Survivor's Latest Instagram Post Isn't Sitting Too Well With Fans
The official "Survivor" Instagram posted a plea for viewers to be "kind" to the players from Season 46 ... and fans aren't taking it particularly well.
In response to the post, fans — and even a few Season 46 standouts — left comments making it quite clear that they thought the entire message was pretty silly. One of the late-game players, Quintavius "Q" Burdette, joked, "Be mean to only me okay nobody else lol," with a silly smile face before continuing, "jk always be kind!!!" David Jelinsky, the guy who famously thought "several" meant "seven" and was the first one to be voted off in Season 46, agreed, saying, "It's the golden rule: treat others the way you would want to be treated." Maria Shrime Gonzalez, the lightning rod at the middle of most of this controversy, also commented: "[W]e are real people with real lives who played a game. We can turn off social media but we can't shut off our text messages, voicemails, and close our businesses because people disagree with something we've done."
Fans, however, were very critical of the message, like @theycallme_nay_nay, who wrote, "Ohhhh please!!! Did Maria [Shrime Gonzalez] pull a Karen and complain to a Survivor manager?!?! This is all in her. The camera didn't lie." @worldtravelerty got shady with their comment, saying, "Can we have a new rule where the jury votes based on best game play?" @thrilled_cheese appeared to agree: "Did yall tell Maria to embrace kindness, respect, and compassion before she stabbed her number one in the back lol? It's not cool to harass people at their place of work sure but we're allowed to have our opinions."
Why are people mad at Maria Shrime Gonzalez after Survivor 46?
So why is there even an uproar over "Survivor 46" and whether or not people are being nice to each other? Well, as the season drew to a close, players blindsided each other in an attempt to be named the "Sole Survivor" and win a million dollars; that sort of thing is pretty standard for "Survivor" seasons. The problem, though, was that Maria Shrime Gonzalez, who made it to the final five before losing an immunity challenge and being voted out, flipped on her promised vote ... and people are pissed.
Here's how it all shook out: Charlie Davis, Kenzie Petty, and Ben Katzman found themselves in the final three, and all were given an opportunity to make an argument to the jury — fellow players they'd ousted from the game — as to why they should win. Apparently, nobody thought much of Ben's gameplay (sorry, Ben), considering he ultimately received zero votes. Things got interesting when it came to the vote tally between Kenzie and Charlie; the former won with five votes, while Charlie received three, and Maria ultimately revealed that she changed her vote from Charlie, her long-time ally, to Kenzie at the last minute. (During the actual game, she assured Charlie he had her vote sewn up.) The "Survivor" jury is entitled to vote however they want, but the optics were bad ... and they were made worse by the fact that Ben, who would have had to serve as the deciding vote if Maria had kept to her word and the vote was tied, he would have chosen Charlie as the winner. Ultimately, Charlie lost the game by one vote — thanks to Maria. (Still, nobody should be bullying her over that.)
Survivor 46 cast members have been publicly beefing on social media — and it's wild
After the incredibly messy final tribal council experience that characterized the end of "Survivor 46," the players stayed messy on social media — explaining exactly how they felt about the ending. The messiest "intel," if one can call it that, came from Venus Vafa; she's since deleted her account on X (formerly known as Twitter), but apparently, she dished on Maria's vote change in a Cameo for a fan — getting Q's attention, as he recorded a lengthy video admonishing her. Tevin Davis also weighed in on his relationship with Venus — via an X post from a fan — saying that they were once on good terms and aren't anymore now that she's made disparaging comments about him on social media (according to him). It's been chaos ... in the best way.
On a positive note, perhaps the funniest reaction was from Charlie himself; a diehard "Swiftie," he made a TikTok in his shower (fully clothed) set to one of the angriest, most heartbreaking songs from Taylor Swift's latest album "The Tortured Poets Department" titled "The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived."
@charlie.7070 Most dramatic thing I've ever done but this is basically my feels #survivor46 #survivor ♬ The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived – Taylor Swift
"Survivor 46," as well as the show in its entirety, are streaming on Paramount+ now.