'Survivor' recap: Q Burdette blindsided and voted out before finale with an idol (2024)

Survivor featured the Nuinui tribe voting out Q Burdette with a hidden Immunity Idol in his pocket during the Season 46 episode that aired Wednesday night on CBS.

Q, a 29-year-old real estate agent from Senatobia, MS who currently resides in Memphis, TN, was voted out of Survivor's 46th season on NighSurt 23 of the game through a 4-2 vote at Tribal Council instead of Charlie Davis, a 26-year-old law student from Manchester-by-the-Sea, MA who currently resides in Boston, MA.

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"They blindsided me with an idol in my pocket!" Q lamented to the Survivor cameras in his final words.

"But I'm happy about the game that I played! I played hard, but I came up short -- and it happens in life sometimes. Oh and Emily, get ready, baby! We're going to Applebee's and we're getting that appetizer platter, and we're going to share it. What you don't eat, I will!"

The Survivor broadcast began on Night 21 of the game at Nuinui's camp when only six castaways remained.

The six players, in addition to Q and Charlie, were Ben Katzman, a 31-year-old musician from Miami, FL; Kenzie Petty, a 29-year-old salon owner from Gibraltar, MI who currently resides in Charlotte, NC; Liz Wilcox, a 35-year-old marketing strategist from Luther, MI who currently resides in Orlando, FL; and Maria Shrime Gonzalez, a 48-year-old parent coach from Dallas, TX.

Q boasted about Venus' elimination and how she had failed to rally the troops against him, and Ben told Kenzie that he had blanked at the voting booth due to a lack of sleep and had written Kenzie's name down as a result.

Kenzie called Ben out for a big blunder, and she wondered if he was telling a really stupid lie or truth. And then Maria was shown crying about how Venus had attacked her character.

"At this point, I have two wins, a blindside, and I've been on the right side of every single vote. I know I'm a force to be reckoned with, so if they're not trying to vote me out, then that's their mistake," Maria told the cameras.

In the middle of the night, Ben experienced a panic attack, which was apparently a pattern for him, and Kenzie held his hand and helped him through it.

On Day 22, Charlie said he had two pathways for the next vote. One of them was to team up with Ben, Kenzie and Liz to take down Maria and Q.

Charlie's other option was to stick with Maria going forward since they had been allies for most of the game and both she and Q trusted him.

Charlie told the Survivor cameras he had to think about what would be best for his game, but he acknowledged taking out his best friend, Maria, would be difficult for him.

The tribe then met Survivor host Jeff Probst for a Reward Challenge on Day 22 that required each castaway to race over an obstacle, collect a bag containing a ball, cross a ladder bridge moving that bag along a twisted rope, free the bag, crawl under one final obstacle, and then maneuver the ball through a maze at the finish.

The winning player would be taken to the Survivor sanctuary for an afternoon of Chinese takeout.

In the end, Charlie won Reward and learned he'd also receive a letter from home.

Charlie could choose one person to join him, and he selected Liz so she could eat and hear from her daughter, who is a big Survivor fan. Charlie got to pick one more person to enjoy food and a letter from home, and he called out Kenzie's name since she had to delay her wedding to appear on Survivor.

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Maria appeared especially upset as she cried in her hands. Maria had been hoping to hear something from her three sons, and so she admitted to Jeff that her heart was breaking.

Charlie, however, knew that this one Reward wasn't going to break his bond with Maria and that she wouldn't hold it against him, and he was right.

While Liz, Charlie and Kenzie filled their bellies and souls on the Reward, which fueled Charlie's drive to make decisions that would benefit himself going forward, Maria cried back at camp about having missed out on her letter from home.

Liz was then shown talking to Charlie and Kenzie about how Maria was a big threat, and Kenzie called her "unstoppable." While Q was an easy target, the trio agreed they probably needed to blindside Maria at the next vote. Charlie attempted to "cement" his relationship with the two women so that they could get Maria out.

Back at camp, every individual who missed out on the Reward was looking for a hidden Immunity Idol. Q complained about how he had been searching for an idol for days, but he was dead set on finding one eventually.

Suddenly, Q discovered a hidden Immunity Idol in a tree trunk. The last time he could play it was when there were only five players left in the game. He wondered if he should tell Maria about the idol, and he ultimately decided to share the news.

Q dubbed Maria his "No. 1," and he hoped she'd play with him and "protect" him.

"I definitely want to keep him around," Maria said of Q. "Maybe that's my best move now."

Maria proceed to throw out Charlie's name to Q, which was the first time she had ever pitched a Charlie vote. Maria explained to Q how Charlie would definitely win Survivor if he made it to the end, and so Q declared that he was "down" to take out Charlie.

Maria told the Survivor cameras that her friendship with Charlie would last well after the game but it wasn't really an option for them to continue as a pair.

When Maria and Charlie reunited after Reward, Charlie was feeling some guilt. Charlie told Maria that the women had been talking about getting rid of Q.

Neither Maria nor Charlie was sure if the other person was considering a blindside to break up their dynamic duo. They were both afraid to hurt each other and make the big move.

On Day 23, the Nuinui tribe met the Survivor host again for the next Individual Immunity Challenge.

Jeff instructed each castaway to climb to the top of a very tall tower, leap off, race over a series of obstacles to the finish, and then attempt to solve a dolphin puzzle.

The winner would be guaranteed a spot in the Final 5, while the person voted out at Tribal Council that might would become the thirteenth person voted out of Survivor 46 and the sixth member of the jury.

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In the end, Maria won her immunity, her third Individual Immunity win of the Survivor season. Jeff congratulated Maria on a "blowout" victory, and Charlie looked down into the sand, knowing his opportunity to take his closest ally out had come and gone.

Charlie told the Survivor cameras that Q was his next-best vote that night and he was about to execute a Plan B. Kenzie also wanted to "take down King Q" finally.

Ben and Charlie whispered to each other about voting out Q, and everyone in the tribe discussed Q's vote out. Ben also realized that voting out Q would weaken Maria since she seemed to be working with him.

Q and Maria, meanwhile, discussed voting out Charlie when they had the chance. Maria chose to trust in her "No. 2," who was Q, and she said she was not afraid to take Q farther into the game.

Q shared the Charlie plan with Liz and Kenzie, but Liz apparently wanted Q gone. Liz was tired of Q being "ridiculously confident," and Kenzie had been waiting for her chance to get rid of him as well.

Liz, Kenzie and Maria then gathered together and talked, and Kenzie and Liz decided to lie to Maria about how they were going to vote for Charlie.

Kenzie and Liz planned to totally blindside Q, leaving Maria out of the vote, and Charlie and Ben appeared to be on the same page as Kenzie and Liz.

"If we leave Maria in the dark, then if we go into the Final 5, all of a sudden, Maria could team up with Liz and Kenzie and vote out either Ben or me," Charlie shared in a Survivor confessional.

In order to protect Ben and himself, Ben decided to share the Q blindside with Maria so she would still consider him her No. 1 going forward. Maria nodded her head and acknowledged how that was a good idea, but she still thought it was going to be "Charlie's night to go."

Maria attempted to distract Charlie from considering any other options, but she felt pretty confident that Charlie's torch was going to be snuffed that night.

Before Tribal Council, Maria warned Q that he might end up with a vote -- but not to worry.

"After tonight's vote and Charlie goes home, it is safe to say that I regained control. I don't see how it could go wrong... [and] nobody knows about my idol other than Maria. If I feel any spooks or dupes, then I'm playing my idol, for real!" Q explained to the Survivor cameras.

Maria and Charlie were then shown celebrating going to the Final 5 together, even though Maria was about to betray her best friend in the game.

"I'm going to see my best friend walk out of the Survivor game tonight, and it's going to be very bittersweet. I hope I get a hug!" Maria joked in a confessional.

At Tribal Council on Night 23, the tribe discussed with Jeff how they had all become a family, and Maria confirmed that she felt "no hard feelings" about Charlie's Reward decisions.

Liz also announced how it seemed "power couples" were together rather than "true alliances." Liz told everyone that she wasn't going to win a challenge and she was terrible at making fire.

"So don't vote for me!" Liz quipped.

And Charlie told Jeff how everyone was getting really good at the Survivor game and so he didn't know whom lightning was going to strike and hit.

It then became time to vote, and Kenzie, Charlie, Liz and Ben were all shown writing Q's name down. Only Maria and Q voted for Charlie.

"It's been an honor and a pleasure working with you. I love you so much, but I have to think about myself as we're moving into an individual game," Maria whispered to the Survivor cameras in the voting booth.

"I can't wait for the boys to meet Uncle Charlie," she added.

Before Jeff read the votes aloud, Q decided not to play his hidden Immunity Idol.

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Jeff proceeded to read the votes in the following order: Charlie, Q, Charlie, Q, Q, and Q.

Q put his head into his hands and seemed completely shocked. Liz apologized to Q on his way out, and Q quietly voiced, "It's okay."

About The Author:Elizabeth Kwiatkowski

Elizabeth Kwiatkowski is Associate Editor of Reality TV World and has been covering the reality TV genre for more than a decade.