Charlie Davis quickly earned a place in the hearts of fans everywhere as our resident Survivor Swifty while demonstrating an impressive display of strategy in season 46 that we really hadn’t seen yet in the new era. His gameplay felt so on par with some of the greatest players to ever hit the beach that people were shocked when he wasn’t awarded the $1 million at Final Tribal Council.
But his game and connection to the fans earned him the title of co-host of the On Fire with Jeff Probst podcast for Survivor 47, which further solidified his knowledge of the inner workings of the game and what it takes to win. Is all he needs a second chance to prove he has what it takes?
Charlie Davis’s quick Survivor stats
Survivor Career:
- Survivor 46 (2nd Place)
Total Days Played: 26 days
Total Votes Against: 2 votes
Individual Immunity Challenges Won: 2
Individual Reward Challenges Won: 1
Immunity Idols Played: 0
Advantages Played: 0
Recapping Charlie Davis' game in Survivor 46
Charlie started the season in a good position on the Siga tribe with a solid winning streak. He immediately bonded with tribemate Maria Shrime Gonzalez, building a Day 1 allyship with her, which easily placed them between the men and women as swing votes. When they finally lost, he worked with Maria to flush out an immunity idol and keep his other top ally, Ben Katzman, in the game by voting out a woman.
When he reached the “Earn the Merge” challenge, he was the only man not to win a buff and was still at risk of elimination, which caused Venus Vafa to throw his name out in order to try and remove the target off of her own back. In an attempt to strike on her first, Charlie wrote down Venus’ name before realizing he was the only one having been left out of the majority vote and making an enemy of Venus.
The next vote came during a Split Tribal Council which would have left Charlie on the bottom as the only at risk player from his original tribe. But thankfully, his trusted ally Maria had won immunity and was by his side as they worked together to exploit the issues amongst the other alliance, effectively blindsiding Soda Thompson.
With two players suddenly out, Charlie watched as the majority alliance started turning on itself with Q Burdette leading the charge. He used this chaos to his advantage as he worked to orchestrate two back-to-back blindsides, both exiting with idols in their pockets. The next Tribal Council saw him finally, effectively blindsiding Venus.
Charlie won the next reward challenge, which included letters from home and strategically took Liz Wilcox and Kenzie Petty with him after a couple previous rewards had painted Maria in a negative light. This began her plan to blindside Charlie, though he was secretly building up his own plan to blindside her first. But Maria winning the next immunity challenge put a hitch in his plan.
Thankfully, Maria’s newest ally Q did not play his hidden immunity idol and her plan to blindside Charlie never came to fruition and his votes were not negated and he was sent to the jury. Charlie made sure Maria was voted out next.
After his Siga ally Ben won the Final Immunity Challenge, Charlie asked to be taken to the Final Tribal Council, which Ben honored. He pitched his smart strategic gameplay to the jury, but ultimately a five-person majority—including his Day 1 ally Maria—felt Kenzie’s social game was better suited for the title of Sole Survivor.
Survivor 50 predictions: How far will Charlie Davis go?
I’m hesitant to say it because after what happened in Survivor 46 I don’t want to jinx him, but Charlie really does have what it takes to win the upcoming anniversary season. He’s unassumingly charming enough that he has the power to build proper social relationships that can last him through to the end, but he’s smart enough to know how to think 5 steps ahead of everyone without getting ahead of the board in front of him.
If the downfall in last time he played was his lack of social game, he’s had a few years to perfect how to change his approach this time around. And a key difference between his first season and his second is the fact that he’ll be up against returning players who respect the game as much as he does and won’t let personal feelings dictate the final jury votes over quality of gameplay.
He’ll need to find himself on a strong starting tribe, but if Charlie makes the merge, he could very likely find himself back at Final Tribal Council.
Charlie Davis Survivor 50 player score
Charlie’s “every-man” status makes him easy to be around, which makes him an easy player to keep around camp. If he proves himself a trustworthy ally at the beginning of the game, he will have no problem staying relationship-strong later in the game as long as he keeps himself from being too out loud with his strategy plans as to draw attention and put a target on his back.
Outwit (Social Game): 9/15
Outplay (Physical Game): 7/15
Outlast (Strategic Game): 12/15
Wildcard Factor: 2/5
Total Player Score: 30/50
Will this season be Charlie’s redemption arc? Or will his past strategic genius lead to an early exit for the previous runner-up? I can’t wait to see how he fares this time around. Survivor 50 premieres Wednesday, February 25 at 8/7c on CBS and Paramount +!