Abi-Maria Gomes

Abi-Maria Gomes is a contestant from and.

Abi started the game in a strong alliance with RC Saint-Amour, but was pitted against her by Pete Yurkowski. Her game completely deteriorated when she was unraveled by her peers' perception of her as self-unaware and unlikeable, and unwittingly pushing Lisa Whelchel away to their rival alliance.

Profile
Personal Claim to Fame: Traveling the world on my own and becoming an American citizen. I now have dual citizenship in the United States and Brazil.

Inspiration in Life: Steve Jobs’ words, "Stay Hungry. Stay foolish."

Hobbies: Languages, hiking, dancing, surfing and skiing. Pet Peeves: Complainers. 3 Words to Describe You: Driven, creative and charming. If You Could Have 3 Things on The Island What Would They Be and Why?

1) I would bring a book to distract me.

2) I would bring a pen for writing.

3) And, I would bring a notebook to write on.

SURVIVOR Contestant You Are Most Like: Parvati – she is as charming as I am. Reason for Being on SURVIVOR: The money! Why You Think You’ll “Survive” SURVIVOR: I bring social skills and team work. I am a motivator. I will also bring a very positive energy. Why You Think You Will Be the Sole SURVIVOR: I will bring my “A” game! I am strategic, I am athletic and I have an ability to persuade situations to my favor.

Survivor: Philippines
Abi was part of the yellow Tandang tribe. Early on, she formed an alliance with RC Saint-Amour and soon used her flirtatious and charming attitude to recruit Pete Yurkowski while RC recruited their returning player Michael Skupin and formed a majority alliance. Abi, and the rest if the tribe has viewed their oldest female member, Lisa Whelchel as an outsider, agreeing she would be the first to go. However, at the first Immunity Challenge, Abi and Lisa won their tribe a second place finish, keeping the tribe intact.

As days went on, Abi was so trusted by RC, the latter shared her clue to the Hidden Immunity Idol with her. However, Abi started to distrust her after noticing RC talking to Skupin more than her and mistakenly thought the two were conniving behind her backs. This prompted the business student to threaten RC. Abi's trust in RC completely dissolved on Day 7 when Abi found the idol clue inside RC's bag. Convinced that RC was trying to find the idol for herself, Abi brought in Pete, Lisa and Artis Silvester in a new alliance to vote out RC and Skupin. Unbenknowst to Abi, the clue in RC's bag was a ploy by Pete to cause chaos within the tribe. With Pete's help, Abi realizes that the idol was actually the handle of their rice bin. Despite the dysfunction of the tribe, Abi's tribe, Tandang, established themselves as the most dominant of the three tribes, winning the next three Immunity Challenges.

On Day 12, the winless and decimated Matsing tribe was dissolved, one of its two remaining members, Malcolm Freberg was randomly assigned to Tandang. This shift, along with Malcolm's general likability and strength made it easier for Abi and Pete to sway the newcomer to their side. Tandang would remain undefeated by winning the next Immunity Challenge.

In a rather physical Reward Challenge on Day 14, the tribes struck a deal after finding themselves in a stalemate, with Skupin brokering a deal with Kalabaw's returning player, Jonathan Penner, that, if Tandang forfeits the challenge, Kalabaw would give them their remaining rice supply. Abi, and several members of Tandang were irate at Skupin for making deals in their tribe's name and turned out, Kalabaw's rice supply was not as plentiful than hoped. The incident however, was inconsequential, as Tandang still won the next Immunity Challenge. Abi's tribe found themselves entering the merge with all of her Tandang tribemates intact. On Day 17, the tribe moved to the abandoned Matsing camp for the merge, and the Dangrayne tribe was born.

Abi was soon classified as one of the three "bullies" of the tribe along with fellow Tandang tribe mates Artis and Pete. But despite this negative connotation they still managed to vote out Jeff Kent when Lisa and Skupin decided to stay true to Tandang and Penner voted for Abi instead of Pete. Jeff became the second member of the Jury. It was at this Tribal Council where Abi revealed that she had a Hidden Immunity Idol.

Due to Abi's negativity towards Lisa, the latter joined forces with Skupin and decided to jump ships and blindside Artis in order to dwindle Pete and Abi's power's. Pete and Abi soon become the odd men out which made it top priority for Pete to win immunity since Abi had the Idol but Pete failed to win. After a failed persuasion of Skupin, Pete soon became the next member of the Jury. Although Abi was forced to play her Hidden Immunity Idol to stay safe.

During the auction, Abi spent all her cash on an advantage in the game. It was revealed that this advantage would allow her to skip the first 2 parts of the challenge and have a 1 in 3 chance at winning immunity. She then devised a plan to make a fake Hidden Immunity Idol and pretend that the "advantage" she bought had 2 parts, one was for the Immunity Challenge and the other being the clue to the fake Hidden Immunity Idol.

Everyone was in shock when she won her first and only Immunity Challenge, making her safe for Tribal Council and sending Jonathan Penner home.

With the fake Idol still in her pocket, she felt that she was safe thinking that she fooled the whole tribe into thinking that she really had an Idol. The rest of the tribe had doubts in Abi's Idol but at Tribal Council the tribe voted out Carter since he was a threat in challenges and was more likely to win the game, this move would also force the "Idol" out of Abi.

With only 5 people left, Abi tried to convince Lisa that Malcolm, Skupin and Denise were definitely going to take each other to the final 3 and that they needed to vote Malcolm or Denise out in order to have a chance at winning since they would be the most likely win. She tried to position herself as the swing vote by appealing to Skupin and Lisa and told them that they would not stand a chance against Malcolm and Denise in the final 3, even going to the extent of calling Skupin an idiot once and a moron twice. But Lisa and Skupin decided before Tribal Council that Malcolm was the real threat and that they needed Denise in the final 4 in order to ensure that Malcolm didn't win immunity so they rejected Abi's offer to vote out Denise and instead voted for Abi via unanimous decision.

Voting History
In Not the Only Actor on This Island, Jonathan used a Hidden Immunity Idol, negating Abi-Maria's vote against him. In Whiners Are Wieners, Abi-Maria used a Hidden Immunity Idol, negating 3 votes against her.

Survivor: Cambodia
Abi-Maria was one of the twenty castaways chosen by public vote to compete on the Second Chance season, Survivor: Cambodia.

Post-Survivor

 * After her stint on Survivor, Gomes became an entrepreneur, introducing a ready-to-drink alcoholic cocktail line, called "Xi Acai." She described the beverage as "a carnival in a bottle." Her product won a gold medal at the 2013 Los Angeles International Spirits Awards and named "Best New Product" at the 2013 Nightclub & Bar Show.
 * Gomes previously dated fellow castaway and tribemate, Pete Yurkowski.

Trivia

 * Abi-Maria's father is the Brazilian visual artist Gomes de Souza.
 * In an interview, Maria revealed that she was originally recruited for, but was cut because she could have gained an advantage due to her being Brazilian native. She actually resided close to the filming location, when she was living in Brazil. She was replaced by Carolina Eastwood.
 * Abi-Maria holds the record for most tribal Immunity Challenges sat out from, she only participated in two of the eight tribal Immunity Challenges. The only Immunity Challenges in which Abi-Maria did not sit out were ones that required all tribe members to compete.
 * On Day 27, Abi-Maria walked halfway out of Tribal Council before she realized that she forgot her torch.
 * Abi-Maria's mother is the only loved one who didn't speak English, so Abi had to translate for her mother and Jeff.
 * On Malcolm Freberg's profile for, he stated that his profile that his personal claim to fame was,"having spent over a month with Abi-Maria, and is still be considered legally sane by the state of California."
 * Abi-Maria is the third known dual citizen to compete on Survivor, following winner, Aras Baskauskas and  winner, Todd Herzog.  contestants Nadiya and Natalie Anderson would follow.
 * In the fourth episode of the Survivor Live After Show for, Abi-Maria revealed she tore her Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) during the first challenge of Survivor: Philippines, and had to undergo surgery as a result.