Maritza La Playa

**Maritza La Playa** is a contestant from *Simvivor: StrangerVille* and *Simvivor: Superstar*. She also competed on *The Duel*.

## Profile

* StrangerVille
* Superstar
Maritza got her start in the Fashion career just after high school. She decided to take a month off work to visit her grandparents in Selvadorada and has never returned home since! She fell in love with the jungle so to speak, eventually falling into a nectar-making “career” just to pay her bills. Presently, Maritza loves her life, but occasionally she feels the ocean calling her for a return… Maritza’s beauty and flirtatious attitude will likely get her into some trouble on *Simvivor*, but a natural-born social butterfly, she is confident that she’ll overcome the game and walk away a million Simoleons richer.

Maritza doesn’t want to be associated with her love connection to fellow *Superstar* DeWitt Hubbell. Moved on from that relationship, Maritza feels pumped for her next adventure with *Simvivor*. “I’m 30 now, it’s time to play for myself and not for somebody else.” Her free-spirit and laidback demeanor might not be the perfect combination when it comes to winning *Simvivor*, but she promises that her strategy is fine tuned and will help her go the distance this time. “There’s no time for mistakes,” she said in her pre-season interview. But her lackluster attempt at convincing us otherwise leaves us with only one conclusion…

## Simvivor

### StrangerVille

At the beginning of *StrangerVille*, Maritza was a quieter character on the Plateau tribe, generally getting along with just about everybody, but was known for her crush on DeWitt Hubbell. The two soon became a power duo on their tribe, but were plagued with never needing to attend Tribal Council in order to exert their true power. Despite her minimal number of confessionals, Maritza was constantly highlighted in conversation and had a tendency for being discussed in other players' confessionals. It was during the fourth episode where Maritza first generated turmoil among the tribe, attempting to convince the tribe to vote off Edwin Marquardt for his defense of Pascual Duffberg. However, her excessive targeting of Edwin paid off and he was eliminated unanimously.

Maritza remained on a tribe with DeWitt until the merge and then the two seemed to be at odds with one another at this first vote as a new group. Having only attended one Tribal Council together previously, the duo split up for the time being in order to pursue their own paths. Famously stating that she was only using DeWitt for strategic benefits, Maritza and DeWitt shared a very public and very controversial kiss after Maritza won Individual Immunity. Believing that her new group had the majority to eliminate Alison Yao, Maritza voted in that direction, but was shocked to see Cornelia Tennison eliminated instead.

Maritza continued to struggle with developing new allies, since Maris Wilton held most of the power on the tribe and DeWitt was unable to convince Zak Barr to join forces with him and his girlfriend. As a result, they seemed to fall completely out of control of their games when DeWitt flipped to save Gale Uragano during a tied vote, leaving Maritza fully in the minority. After this shocking move, Maritza was eliminated the following round, coming just seconds away from beating DeWitt in that day's Individual Immunity Challenge.

During the Final Tribal Council, Maritza was often mentioned by other jurors as being somewhat of a crutch to DeWitt's strategy early on, to which DeWitt recognized and admitted wishing he hadn't focused on a personal relationship. Unfazed, Maritza still cast her vote for DeWitt to win *StrangerVille*.

#### Voting History

**^1**  In Episode 9, the vote ended with a 4-4 tie between Gale and Yaniz, forcing a revote. She did not change her vote on the revote.

### Superstar

Old habits die hard, at least for Maritza La Playa. Known for being a flirt, Maritza vowed to never fall in love in *Superstar*, but did not even last two days before falling "head over heels" for fellow Warhol tribemate James Melendez. The two soon became an unstoppable force to be reckoned with, sharing in their goal of eliminating previous winners, including her former beau DeWitt Hubbell. Maritza did, however, show an impressive amount of resolve in playing for herself, often only utilizing James for crucial votes and working to better her own position before his.

Still determined to fight until the bitter end, Maritza stayed out of drama and made friends with even her initial targets, such as Kat Indie, and her past ally Cornelia Tennison. Despite Maritza's best efforts, she and James soon fell apart at the seams, going from cuddling lovebugs to bitter rivals. Their dual intensities tanked both of their games, as Maritza scrambled to pull off a blindside on DeWitt but floundered in her efforts. The vote after James went home, Maritza met her own demise.

On the Jury, Maritza advocated for both finalists to win, initially leaning Cornelia due to their newfound friendship, but soon came around to supporting eventual winner Maris Wilton for her impressive game. Maritza, like the rest of the jurors, voted for Maris to win.

## Post-Simvivor

* Although a couple during *StrangerVille*, Maritza stated that she and DeWitt Hubbell did not continue to pursue a romantic relationship upon their return home.
* Maritza currently resides in Sunlit Tides and is employed again in the Fashion career track.
* Maritza and James Melendez were issued a fine from *Simvivor* producers after making multiple derogatory comments about each other after *Superstar* had premiered. Due to their spoiling of their eventual falling out within the game, both were forced to make public apologies after their subsequent elimination from the show.
* Following *Superstar*, Maritza got married to eventual castaway Levi Williams, a Critic from San Myshuno. At their wedding, Maritza announced that she was pregnant with twin sons, whom they later named Lawson and Sawyer.

### The Duel

Maritza is a controversial figure, for sure. Once a fan favorite turned a massive villain, Maritza has experience the full range of public reception during her two appearances in *Simvivor*. So why did she show up for *The Duel* knowing the risk associated? Regardless, Maritza is always one to challenge herself, but little does she know how hard *The Challenge* hits back.