'Survivor 46' star Charlie Davis on 'brutal' vote by Maria Shrime Gonzalez that 'still feels very fresh'
"This is not about why I didn't vote Charlie, this is about why I chose Kenzie," Gonzalez said
Kenzie Petty has been crowned the Sole Survivor of Survivor 46, winning against Charlie Davis in the jury vote. Davis described the moment as "brutal" to go through at the time, and "tough" to watch back on TV, largely because his ally, Maria Shrime Gonzalez, gave her vote to Petty.
"It was just tough watching the season, especially in Episode 6, you see [Maria and I] say such amazing and positive things about each other, and about how close of a bond we built out there to the point of being called Uncle Charlie to her kids," Davis told Yahoo Canada. "When she was trying to blindside me she said, 'I can't wait for the kids to meet their uncle.'"
"The last thing she said to me was, 'Get to the final three, you've got my vote.' I don't know what more I can do than send my number one to the jury saying that she's going to vote for me explicitly. And then to not get that vote, which is the one I was counting on the most, sucked. ... I still feel all those emotions very strongly. It happened a year ago, but it still feels very fresh."
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'Traditionally women tend to give up a lot of their goals'
Reflecting back on that moment, Gonzalez recognized that watching Petty during the fire-making portion of the competition, paired with Petty talking about her desire to use the money for herself, having worked since she was 15, and wanting to start a family, really impacted Gonzalez's vote.
"I want to be clear, this is not about why I didn't vote Charlie, this is about why I chose Kenzie," Gonzalez stressed.
At 48 years old, Gonzalez really saw being on Survivor as something she wanted to do for herself, with the support of her family, having put several of her dreams "on the shelf" to "unselfishly give to [her] family." She saw parallels with her story and what Petty wanted to do with her Survivor prize money.
"The message that I wanted to give to women in general, parents but more specifically women, is that traditionally women tend to give up a lot of their goals, their dreams, their careers," Gonzalez said. "I did that myself, by choice, we chose to do that as a family."
"To have that message to women to say, 'Don't shelf your dreams, go fight for them. Take some time, take care of yourself, do things for you,' that's not the message that is sent to women. It's a very hard thing because it's like, you want to take care of yourself, but you shouldn't. You should give all the food to your children and then you eat what's left on the plate. That's the message that we get as women, as mothers. And I was so proud of [Kenzie] for saying, 'Now this is for me. I'm going to start this off with this money,' and I just had to reward that."
'Charlie and I could have been the showmance of the season'
While there were plenty of elements of Survivor that look absolutely exhausting and difficult to get through, including hunger, isolation and backstabbing gameplay, this season of the show also showed us a bit of fun. A highlight is the now infamous Taylor Swift versus Metallica song battle between Davis and Ben Katzman.
"I didn't think it would necessarily make the edit, I was glad it did. It was super fun to watch," Davis said. "Me and Ben were just shooting the shit by the fire and trying to pass the time, so there are lots of really fun moments like that."
"He has a lust for life the same way I have," Katzman said about Davis in a separate interview.
Katzman also recalled a time when everyone thought he had an idol and wouldn't speak to him for two days, but Davis saw Katzman having a hard time.
"From that moment on, and I wish it was shown, we played the game together," Katzman said. "We were a pair of votes quite a few times and he was there for me just as much as Kenzie."
"Those moments at night when everyone was sleeping is when Charlie and I would openly talk strategy, and he would tell me what these people are thinking, I would tell him what these people are thinking, and how could we work together."
The pair also bonded over The Lord of the Rings, calling each other Frodo and Sam, including one particular night when Katzman had a bad night terror.
"Charlie goes, 'You remember when Frodo gets to Mount Doom and he can't carry the ring any further, but Sam can't carry it, but Sam can carry Frodo. Well I can carry you,'" Katzman recalled. "Charlie threw me on his back, just launched me, [we climbed the stairs] like Mount Doom. He's like, 'We're going to be OK dude.'"
"I love that kid and I still do. ... Charlie and I could have been the showmance of the season."
For Katzman, the Survivor audience did see him having night terrors and panic attacks on the island, but there is an element of those vulnerable moments that he wants to come across to Survivor fans.
"What I think is missing, and is crucial for me, is I'm not a person with panic attacks. Yes, I have them. I'm a person that had that and still smiled, and still got up and still played the game," Katzman stressed.
"I think what I want people to take away when they see that ... is you're so much more than whatever you think it is that's debilitating you. There's so much more than whatever you're prescribed or whatever your identity is in that moment. ... Every time that happened and I thought about quitting I was like, people need to see this and I need to see that I can't quit. ... I can do hard thing."
