And the “Survivor 46” winner is...

Liz, Ben, Kenzie, Charlie, and Maria entered the finale thunderdome, but only one would emerge victorious.

Warning: This article contains spoilers for the season finale of Survivor 46.

There is a lot of strategy on Survivor. Moves are made. Players are blindsided. Endgames are put into place. But for all that tinkering and strategizing and alliance-making, the game of Survivor is primarily a social one, and the folks that end up winning are usually the ones who form the closest bonds with other players… meaning the jury.

That explains why Kenzie Petty was just crowned the winner of Survivor 46. Kenzie played a pretty much flawless social game, forming friendships with everyone no matter what side of the vote they ended up on. It’s why she emerged victorious on Wednesday’s season finale, beating fellow final three contestants Charlie Davis and Ben Katzman by a vote of 5-3-0, even after openly admitting she was not the driving force on any big blindsides of the season. "Yeah, I got brought along on votes," she told the jury in a refreshing bit of honesty. "I'll take it. I'll own it. It's true. I'm not going to say I drove a vote." She only drove the most important vote of the season — the one that nabbed her a million dollars.

Related: The Survivor 46 final 5 speak!

Kenzie's path to victory actually began with a key move during the finale's first immunity challenge. After solving the puzzle, Kenzie could not figure out the clue to "Count the number of geckos, puzzle pieces, and holes in your plank." But Liz Wilcox read the clue and abandoned her own attempt to win the challenge — racing back to retrieve Kenzie's plank for her and deny Maria Shrime Gonzalez from winning a record-tying fourth immunity challenge victory.

Kenzie's victory there ensured that the biggest threat in Maria was sent to the jury. Then, after a sleep-deprived Ben surprised everyone by winning the final challenge (in which players had to solve a puzzle while catching a ball before it dropped to the bottom of a giant Price Is Right Plinko-like structure), the one contestant who can legitimately claim to be rockin’ like Dokken had to choose whom to bring to the end with him, and which two players to send to the fire-making competition.

In the end, Charlie got the fast pass to the final three, while Kenzie and Liz battled it out in fire. It wasn’t much of a battle. After a slow start, Kenzie took control of both her flint and the game — taking out Liz and giving herself another notch on her résumé.

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That left Ben, Charlie, and Kenzie to plead their case to the jury at final Tribal Council — a jury that was respectful, but also seeking clear and concise answers as they continued their deliberations.

"We are not looking for Taylor Swift lyrics. We are not looking for pop culture or rock & roll references. We are looking for serious and thought-provoking responses," noted juror Tiffany Nicole Ervin to kick off the proceedings. Later, Soda Thompson literally put each contestant on a 30-second clock to rebut her impressions of them, cutting them off immediately when they exceeded their time limit.

Related: The Survivor 46 jury speaks!

While Charlie appeared to have the firmest strategic ground to stand on thanks to his game control from the shadows, it was Kenzie's social skills that stood out. In the end, Charlie did not even receive Maria's vote, as his former island bestie joined Tiffany, Tevin Davis, Q Burdette, and Venus Vafa in voting for the winner, while Liz, Soda, and Hunter McKnight gave their votes to runner-up Charlie, who will have to console himself by listening to lots and lots of Taylor Swift on repeat.

Keep your eyes peeled for much more Survivor 46 finale coverage, including our full finale recap, interviews with the entire final five, as well as a sneak peek at the next season of Survivor.

Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly.