Survivor Capped Off Its Best Season Of The New Era With A Worthy Winner And Tons Of Drama

*SPOILERS OBVIOUSLY AHEAD*

If you want to hear our full recap of the Survivor finale, watch Snuffing Torches above and follow everywhere HERE. 

Survivor 46 came to an end last night with a satisfying finish. A season full of great characters, blindsides and botched idols ended with a deserving winner in Kenzie edging out Charlie in a close 5-3 vote at Final Tribal Council. It wasn't the most jam-packed and thrilling finale of all time, but it was still a solid finish and tied a nice bow on what I will officially call the best season of the new Survivor era. After a sob fest start led by Bhanu, one of the worst casting choices in show history, we got a pretty classic season of Survivor. The sob stories were minimal. There were no overboard twists and advantages. Just some good blindsides and good gameplay from good players. It's hard to give it a ranking already. Nate and Klemmer last night were saying it could be a top 15 season of all time, which I disagree with. I think we're rating it higher due to recency bias and since the new era seasons have been so bad that this seems way better in comparison. For me, it's probably middle of the road in that 20-25 range. But I overall enjoyed it a lot. 

I won't do a full scene by scene recap of everything that happened in the three hour episode because I assume you watched for yourself if you're reading this, but I'll give some overall thoughts on the main storylines from the finale. 

-Let me start by saying that Kenzie is a very deserving winner. She played one of the greatest social games we've ever seen in the history of the show, and I don't think that's an exaggeration to say. Everyone seemed to love her and you could tell how much the jury was rooting for her in the fire-making challenge. She wasn't a strategic mastermind by any means, but she played the middle well and usually ended up on the right side of the votes. It was very much the "blend in and make people like you along the way" style of game that we've seen win a lot of these new era seasons. She certainly won't go down as an all-time great winner by any means, but I have absolutely no problem with her winning and can totally see why she got five jury votes. 

-That being said, I personally thought that Charlie played a better game. He was more of a driver behind votes, never voted wrong, and also played a very strong social game by keeping his threat level low and never really being in danger of elimination. That was proved when his bond with Ben got him chosen to go to FTC and avoid fire. He really got screwed by Maria turning out to be a bitter juror and just pretty shitty person. She was so tight with Charlie all game and promised him her vote at the end, but then voted for Kenzie because of some bullshit reasons of Kenzie having a "fire in her eye" during the fire making challenge and because of her answer about what she'd do with the money. I hope Charlie cuts her out of his life entirely and never speaks to her again. They played basically the same game except for the fact that Charlie bested her in the end. She was clearly pissed by that and took it out on him in the end. He was very classy and mature about it at the reunion show even when the feelings were fresh. In post game press, it seems like he has cut her off and is annoyed with her changing stories though. 

It's the most polite "she can fuck off" I've ever seen. She literally cost him a million dollars as Ben said he would've voted for Charlie with the tie-breaker. He's handling it a lot better than I would so respect to him. But overall this just completes Maria's villain arc. 

-I did not care for the jury at Final Tribal Council at all. I thought they were rude and tried too hard to make the show about them. That's the problem with the open forum format. Everyone just talks over each other and tries to have their moment. I feel like we barely heard Ben, Kenzie, and Charlie speak to defend their game. Not having opening statements is asinine. We need to go back to the old format we can get iconic jury speeches like Sue and Corinne and not people just talking over each other trying to be the loudest in the room and be the star of the show. I also hated Q's question of how they'd spend the money. None of that should matter, it should only be based on what happened during the 26 days on that island. I get everyone is entitled to vote however they want, but that just doesn't sit right with me. 

-On the topic of more stuff I don't like, I hate people caring so much about the Final 4 fire making challenge. The idea that anyone who wins the FIC should have to give up their spot to make fire and boost their resume is ridiculous. And giving Kenzie so much credit for beating LIZ in a fire-making challenge is crazy. To me, Charlie having the social game to get selected by Ben to bypass the challenge is more impressive and more what Survivor is about. Despite its name, Survivor is a social game, it's not a survival show. I really don't give a fuck who can spark a flame the fastest. I mostly don't have a problem with keeping the fire making challenge as part of the game because it stops the best player from just being automatically eliminated at Final Four, but I wish the jury just didn't care as much about it as they seem to. 

-I don't really have much to say about Ben but he was there I guess. Seems like a great guy and he wasn't a bad player by any means, but he definitely disappeared down the stretch and was the prototypical zero vote finalist. It was nice he got his moment winning the final challenge. The night terrors were scary, and if I was out there I would've started throwing snakes on him and shit in the middle of the night to try and get him to quit so I could go further. But luckily for him, he was with nice people who cared about him and helped out. 

-And lastly, we obviously have to talk about Liz. One of the most unique players we've seen on the show in a long time, maybe ever. The big moment of the night was at the Final 5 Immunity Challenge where she chose to go help Kenzie in an effort to make sure Maria lost. A lot of people complained and said it was a bullshit move that ruined the integrity of the show, but I don't see it that way. It's dirty yes, but it's within the rules and Survivor is all about doing whatever you can to get an edge. Liz viewed Maria as the biggest threat left in the game, so she did what she could to get her out. I don't have a problem with it. If it happened to me, I'd probably say something different. But I don't blame Liz for taking advantage of a loophole within the rules. If you're going to be mad, be mad at the producers for having a challenge where people can help each other that late in the game. 

But I digress. It just added to Liz's lore. Her then convincing herself that she was the biggest threat in the game and would've swept the jury vote was peak cinema. Ben just told her he had to put her in fire because she's played such a big game, and she really took that to heart. After losing the fire-making challenge, she lamented how she would've won so easily which gave us some great jury reactions. 

I will say that I don't think Liz played a bad game at all. Her eccentic personality and Applebee's meltdown overshadowed the fact that she was quietly a key player in a lot of votes. If she was able to have a Final Tribal Council where she talked about how intentional of a game she played and also dropped this bomb, then who knows what would've happened. 

I'm kind of mad we were robbed of that moment. But even without it, the Liz story arc finished as a great one and I wouldn't be shocked to see her back on another season. 

-Overall, last night was a satisfying finish to a strong season. It felt like vintage Survivor and I hope we can continue that momentum in the fall for Season 47. Make sure you subscribe to Snuffing Torches everywhere HERE.