Survivor Needs To Make A Big Brother Move After Season 46's Chaos
To put it lightly, the final tribal council of "Survivor 46" was a disaster.
Typically, the final tribal council — where a jury of players asks either a final duo or trio why each of them should be anointed the "Sole Survivor" — is eventful but orderly. Everyone on the jury has to weigh whether or not the remaining players, who probably screwed them over to be sitting on the other side of the room and remain in the competition, played the best game. In "Survivor 46," three players stood before the jury: Charlie Davis, Ben Katzman, and Kenzie Petty, all of whom made their own arguments as to why they most deserved to win. The jury, on the other hand, was in shambles.
We'll circle back to why and how this particular jury was such a mess, but if future seasons of "Survivor" want to avoid the absolute disaster that was this final tribal council, they'll institute a tradition from the reality competiton "Big Brother" — where "evicted" players are filmed conducting a roundtable to discuss who they'll choose as the winner. If "Survivor" started showing the castaways on the jury during select times at Ponderosa, the Fijian resort where they hang out after being voted off so that they can appear at each subsequent tribal council, they might uncover some seriously juicy stuff.
Big Brother's jury roundtables give audiences insight into the final vote
On "Big Brother," contestants who are voted out of the house are, more or less, treated like the jury members on "Survivor" — in that they're sequestered in a house not far from production and not allowed to return home until the final votes are cast for the winner. What "Big Brother" does that "Survivor" doesn't, though, is includes a segment called a "jury roundtable," which have been hosted in recent seasons by former winner Dr. Will Kirby ... and in those segments, the hosts asks provocative questions of the jury members regarding the conclusion of the game. Naturally, sparks end up flying.
It's important to note that "Big Brother" contestants in the jury house only discuss gameplay during specified times when cameras are present; apparently, they're dissuaded from doing so when they're not being filmed. This is the important distinction, and the rule that should be implemented at Ponderosa while cameras are installed in one specific location. If there's drama going down at Ponderosa before the final tribal council on "Survivor," fans deserve to see it ... and it certainly feels like this happened based on the 46th final tribal council.
One player seemed to commandeer the Survivor 46 final tribal council — was that planned?
From the beginning of the "Survivor 46" final tribal council, something seemed off — largely because it seemed like Tiffany "Tiff" Ervin, the 10th person voted out and fourth member of the jury, had potentially been swaying hearts and minds back at Ponderosa. Though host Jeff Probst directed each member of the jury to take a moment and ask the final three a question — as he does during every final tribal council — it seemed as if Tiff was running the show, acting like a sort of cruise director as the jury all yelled over one another to ask their questions and make their point.
Another strange thing about the final tribal council was that, typically, a jury seems open to hearing what the final players have to say; the ousted "Survivor 46" players seemed to have their minds made up based on previous promises and alliances. This brings us back to Tiff, who could have persuaded players sequestered and isolated at Ponderosa to vote for her ally Kenzie; realistically, Tiff would have voted against anybody if Kenzie had a chance to win the million ... so was Tiff working behind the scenes? If so, why didn't we get to see that?
Then there are the allegations that conditions at Ponderosa were icy, despite the warm Fiji sun. Another jury member, Venus Vafa, posted on X (formerly known as Twitter) about her time at the resort: "the only upside to being ignored at [Ponderosa] was being able to silently witness the not so subtle hate campaign that took place...a bunch of bitter boots." Venus was unpopular with her fellow jury members, but what was the "hate campaign," and why didn't the audience bear witness to any of it?!
With a jury roundtable, Survivor 46 viewers could have borne witness to a major last-minute flip
One of the biggest shockers during the "Survivor 46" final tribal council came courtesy of Maria Shrime Gonzalez, the second-to-last jury member who narrowly missed out on joining the season's final five players. Maria and Charlie had a close alliance all season, with the two joking that he'd be "Uncle Charlie" to her children after the game ended — and after she lost the penultimate immunity challenge during the season finale, she told Charlie that he was guaranteed to win her vote at the final tribal council. Ultimately, Maria flipped ... and voted for Kenzie, making the vote 5 to 3 (Ben didn't receive any votes). In the aftermath of the finale, Ben has openly said he would have broken a tie — which would have happened had Maria stuck to her promise and voted for Charlie to win — in Charlie's favor, meaning that Maria's flipped vote cost Charlie a million dollars.
Kenzie, to be clear, is also deserving of the prize and title, but to see Charlie shot down in this way was definitely difficult to watch. In one of the aftershow's most painful moments, Maria addresses the elephant in the room, saying she flipped to Kenzie because she saw "fire in her eyes" (during the fire-making challenge, which ... okay, sure). This feels unbelievably fishy, and it really seems like something happened during Maria's brief time at Ponderosa that changed her mind. Without cameras there, we'll never know — so "Survivor" should steal a gimmick from "Big Brother" and give audiences some insight into what the jury is thinking before final tribal council airs.
"Survivor" and "Big Brother" are both available to stream on Paramount+.