If Charlie Davis wants to be crowned the Sole Survivor on the season 46 finale, he’s going to have to betray his No. 1 ally, Maria Shrime Gonzalez.
“I’ve worked really hard to plant this idea with Ben [Katzman], Kenzie [Petty] and Liz [Wilcox] that we can take out Maria and Q [Burdette],” Charlie, 26, says in Us Weekly’s exclusive first look of the Wednesday, May 15, episode of Survivor.
Charlie and Ben, 31, approach the water well alongside Kenzie, 29, to discuss their next move to ensure they make it to the final five. Ben shares with Kenzie and Charlie that his blunder at the last tribal council, where he accidentally voted for Kenzie instead of Venus Vafa, could give them an advantage going into the next vote.
“I will say there is only one bonus to me being a total idiot last night,” Ben says. “I think Maria and Q might think that’s, like, a wedge.”
While the offer is enticing for Charlie, he ultimately has found himself in an advantageous spot since both groups want to work with him.
“At the same time, I could stick with Maria and Q — who trusts me completely,” he explains in a confessional. “But part of me is like, ‘What if I just do what I set out to do with Maria?’ That’d be awesome. So I have to really think about what’s best for my game and it’s just such a dilemma at this point. And it’s a different dilemma than anything I’ve faced [in] this game.”
Charlie and Maria, 48, have been attached at the hip since they aligned during the early days of the game when they first connected on the Siga tribe. The pair, who formed an alliance similar to Malcolm Freeberg and Denise Stapley in Survivor Philippines, played the middle until it was time to draw a line in the sand and voted out Jem Hussain-Adams. Since making it to the merge, the duo have continued to run the game up to the final six.
“I’ve voted out people I really liked but no one like Maria who I’ve played the whole game with and who I consider to be my best friend out here,” Charlie continues. “But I can’t be waffling back and forth. Now’s the time where I have to be laser-focused on getting to the end — and I have to make a decision.”
In last week’s episode, Charlie, who is the season’s resident Taylor Swift fan, hinted he was getting ready to enter his Reputation era. Charlie actively gave Maria credit for blindsiding Tiffany Nicole Ervin, painting a bigger target on her back. While Charlie thought about making a move against Maria last week, he ultimately did not since she won immunity.
Survivor airs on CBS Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET.
