Maria's betrayal of Charlie during Survivor 46 final tribal council still rankles

Most people, especially diehard Survivor fans, can now openly admit Survivor 46 was a disaster.

Andy Dehnart of Reality Blurred penned a hilarious (and true) recap of the final episode and was honest about the season overall.

From the unexplainable wackiness that was the Yanu tribe to the final tribal where nothing made sense, Survivor 46 was entertaining as far as the characters go, but it will go down as, probably, the worst strategic Survivor season ever.

Two players, however, played strategically and effectively throughout the game - Maria and Charlie. They formed an early bond, and at one point, it was mentioned Charlie would be known as "Uncle Charlie" to Maria's children.

They were behind or instrumental to all of the blindsides, if you can truly blindside the oblivious and delusional, through the final seven. Maria even pulled in Q for several votes when no one wanted him in the game AND convinced others to work with him to take out other perceived threats.

It is an acceptable strategy to work closely, even to be allied with, someone until the final five. From there, it should be everyone looking out for themselves. That is what happened in season 46, except Maria jumped the gun a bit. After using Q for several tribals, Maria thought she could use him one more time and take out Charlie with six people left in the game.

Unfortunately, she misjudged just how much the other players wanted Q out. And in fairness to Maria, Charlie was also feeling out the possibility of taking out Maria. In the end, Charlie went with the majority to vote out Q, and Maria's plan to oust Charlie was exposed.

Maria tried to mend fences with Charlie, and Charlie was amiable, because he knew he would have been willing to take her out. He also saw the writing on the wall for Maria and knew she'd be going home if she didn't win immunity.

Liz ended up helping Kenzie when immunity at the final five (still baffled as to how this was allowed). Charlie was NOT part of this, and though he voted with everyone else to end Maria's time on the island, there was nothing there for her to hold against him.

Why did Maria vote for Kenzie instead of Charlie to win Survivor 46?

As puzzling as season 46 was, with five idols exiting the game in pockets, including four in a row in crunch time, the fact Maria voted for Kenzie rather than Charlie still is bothersome. Why did she do it?

In the after-show immediately following the final tribal, Maria mentioned Kenzie winning the fire-making challenge as a key reason. In an interview with US, she claimed she was convinced by Kenzie's answer to Q's inquiry about what they would do with the money.

Let's examine that for a moment. That is a question that should never be asked. It is no one's business how they decide to spend the money. It requires a pandering answer from the finalists. Plus the fact that after taxes, the winner gets, what, $600,000, maybe. That isn't even enough to buy a house in a lot of markets. It's a terrible question, with no right answers.

To supposedly base your vote on the answer to that question is ridiculous, and it wipes out all the good play Maria demonstrated throughout the game.

Maybe Maria was playing Old School jury, in which players who didn't make it to the final tribal are ticked off at those who did. Maybe, she was jealous Charlie made it and she didn't. Maybe, she was embarrassed she tried to take him out and failed. Charlie wasn't involved in the cheating that got her voted out. He didn't succeed in blindsiding her so that shouldn't have been an issue, either.

Maybe something happened between the two of them that the audience didn't see. Regardless of the reason, it was sad to see someone who was so close to another player vote for someone else when they KNEW how well their ally played the game. The audience will probably never find out the real reason.

If she had voted Charlie, it would have been a tie, and Ben has said he would have voted for Charlie. Thus, the right person would have won.

Regardless, it is just a game, and Maria shouldn't be personally harassed because of her decision. Her vote is still puzzling, but it is things like this that keep everyone watching the show.