

Castaways[]

Contestant		Tribe Affiliation		Finish	Votes Against
		Original Tribe	Merged Tribe
	David Jelinsky 21, Las Vegas, NV Slot Machine Salesman	Yanu		1st Voted Out Day 3	5
	Jess Chong 37, San Francisco, CA Software Engineer	Yanu		2nd Voted Out Day 5	4
	Randen Montalvo 40, Orlando, FL Aerospace Tech	Nami		Evacuated Day 7	0
	Bhanu Gopal 40, Acton, MA IT Quality Analyst	Yanu		3rd Voted Out Day 9	4
	Jem Hussain-Adams 31, Chicago, IL International Brand Mentor	Siga		4th Voted Out Day 11	4
	Moriah Gaynor 28, San Diego, CA Program Coordinator	Siga		5th Voted Out Day 13	10
	Tim Spicer 30, Atlanta, GA College Coach	Siga	Nuinui	6th Voted Out Day 14	4
	Soda Thompson 27, Lake Hopatcong, NJ Special Ed Teacher	Nami		7th Voted Out 1st Jury Member Day 14	4
	Tevin Davis 24, Richmond, VA Actor	Nami		8th Voted Out 2nd Jury Member Day 16	8
	Hunter McKnight 27, French Camp, MS Science Teacher	Nami		9th Voted Out 3rd Jury Member Day 17	12
	Tiffany Nicole Ervin 32, Elizabeth, NJ Artist	Yanu		10th Voted Out 4th Jury Member Day 19	5
	Venus Vafa 24, Toronto, ON Data Analyst	Nami		11th Voted Out 5th Jury Member Day 21	10
	Q Burdette 29, Memphis, TN Real Estate Agent	Yanu		12th Voted Out 6th Jury Member Day 23	13
	Maria Shrime Gonzalez 47, Dallas, TX Parent Coach	Siga		13th Voted Out 7th Jury Member Day 24	4
	Liz Wilcox 35, Orlando, FL Marketing Strategist	Nami		Eliminated 8th Jury Member Day 25	0
	Ben Katzman 31, Miami, FL Musician	Siga		Second Runner-Up	4
	Charlie Davis 25, Boston, MA Law Student	Siga		Runner-Up	2
	Kenzie Petty 28, Charlotte, NC Salon Owner	Yanu		Sole Survivor	1

Season Summary[]

The 18 castaways were divided into three tribes: Nami, Siga, and Yanu. While the Siga tribe was able to work as a harmonious unit and lost only one Immunity Challenge, their rivals were plagued by interpersonal conflict; while Nami defied their differences to yield a spotless challenge record, Yanu succumbed to their strife, losing most of the challenges and being decimated to three members by the advent of the merge.

The merge saw a change of fortunes as the surviving Yanus pitted the Namis against the Sigas and appeared to have a straightforward trajectory to the finish. However, Q's dramatic meltdown at the final ten threw the game into disarray, causing allegiances to shift and setting off a chain of blindsides, with four consecutive players leaving with a Hidden Immunity Idol. Spearheading these blindsides were the pair of Charlie and Maria, who had formed a pact during their early days on Siga. When the pair parted ways at the final six, Charlie recruited Ben, Kenzie, and Liz to his side to take out Q and Maria in turn. Ben then won the Final Immunity Challenge and brought Charlie to the Final Three, while Kenzie defeated Liz to join the two men as the third finalist.

At Final Tribal Council, the jury intensely grilled the Final Three on their performances, calling each finalist out for an apparent lack of strategic initiative. Ultimately, Kenzie's charismatic delivery in explaining her social game and motivation to win the million-dollar prize won over the jury, who awarded her the title of Sole Survivor over Charlie and Ben in a 5-3-0 vote.

Voting History[]

		Original Tribes					Merged Tribe
Episode		1	2	3	4	5	6	7		8	9		10	11	12	13
Voted Out		Jelinsky	Jess	Randen	Bhanu	Jem	Moriah	Tim	Soda	Tevin	Tie	Hunter	Tiffany	Venus	Q	Maria	Liz	Ben	Charlie	Kenzie
Vote		5-0	4-1	No vote2	3-0	4-2	10-1	4-2	4-2	8-2	4-4-15	6-1	5-3	5-1-1	4-2	4-1	No vote6	5-3-0
►	Kenzie	Jelinsky	Jess	—	Bhanu	—	Moriah	Tim	—	Tevin	Q	Hunter	Q	Venus	Q	Maria	—	Jury Vote
►	Charlie	—	—	—	—	Jem	Venus	—	Soda	Tevin	Hunter	Hunter	Tiffany	Venus	Q	Maria	—
►	Ben	—	—	—	—	None1	Moriah	Hunter	—	Tevin	Hunter	Hunter	Tiffany	Kenzie	Q	Maria	—
►	Liz	—	—	—	—	—	Moriah	—	Soda	Tevin	Q	Q	Tiffany	Venus	Q	Maria	Eliminated		Charlie
►	Maria	—	—	—	—	Jem	Moriah	—	Soda	Tevin	Hunter	Hunter	Tiffany	Venus	Charlie	Ben				Kenzie
						Jem3
►	Q	Jelinsky	Jess	—	Bhanu	—	Moriah	Tim	—	Tevin	Ben	None	Tiffany	Venus	Charlie					Kenzie
►	Venus	—	—	—	—	—	Moriah	—	Soda	Tevin	Q	Hunter	Q	Q						Kenzie
►	Tiffany	Jelinsky	Jess	—	Bhanu	—	Moriah	Tim	—	Tevin	Hunter	Hunter	Q							Kenzie
►	Hunter	—	—	—	—	—	None1	Tim	—	Venus	Q	None							Charlie
►	Tevin	—	—	—	—	—	Moriah	—	Venus	Venus										Kenzie
►	Soda	—	—	—	—	—	Moriah	—	Venus										Charlie
►	Tim	—	—	—	—	Jem	Moriah	Hunter
►	Moriah	—	—	—	—	Ben	None4
	Jem	—	—	—	—	Ben
	Bhanu	Jelinsky	Jess	—	None1
	Randen	—	—	Evacuated
	Jess	Jelinsky	Bhanu
	Jelinsky	None1
Notes: ^1 This castaway lost their vote at the summit, thus they were unable to cast a vote. ^2 Randen was evacuated due to his medical condition. No vote occurred for his removal. ^3 This castaway played an Extra Vote advantage, allowing them to vote twice at Tribal Council. ^4 This castaway played their Shot in the Dark, making them ineligible to vote at Tribal Council. The scroll they selected, however, read "Not Safe", thus all votes against them remained valid. ^5 The vote resulted in a tie. Per Survivor rules, a revote was held where the castaways involved in the tie would not vote and the remaining castaways could only vote for those involved in the tie. ^6 Instead of a traditional vote, the winner of the Immunity Challenge, Ben, would choose someone to take with them to the Final Three. He chose Charlie. The remaining two castaways would compete in a fire-making challenge to determine the last finalist.

Trivia[]

• Day 11 of Survivor 46 marks the latest point in any season where none of the remaining contestants had received any elimination votes.
• Survivor 46 is the first season to have five African-American contestants make the merge, breaking the record previously held by Survivor 41.
• Survivor 46 is the first season with a red merged tribe not to also have a yellow and a blue starting tribe.
• Survivor 46 holds the record for most people voted out while in possession of a Hidden Immunity Idol, with 5. This breaks the record previously set by Island of the Idols.
  • By extension, Survivor 46 holds the record for most idols "flushed out" by a vote, with 5.
  • Survivor 46 also holds the record for most consecutive people voted out while in possession of an idol, with 4 (Hunter, Tiffany, Venus, and Q).
• Survivor 46 is the first season since Kaôh Rōng where no Hidden Immunity Idols were played.
• Survivor 46 is the first season since Philippines where none of the finalists ever had a Hidden Immunity Idol or advantage.
  • It is the first season since Guatemala where none of the final five ever had an idol.
• Survivor 46 is the fourth season to have two women compete in a fire-making challenge at the final four, after Panama, Cook Islands, and Kaôh Rōng.
  • Kenzie is the first female Sole Survivor to win the fire-making challenge.

References[]