Maria Shrime Gonzalez was left blindsided after her aggressive tactics backfired on the beach.
The Big Picture
- Maria’s aggressive gameplay led to her downfall.
- Q’s blindside orchestrated by those Maria betrayed.
- Maria’s loss of the mother archetype affects her jury perception.
Maria Shrime Gonzalez played a very solid and strategic game. In addition to her multiple Immunity Challenge wins, her lock on certain players has allowed her to be the kingpin of the tribe. After being lambasted by Venus Vafa in the previous Tribal Council for the way she handled her reward selection, she felt it was a character assassination. Yet when she was on the other side of not being picked, with loved one letters on the line, her emotions rang out, and she used this as vengeance to fuel her game, planning to blindside her number one ally, Charlie Davis, who left her out of the reward. She has helped orchestrate multiple times using Q Burdette as the smoke screen, but by trying to aggressively remove her true number one, she was blindly unaware that the two women she previously shafted would be the ones to help spoil her plans. With Q now being the fifth player this season to walk out of the game with an idol in their pocket, this blindside was one of the sweetest yet. His removal was a warning that had Maria not had the Immunity Necklace around her neck, she would have been the one who was gone. Maria’s mission was to build a resume, but her social prowess would truly be her undoing. Welcome to Survivor!
As one of the wildest seasons in the New Era of Survivor, Survivor 46 has been shaping up to be even more unpredictable going into the finale. Between every post merge vote being a blindside and every single player failing to use their Hidden Immunity Idol, walking out with it in their pockets, this season has given viewers alliance whiplash. With strategy and building a resume becoming a dominating force, many players have made questionable moves without realizing how it would affect their end game. As Jeff Probst champions big moves by his players, they have been fulfilling his every desire while sacrificing their personal potential in the process. The latest to go too hard is Maria.
Survivor
A reality show where a group of contestants are stranded in a remote location with little more than the clothes on their back. The lone survivor of this contest takes home a million dollars.
- Release Date
- May 31, 2000
- Cast
- Jeff Probst
- Main Genre
- Reality-TV
- Seasons
- 46
- Studio
- CBS
- Creator(s)
- Charlie Parsons
Maria’s Aggression Got the Best of Her
Maria Shrime Gonzalez is a 48-year-old mother who calls Dallas, Texas home. With determination, loyalty, and resilience as her defining attributes going into the game of Survivor, Maria has come in with a drive to win. As an original member of the Siga Tribe, Maria early on bonded with the women, but her strongest ally came in the form of the young gun, Charlie Davis. Reminiscent of Survivor: Philippines‘ Malcolm Freberg and Denise Stapley, their bond has been keeping them both alive. But they’ve also been able to play a game for themselves. Maria was entered into Q’s busted alliance where she found a friend and someone she wanted to work with, when literally no one else wanted him there. And until now, it’s worked to her advantage. She’s had him as a loyal number to target other major threats. But when the rest of the tribe had had it with his antics, they decided it was time to break up the perceived duo. Of course, this worked best for Charlie, as his target was shrunk, but with Maria in the line of fire, Charlie was eager to rally the troops to his side.
It’s common for allies to know that it’s likely not the best plan of action to sit next to one another during the Final Tribal Council. Deciphering who did what when you play together becomes the mission for the jury, so cutting them before this moment is essential. Kenzie Petty knew she had to do this to her number one ally, Tiffany Nicole Ervin. Sadly, Maria pulled the trigger on that first. What’s rare on Survivor is for allies to know the time is to cut each other…at the same exact moment. Both Maria and Charlie were ready to get rid of each other. And the editors brilliantly gave viewers a lighthearted conversation between the two as they both spoke in confessional about making a move that night. With Maria winning Immunity once again, her name was off the board. She was safe. Therefore, Charlie had to eliminate Q, and everyone was ready to do so. Maria was blinded by her desire to make this major move against Charlie that she had no idea that the people she had betrayed many times were lying to her face. They wanted her and her game to be taken down. Maria overplayed her hand.
The Q Smoke Screen Took Him and Maria Down
This season, Survivor has been filled with themes. Between children’s games filling time and reward decisions that have had immense consequences, these two factors have played strongly into Maria’s narrative of late. Determining who would be selected for each reward has caused immense drama this season. Q’s refusal to include Liz Wilcox in the Applebee’s reward had reverberating effects. The next reward, when Maria forced Liz and Q to play rocks, paper, scissors to determine who would join her for pizza, caused the “Pizza Losers” to question her strategy, decisions, and loyalties. They did not care for Maria bringing Q because he had just eaten a major meal, and he was truly undeserving of the placement over the other players. They saw through it, being a way for her to keep him happy without having to say it outwardly. And thus, she became a major threat. And then, when Charlie decided to take Liz and Kenzie on reward for Chinese take-out, as they were not included in the pizza reward, Maria had a visceral reaction. She was losing out on reading the letters from her children. She missed out on having a connection to home. She claimed in confessional that she and Charlie had very early on alluded to not selecting one another for a reward, but that didn’t stop her from fueling the fire of revenge.
Maria was in control of a lot during the merge portion of the game. Even if she hasn’t been leading blindsides, she’s been privy to the action, never being on the wrong side of the vote. She seemed to believe the other players had the same game intentions as she did, so when she was ready to rally against Charlie, she genuinely believed Kenzie and Liz were good to go, forgetting what she had just done to them with the pizza. Llz and Kenzie were left out of Maria’s reward challenge plans. So they decided they would reciprocate and leave Maria out of the plan to blindside Q. They had no interest in working with Maria and had no interest in keeping her pet Q around any longer. Not even having an inkling that the man found the Hidden Immunity Idol, they were ready to pull the trigger without pause.
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Maria Is Mother No More
At Tribal Council, Kenzie felt the desire to share the roles of which family members each of the remaining players best fit. For example, she called Charlie the dog of the family, while Maria was the aunt. It may not sound like a big deal, but when it comes to Survivor tropes, the mother archetype has had difficulty excelling as the stereotypes of that role are often used against them. Mothers are seen as nurturing and loyal. Not saying Maria doesn’t have those qualities, she just has an edge that other players like her lacked. For Kenzie to determine that she, and others, don’t see Maria as the mom of the tribe, it’s much easier to make a move against her. There is no moral compass to contend with. It’s hard to betray mom, but your aunt? That’s totally fine! For Maria to lose her mother status, her potential as a winner may be waning. She’s not the lovable character the jury wants to reward. They see her as a gamer who isn’t playing a game worth honoring.
With only five players left and two eliminations to go, the path to victory is different for one another. Simply based on the edit, it’s easy to see that Ben Katzman and Liz Wilcox are likely not going to win. They may be a spoiler in the others’ games, but their likelihood of victory is not in the cards. For Charlie, he did make a move against Maria’s ally, but it’s less flashy as he can’t solely claim this move was his brainchild. Liz and Kenzie were a big factor. He needed to make the move a Tribal earlier. And then we’re left with Kenzie and Maria. Kenzie seems likely to be the winner as the majority of this jury is still irate that Q stayed in the game longer than they did. And the reason he did is now cemented on the resume of Maria Shrime Gonzalez.
Q will likely go to the jury house sharing how close he and Maria were. He will continue to sour their opinion of the woman who kept his game alive. It’s quite possible we may see a bitter jury, something that has not appeared in the New Era of Survivor. They will not reward someone who ensured a player who was ready to quit and did not want to be there over them. For Kenzie, she may not have any big moves on her card, but she is by far the most beloved person this season. She has shown her kind heart while comforting Ben during his multiple panic attacks. She has made solid connections with numerous players. There are no strikes against her. When it comes to crowning a winner to represent their season, the jury may not want Maria to be their face. If they choose kindness, Kenzie Petty is your winner. Mother Maria no more. She shot herself in the foot by playing an overtly aggressive game.
Survivor 46 airs new episodes Wednesdays at 8:00pm on CBS. All seasons of Survivor are available to stream on Paramount+.
This article was originally published on collider.com