I Think Maria Shrime Gonzalez Was The True Villain Of Survivor 46

Summary Maria aligned with Charlie early, benefitting from their strategic gameplay together on Survivor 46.

While Charlie built connections, Maria focused on her alliance, lacking social capital in the game end.

Maria's competitive wins weren't enough to save her, as she ultimately lacked necessary social connections.

Survivor 46 came to an end with the jury favorite Kenzie Petty over Charlie Davis and Ben Katzman as the winner of the season, and though Maria Shrime Gonzalez didn’t make it to the final three, her impact on the game solidified her standing as the season’s villain. Beginning in the Siga tribe alongside Charlie, Maria, Ben, and the rest of their tribe mates were mostly in the middle of the pack. Though they weren’t winning first place in the immunity challenges, the tribe was typically taking second place and keeping themselves out of danger from meeting at tribal council.

Maria and Charlie quickly formed an alliance that allowed them to navigate the game with a viewpoint of both sides of the Siga tribe. While Maria was in with the rest of the women of Siga, Charlie was in with the rest of the men. Together, the duo dominated strategically, ensuring their safety as they moved through the game pre-merge. After the merge, Charlie and Maria’s connection became even stronger, but their games began to grow in different directions. By the time the endgame was approaching, both Survivor 46 castaways knew they couldn’t win with the other in the game.

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Maria Aligned With Charlie Early In The Game

She Chose Him As Her Number One

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Early on in the game, Maria aligned with Charlie during their days in the Siga tribe. Splitting up, Charlie and Maria perfected a strategy made popular in the early days of Survivor history. Both superfans, Charlie and Maria were able to play the middle throughout their early days in the game, building their social capital within their tribe as they grew their own connection. Though Charlie and Maria were playing separate games, they were keeping tabs on what would be best for each other as they moved through the earliest moments of Survivor 46.

I believe Maria’s alliance with Charlie was a great choice for her game, utilizing a tactic that’s been made popular by other Survivor players in the past. Maria, who was one of the older players of the season, aligned with someone much younger, creating an unlikely friendship and an alliance that other castaways wouldn’t have expected. Maria’s ability to align with someone unexpected created some great opportunities for her to get information she wouldn’t have known otherwise, which allowed her to strategize more freely. While Maria’s choice to align with Charlie was smart, it would ultimately become her downfall.

While Charlie Was Making Connections, Maria Was Sinking Her Game

She Wasn’t Making As Many Moves As Her Ally

After the merge at the mid-season of Survivor 46, the alliance between Charlie and Maria was holding strong as they both found new opportunities to make connections in the game. While Maria had been on a journey earlier in the game that gave her an in with Q Burdette and the rest of the six alliance, she wasn’t making as many new connections as Charlie. Socializing throughout the merged tribe, Charlie was able to make social connections with everyone while Maria was sticking to those she was already close with in the game.

Throughout the earliest phase of the merge, Maria was invested in building and re-building the six, while Charlie was taking his time building connections both within and outside the crumbling alliance. The social connections Charlie was able to make were favorable, as they gave him social capital outside of the broken alliance. Maria, on the other hand, wasn’t working her social game outside of the six as she felt protected by the alliance. I believe her decision to forego making connections elsewhere helped to tank her game in the end, as she didn’t have people to rely on.

Maria Was A Powerhouse With Competitions But Had No Social Capital

She Struggled To Sell Her Game

As Maria moved through Survivor 46, her competitive side came out in full force. Winning three individual immunity challenges, Maria was able to use her physical skills to keep herself safe multiple times throughout the season. Though Maria shouldn’t have had to shrink herself to be successful in the game, I believe her competition wins pushed her out of the social circle she desperately needed to be part of. While she was able to win when necessary almost every time, Maria wasn’t making the right social connections, which meant she had no capital for when she needed it.

Charlie Outsmarted Maria By Getting Rid Of Q, Then Eliminating Her

He Took The Upper Hand

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When it came down to the final seven, Charlie began to realize that he needed to get rid of Maria and Q, who had become an integral part of Maria’s game, if he was going to win. At the same time, Maria wasn’t sure she’d be able to win the game if Charlie was still around. Both understanding they’d aligned with a strong player who would be hard to get rid of, the allies went head-to-head behind each other’s backs. One of the things that leads me to categorize Maria as a villain was her burgeoning loyalty to Q.

While Q had been ostracized earlier after trying to quit to cover up a social blunder he’d made, Maria decided that rather than counting him out entirely, she wanted to take him under her wing. Though she continually reassured Charlie that he was still her number one, it was clear that Q was closing in on that spot, influencing her decisions. Maria found herself developing a plan to take out Charlie, but before she could do so, he blindsided her by taking out Q with the help of the rest of the tribe, then eliminating Maria at the final five.

Maria Not Voting For Charlie At The End Makes Her The Ultimate Villain

She Made Some Tough Decisions

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Though Maria and Charlie were respectful of each other during their final moments together, they were both going after each other throughout the final tense tribal council. Charlie came up successful, getting Maria eliminated at the final five. While Maria shared that she was respectful of Charlie’s move to take her out, I felt it was performative as she made her way to the jury. It felt obvious to me that Maria was bitter, but just how bitter remained to be seen. As part of the jury, it seemed Maria would vote for Charlie if he made the final three.

Maria’s strategic choices throughout the game made her an unappealing player to me, but the way she conducted herself during the final tribal council sealed the deal about her being Survivor 46’s villain. Maria chose to cast her vote for Kenzie rather than Charlie, even though he revealed she’d promised him her jury vote. When asked for an explanation, Maria revealed it was a personal reason, citing Kenzie’s desire to start a family. While Kenzie’s reasons are noble, giving the Survivor grand prize to someone for a personal reason over a gameplay reason isn’t in the spirit of the game.

Survivor is available to stream on Paramount+.