Abi-Maria Souza Gomes[1] is a contestant from Survivor: Philippines and Survivor: Cambodia.
In Philippines, Abi-Maria started the game in a strong alliance with RC Saint-Amour, but was pitted against her by Pete Yurkowski. Her game came unraveled when she was unable to manage her peers' perception of her as self-unaware and unlikable, as her conduct unwittingly drove Lisa Whelchel and Michael Skupin to the rival Kalabaw Alliance. While she appeared to be a good person to take to the end, she was ultimately voted out at the final 5 due to being too erratic and causing too much chaos.
Like in the Philippines, Abi soon found herself being made fun of by her alliance in Cambodia. This led her to revert to her vindictive gameplay, participating in the blindside of everyone who wronged or betrayed her up until her final elimination. She is remembered for taking control of the Angkor tribe alongside former Bayon members Tasha Fox and Andrew Savage and positioning herself as the swing vote during the elimination of Stephen Fishbach. Despite being seen as an easy person to beat at the end, at the final 7, she was voted out for being too unpredictable and for being a liability as an alliance member.
Profile[]
Retrieved from CBS.com
Name (Age): Abi-Maria Gomes (32) |
Survivor[]
Philippines[]
| “ | If you f*ck with me, you are dead to me. | ” |
—Abi-Maria, in an argument with RC Saint-Amour | ||
Abi-Maria 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-Maria, along with the rest of the tribe, 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-Maria and Lisa won their tribe a second-place finish, keeping the tribe intact.
As days went on, Abi-Maria was so trusted by RC, the latter shared her clue to the Hidden Immunity Idol with her. However, Abi-Maria started to distrust her after noticing RC talking to Michael more than her and mistakenly thought the two were conniving behind her back. This prompted the business student to threaten RC. Abi-Maria's trust in RC completely dissolved on Day 7 when Abi-Maria found the idol clue inside RC's bag. Convinced that RC was trying to find the idol for herself, Abi-Maria brought in Pete, Lisa, and Artis Silvester in a new alliance to vote out RC and Michael. Unbeknownst to Abi-Maria, the clue in RC's bag was a ploy by Pete to cause chaos within the tribe. With Pete's help, Abi-Maria realized that the idol was actually the handle of their rice bin. Despite the dysfunction of the 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-Maria 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 Michael brokering a deal with Kalabaw's returning player, Jonathan Penner, that, if Tandang forfeited the challenge, Kalabaw would give them their remaining rice supply. Abi-Maria and several members of Tandang were irate at Michael for making deals in their tribe's name as it turned out that Kalabaw's rice supply was not as plentiful they had hoped. The incident however, was inconsequential, as Tandang still won the next Immunity Challenge. Abi-Maria'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.
Having successfully colluded with the other alliances to split the vote between Jonathan and RC at the merge, resulting in RC's elimination, Abi-Maria 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 Michael decided to stay true to Tandang and Jonathan voted for Abi-Maria instead of Pete with the rest of his alliance. Jeff became the second member of the jury. It was at this Tribal Council where Abi-Maria revealed that she had a Hidden Immunity Idol.
Due to Abi-Maria's negativity towards Lisa, the latter joined forces with Michael and decided to jump ship and blindside Artis in order to dwindle Pete and Abi-Maria's power. Pete and Abi-Maria soon became the odd men out, which made it top priority for Pete to win immunity since Abi-Maria had the idol, although Pete failed to win. After a failed persuasion of Michael, Pete soon became the next member of the jury after Abi-Maria was forced to play her Hidden Immunity Idol to stay safe.
During the Survivor Auction, originally not going to spend anything since she knew she was the next target, Abi-Maria imminently changed her mind upon seeing that an advantage in the game was available and she spent all her cash on it. It was revealed that this advantage would allow her to skip the first two parts of the next Immunity 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 Abi-Maria won her first and only Immunity Challenge, making her safe for Tribal Council and sending Jonathan home. After Jonathan hugged Carter Williams goodbye, Abi-Maria also asked for a hug, but Jonathan coldly rejected saying he was not hugging anyone else.
With the fake idol still in her pocket, Abi-Maria 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-Maria'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, reasoning that this move would also force the "idol" out of Abi-Maria.
With only five people left, Abi-Maria tried to convince Lisa that Malcolm, Michael, and Denise Stapley 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 Michael 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 Michael an idiot once and a moron twice. But Lisa and Michael 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 did not win immunity, so they rejected Abi-Maria's offer to vote out Denise and instead voted for Abi-Maria via unanimous decision.
At the Final Tribal Council, Denise apologized to Abi-Maria for her less than congenial approach to their relationship. Putting her respect for the game ahead of their tumultuous relationship, Abi-Maria cast her jury vote for Denise, helping her rival win in a 6-1-1 vote.
| Episode | Tribe Affiliation |
Challenge | Challenge Type | Sit-Out? | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tandang | Share the Wealth | Reward/Immunity | No | 2nd |
| 2 | Manila Folders | Reward/Immunity | Yes | 1st | |
| 3 | Deep In Thought | Reward/Immunity | Yes | 2nd | |
| 4 | Swing Break | Reward/Immunity | Yes | 1st | |
| 5 | Idol Hands | Reward | No | Won | |
| Thrash, Splash & Bash | Immunity | Yes | Won | ||
| 6 | Bog Roll | Reward | No | Lost1 | |
| Philiping Out | Immunity | Yes | Won | ||
| Tribes Merged, Day 17 | |||||
| 7 | Dangrayne | Wrist Assured | Immunity | Lost | |
| 8 | Catch of the Day | Reward | Lost | ||
| Snake in the Grass | Immunity | Lost | |||
| 9 | Muddy Waters | Reward | Lost | ||
| Paddle Out | Immunity | Lost | |||
| 10 | Snare the Drum | Reward | Won | ||
| Push Your Luck | Immunity | Lost | |||
| 11 | Survivor Auction | ||||
| Brains and Brawn | Immunity | Won | |||
| 12 | Mud Slinging | Reward | Lost | ||
| Fish and Game | Immunity | Lost | |||
| 13 | Sliders | Reward | Lost | ||
| One Track Mind | Immunity | Lost | |||
| Voted Out, Day 36 | |||||
| Notes: ^1 Tandang forfeited the challenge in exchange for Kalabaw's rice.
| |||||
| Episode | Abi-Maria's Votes |
Voted Against Abi-Maria |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tandang Tribe Immune | |
| 2 | Tandang Tribe Immune | |
| 3 | Tandang Tribe Immune | |
| 4 | Tandang Tribe Immune | |
| 5 | Tandang Tribe Immune | |
| 6 | Tandang Tribe Immune | |
| 7 | - | |
| 8 | Jeff | Jonathan |
| 9 | Jonathan | - |
| 10 | Malcolm | Michael |
| 11 | Denise | Individual Immunity |
| 12 | Carter | Carter |
| 13 | Denise | Denise, Lisa, Malcolm, Michael |
| Voted Out, Day 36 | ||
| Voted for Sole Survivor |
Denise | |
^1 In "Not the Only Actor on This Island", Jonathan used a Hidden Immunity Idol, negating Abi-Maria's vote against him.
^2 In "Whiners Are Wieners", Abi-Maria used a Hidden Immunity Idol, negating 3 votes against her.
Cambodia[]
Abi-Maria was one of the twenty castaways chosen by public vote to compete on the Second Chance season, Survivor: Cambodia.
Abi-Maria started her second chance on Ta Keo. On Day 1, she lost her bracelet which she later found in Peih-Gee Law's bag; though she told the rest of her tribe that she was wary of Peih-Gee, Peih-Gee was able to clear the air. Ta Keo lost the first Immunity Challenge. They immediately went to Tribal Council. She received 4 votes which came from the old schoolers minus Jeff Varner, and Peih-Gee, but the new schoolers plus Jeff and Peih-Gee sided with her and voted out Vytas Baskauskas.
After Tribal Council, she overheard Peih-Gee and Shirin Oskooi talking negatively about her, Abi-Maria confronted Peih-Gee, and the argument resulted in their alliance + some tribemates making fun of Abi-Maria. A vulnerable Abi-Maria was comforted by Terry Deitz, and the two aligned. The next morning, Abi-Maria and Jeff solidified their plans to switch to the old-school alliance, putting them in power. Ta Keo lost immunity. At camp Spencer Bledsoe were the targets. Shirin tried to make amends with Abi-Maria, but Abi-Maria refused. At Tribal Council, Abi-Maria helped the majority split their votes between Spencer and Shirin, and Shirin was voted out.
The next day, a Tribe Switch occurred where Abi-Maria, Peih-Gee, Jeff, and Woo Hwang were switched to the new Angkor tribe and were joined by fellow Bayons Tasha Fox and Andrew Savage. Tasha and Andrew noticed tension between Abi-Maria and Peih-Gee, and Tasha talked to Abi-Maria about siding with her and Andrew. Angkor lost immunity. At camp, Abi-Maria decided to turn on her original Ta Keo tribemates which provoked Peih-Gee, and each of the two tried to rally support to eliminate the other. At Tribal Council, Andrew and Tasha aligned with Abi-Maria and Jeff Varner, and they sent Peih-Gee home though Abi-Maria received votes from Woo and Peih-Gee. Abi-Maria was angry at Woo for voting for her for a second time. When Angkor lost immunity again, she wanted to target Woo for voting for her twice, but at Tribal Council, she joined Andrew, Tasha, and Woo in voting out Jeff.
She was switched back to Ta Keo after the second tribe switch. Ta Keo lost immunity. She was initially apart of the majority's plan to eliminate Spencer, but Ciera Eastin convinced her and Kass McQuillen to blindside Woo. At Tribal Council, Abi-Maria, Ciera, Kass, and Spencer blindsided Woo. She then became a member of the Witches Coven.
Abi-Maria made it to the merge. However, she found herself in the minority along with her allies Kass, Ciera, and Kelley Wentworth. At the merged Tribal Council, she voted for Tasha, but Kass was voted out. However, at the next Tribal Council, Abi-Maria, Kelley, and Ciera blindsided Andrew with Kelley's Hidden Immunity Idol. On Day 24, Joe Anglim defeated her to win his third Immunity Challenge. At Tribal Council, Bayon Alliance members Jeremy Collins, Spencer and Stephen Fishbach worked with Abi-Maria and her allies to blindside Kelly Wiglesworth. On Night 26, Abi-Maria joined the majority in splitting the votes between Stephen and Kimmi Kappenberg and targeting Stephen, but Jeremy played his idol on Stephen thus blindsiding Ciera. On Night 29, Abi-Maria received three votes, but Abi's allies stuck with her so she narrowly escaped elimination, and Stephen was blindsided.
With four men and four women remaining, Kimmi organized a women's alliance between her, Abi-Maria, Kelley, and Tasha to eliminate Joe next and then take over the game. At the Reward Challenge, the castaways were visited by their loved ones. Abi-Maria met her mother Vera. Kelley won the Loved Ones Challenge, and chose to share the reward with Abi-Maria, Keith Nale, Joe, and Kimmi. At the final 8 Tribal Council, Abi-Maria joined the majority in voting out Joe. After losing the next Reward Challenge, Abi-Maria, Jeremy, Kimmi, and Tasha discussed eliminating Keith. Later, Jeremy and Tasha asked Abi-Maria to leave so they could talk privately; she refused, which annoyed them, and they considered targeting her instead. Spencer won immunity. At camp, Kelley and Keith recruited Abi-Maria to vote against Tasha, where as Jeremy, Kimmi, and Tasha switched their target from Keith to Abi-Maria due to the latter's volatility throughout the game. Both sides believed Spencer to be with them but, at Tribal Council, Spencer voted against Abi-Maria to send her to the jury.
At the Final Tribal Council, Abi-Maria asked the Final Three what their most subtle move was. She voted for Jeremy who won in a unanimous 10-0-0 vote.
| Episode | Tribe Affiliation |
Challenge | Challenge Type | Sit-Out? | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ta Keo | The Marooning | Reward | No | Won |
| Quest for Fire | Reward/Immunity | No | Lost | ||
| 2 | Yank Yer Hank | Reward/Immunity | No | Lost | |
| Switched Tribes, Day 7 | |||||
| 3 | Angkor | Draggin' the Dragon | Immunity | No | Lost |
| 4 | Stomp-ede | Reward | Yes | 1st | |
| Blind Leading the Blind | Immunity | No | Lost | ||
| 5 | In the Barrel | Reward | No | 2nd | |
| Air Raid | Immunity | No | 1st | ||
| Switched Tribes, Day 14 | |||||
| 6 | Ta Keo | Slip n' Slide | Reward | No | Won |
| Cambodian Catering | Immunity | No | Lost | ||
| Tribes Merged, Day 17 | |||||
| 7 | Orkun | Hard to Handle | Immunity | Lost | |
| 8 | Boats, Brains, and Brawn | Reward | Lost | ||
| Take the Reins | Immunity | Lost | |||
| 9 | Styx | Reward | Yes | Lost | |
| Bermuda Triangles | Immunity | Lost | |||
| 10 | Basket Brawl | Reward | Won | ||
| Ballin' A Jack | Immunity | Yes1 | Lost | ||
| 11 | Folklore | Reward | Lost | ||
| The Game is Afoot | Immunity | Lost | |||
| 12 | Jungle Love | Reward | Invited | ||
| Over-Extended | Immunity | Lost | |||
| 13 | Pole Dancing | Reward | Lost | ||
| Floatsam & Jetsam | Immunity | Lost | |||
| Voted Out, Day 35 | |||||
| Notes: ^1 Abi-Maria elected to sit out of the challenge to help her tribe win a new shelter.
| |||||
| Episode | Abi-Maria's Votes |
Voted Against Abi-Maria |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Vytas | Kelly, Terry, Vytas, Woo |
| 2 | Spencer | - |
| 3 | Peih-Gee | Peih-Gee, Woo |
| 4 | Jeff | - |
| 5 | Angkor Tribe Immune | |
| 6 | Woo | - |
| 7 | Tasha | - |
| 8 | Andrew | - |
| 9 | Kelly | - |
| 10 | - | |
| 11 | Stephen | Kimmi, Stephen, Tasha |
| 12 | Joe | Joe |
| 13 | Keith | Jeremy, Kimmi, Spencer, Tasha |
| Voted Out, Day 35 | ||
| Voted for Sole Survivor |
Jeremy | |
^1 In "Like Selling Your Soul to the Devil", Jeremy used a Hidden Immunity Idol on Stephen, negating Abi-Maria's vote against him.
Post-Survivor[]
- After her first stint on Survivor, Abi-Maria 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.[4]
- Abi-Maria previously dated fellow castaway and tribemate, Pete Yurkowski.[5]
- In 2015, Abi-Maria won the "Best Villain" award at the Reality Television Awards.[6]
- In 2016, Abi-Maria applied for a job as a reporter at the 2016 Rio Olympics.[7]
- On May 10, 2017, Abi-Maria, along with Hannah Shapiro, appeared on an episode of Pen Fan Forum hosted by Andrea Boehlke to discuss the twelfth episode of Survivor: Game Changers.[8]
- Abi-Maria competed on Celebrity Fear Factor, along with Sierra Dawn Thomas.
- Abi-Maria, along with nineteen other former Survivor contestants, competed in the first Survivor-themed mini-competition of Sequester on May 23, 2020. She made it to the seventeenth and final round, finishing as the runner-up against Kellyn Bechtold in a 6-1 vote.[9]
Trivia[]
- Abi-Maria's father is Brazilian visual artist Gomes de Souza.
- In an interview, Abi-Maria revealed she was originally recruited for Tocantins, but was cut because she could have gained an advantage due to her being a Brazilian native. She actually resided close to the filming location when she was living in Brazil.[10] She was replaced by Carolina Eastwood.[11]
- Abi-Maria, along with the rest of the original Tandang tribe, became the first contestants to reach the merge without visiting Tribal Council.
- Abi-Maria's mother is the only loved one who did not speak English, so Abi-Maria had to translate for her mother and Jeff Probst.
- Abi-Maria lost 13.1 lbs. during her time in Philippines.[12]
- On Malcolm Freberg's profile for Caramoan, he stated in profile that his personal claim to fame was, "having spent over a month with Abi-Maria, and still being considered legally sane by the state of California".[13]
- In the fourth episode of the Survivor After Show for Caramoan, Abi-Maria revealed she tore her Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) during the marooning of Philippines and had to undergo surgery as a result.
- In both of her seasons, Abi-Maria was the 13th person voted out with four votes, becoming the 7th member of the jury and was voted out in the 13th episode of the season, both being the penultimate episodes of those seasons.
- Both times, Abi-Maria was the 14th person eliminated, but 13th voted out due to Dana Lambert quitting and Terry Deitz's family emergency.
- Abi-Maria is the only contestant to make the merge in Cambodia without being a member of Bayon at any point.
- Abi-Maria lost 11 lbs. during her time in Cambodia. She was also voted out on the 4th of July.[14]
References[]
- ↑ https://twitter.com/theabimaria/status/1220815246069096451?s=21
- ↑ http://web.archive.org/web/20230328044700/https://www.cbs.com/shows/survivor/cast/159984/
- ↑ http://web.archive.org/web/20230205165833/https://www.cbs.com/shows/survivor/cast/215112/
- ↑ http://www.sbwire.com/press-releases/from-survivor-to-entrepreneur-abi-maria-gomes-is-making-a-splash-in-the-beverage-industry-344642.htm
- ↑ http://g1.globo.com/goias/noticia/2015/09/goiana-volta-ao-programa-survivor-e-tenta-superar-rotulo-de-vila-foi-dificil.html
- ↑ http://www.imdb.com/name/nm5223692/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1
- ↑ http://dreamjobbing.com/dreamjobs/rio2016#2818
- ↑ https://twitter.com/andreaboehlke/status/862373395136217088
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMzXEA5_0W8
- ↑ https://ew.com/gallery/survivor-philippines-meet-cast/?slide=380864#380864
- ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/survivor/comments/319oy9/abimaria_ama/cpzlz62
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHWsd6bby7k
- ↑ http://web.archive.org/web/20230321052251/https://www.cbs.com/shows/survivor/cast/203568/
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NINOq6qsh8U
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