Survivor: Palau

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Survivor: Palau
Filming location	Koror, Palau
Winner	Tom Westman (6-1)
Original run	February 17, 2005 – May 15, 2005
Filming dates	October 27, 2004 – December 09, 2004
No. of episodes	14
No. of days	39
No. of survivors	20
Tribes	Koror Ulong
Season chronology
Previous	Survivor: Vanuatu
Next	Survivor: Guatemala

Survivor: Palau is the tenth installment of the reality television show Survivor. A preview of it was shown on the reunion of Survivor: Vanuatu. Survivor: Palau premiered on February 17, 2005. In the end, Tom Westman defeated Katie Gallagher in a 6-1 vote. The DVD for this season was released on August 29, 2006. [1]

The competition was increased to twenty contestants for this series. Before filming began, the cast was told to dress in street clothes indicative of their careers for publicity photos. This ended up being their only clothing for the duration of the game. Tom Westman's wife told him to wear pants over his swim trunks, as she remembered the Pearl Islands season where the contestants were also tricked into wearing street clothes for the game. The two tribes competing were named Ulong, in blue, and Koror, in brown, after two islands in the nation of Palau. For the second time in Survivor history, tribes were not selected by the producers, but rather the contestants themselves. In this tribe selection process, two people did not get placed in a tribe, resulting in their elimination. This meant a total of three, including the traditional tribal council vote-off on Day 3, were eliminated in the first episode.

The Ulong tribe managed to lose every Immunity Challenge, giving Koror the first tribal sweep on Survivor. When Ulong was reduced to only one tribe member, Stephenie, she was given a map to Koror, and upon arrival was given a Koror buff. While the players in the game referred to it as a merge during the finale episode, the apparent official opinion of producers is that it wasn't a merge, as the season was described as being the first, and so far only, without a merge.

[edit] Contestants

The Total Votes is the number of votes a castaway has received during Tribal Councils where the castaway is eligible to be voted out of the game. It does not include the votes received during the final Tribal Council.

[edit] The game

• Note 1 - Two players were eliminated in a tribal selection process. The contestants were told that there were two immunity necklaces on the beach: one for the first man and one for the first woman to claim them. On day 2, the castaways were told they would divide into 2 tribes of 9 members each, with the two immunity holders making the first picks for their new tribes. Because one man and one women would not be chosen due to the numbers, they would be eliminated. Jonathan and Wanda were the two that were eliminated immediately. Once this process was completed, the power of the immunity necklaces was over.
• Note 2 - On Day 12, both tribes went to Tribal Council. Koror, by winning the reward challenge prior to Tribal Council, won the opportunity to vote first, then eat a reward dinner as Ulong spoke with Jeff. Before Ulong voted, Koror voted to give Immunity to a member of Ulong. Ibrehem, who single-handedly lost the challenge for Ulong, was given Immunity in a 3-2-2-1 decision (Bobby Jon and Stephenie received 2 votes, Angie received 1).
• Note 3 - Because Ulong had only 2 members, a vote did not occur at the Tribal Council; instead, a fire-making challenge was performed in the Tribal Council area, which Stephenie won by just a few seconds.

[edit] Episode Summaries

[edit] Episode 1: This Has Never Happened Before!

The game started as the 20 castaways marveled at the beautiful wildlife and picturesque underwater landscape. Jeff then told them that the first man and first woman to the beach would claim individual immunity. Stephenie and Jonathan made the mistake of trying to swim to shore, as they were quickly passed by the boat. Jolanda and Ian were the first to shore, and claimed the immunity. Quickly, the castaways were split themselves into groups of water gatherers and shelter builders. After drying off, they introduced themselves to each other, and a secret alliance between Angie and Coby was formed. The next morning, Jeff explained that Jolanda and Ian would soon be stripped of immunity, and that they both needed to pick a member of the opposite sex, then have that person pick a member of their opposite sex, until only one man and one woman were left, who would be subsequently eliminated. Tension occurred when Coby picked Caryn over his alliance-mate Angie. When it was Caryn's turn to pick the last member of what would be Koror, she picked Willard over Jonathan. For Ulong, Ibrehem did likewise by picking Angie over Wanda. As the last two people standing, Jonathan and Wanda were eliminated without attending Tribal Council. The reward challenge consisted of an obstacle course involving a jungle race, a cargo net crawl and a tire run. The tribe members would then arrive at a supply dump, where they would gather valuable supplies. The tribes would choose which items they want to race with. The next obstacle was a ten foot wall that the Survivors would need to get themselves and their supplies over. They would then wade through a waist-deep swamp before dropping the supplies on beach mats. The final leg would be an outrigger race on the water to retrieve their tribe flag. The first tribe to cross the finish line with their tribe flag would win Immunity, as well as whatever supplies they had gathered. The challenge started, and Koror took and early lead after Ulong struggled with the tire run. As Koror reached the supply dump, they made the decision to nly take the fire-building materials. When Ulong reached the supply dump, Jolanda insisted that they take everything. This proved to be a big waste of time. As the winners, Jeff offered Koror the chance to go back to theold beach, or to a brand new one. They chose the new beach, and Ulong went back to the old one.

[edit] Elimination notes

• Wanda and Jonathan - Eliminated by not being picked during the tribal selection phase. Wanda apparently annoyed several players with her singing and was likely perceived to be the weakest female. The reasons for Jonathan's exclusion aren't entirely clear. It's likely that his early jump from the boat alienated him in some regard, but fellow contestant Angie later claimed (at the reunion) that he hadn't been very friendly in an early conversation. Also, Coby Archa had been campaigning for Jonathan's elimination in case of a 20-person tribal council.
• Jolanda - Eliminated for being too strong a leader and for causing friction within the tribe. (When Bobby Jon was asked in an interview if things would have turned out differently for Ulong if they had kept Jolanda, he noted that she "was an asset" and "she was in the Olympics for crying out loud.")
• Ashlee - Asked to be voted out as a result of illness (not shown on the show, but later revealed in interviews).
• Jeff - After twisting his ankle prior to the immunity challenge, Jeff asked to be voted off. Kim was considered by the tribe as an alternative to voting him out, but in the end he was eliminated. (Note: He didn't lay down his torch. He asked to be voted off, but unlike Osten, he still received votes and had votes cast for others.)
• Kim - Ultimately eliminated for making no noteworthy contribution to camp life and commonly being perceived as "lazy." She nearly escaped elimination for a third time when Stephenie and Angie, the other women of Ulong, worried that they would be outnumbered when Kim was eliminated.
• Willard - Although Koror never lost an immunity challenge, they were forced to eliminate a player on day 12. Willard was eliminated for getting what Tom referred to as "a free ride" as well as fears he would be a threat in post-merge mental challenges. The tribe had apparently wanted to get rid of him for a while, but since they won every immunity challenges, they had never gotten the opportunity to do so.
• Angie - Once obvious target Ibrehem (who had just lost Ulong a reward challenge) received immunity from Koror, Angie received the boot in a last-minute decision by her tribemates. The vote was initially tied 2-2 between her and Bobby Jon (with one vote for James), but after a re-vote, she was unanimously eliminated. Her elimination was likely a result of the fact that she was seen as the weakest of the four.
• James - A combination of his poor performance in the previous challenge, a budding alliance between Stephenie and Bobby Jon, and Bobby Jon's mistrust in James caused James to be voted out. The vote was originally split 2-2 between Ibrehem and James, but when only Bobby Jon and Stephenie voted, Stephenie changed her vote again.
• Ibrehem - While his performance in previous challenges may have been an issue, since the tribe was so small, his elimination was a result of Bobby Jon and Stephenie's choice to stick together. Bobby Jon later said he wanted Stephenie around because of her skill in challenges.
• Bobby Jon - When Stephenie and Bobby Jon lost the immunity challenge, they were forced to face off in a fire-building challenge at tribal council. Despite having known how to make fire much longer than Stephenie, Bobby Jon ended losing to her and thus he was eliminated.
• Coby - Was presumably voted out for excessive scheming, and making it obvious he thought he was on top of the game (This was presumably due to the fact that he had made a secret Final Four alliance with Janu, Gregg and Jenn in order to eliminate big threats Tom and Ian). He was also promoting dissent among the remaining players by openly talking to ex-Ulong Stephenie about the various alliances and frictions that existed among the Koror members. Was also a strong threat for physical or mental challenges. Gregg changed his strategy after realizing Coby could not be trusted and helped get rid of him.
• Janu - Quit the game at tribal council. Janu had previously expressed that she was feeling increasingly tired and fed up with the game and the other players. After being exiled, she had a rebirth of spirit and it did not matter to her whether she stayed or left because she got what she wanted to get out of the experience. After a lengthy discussion at tribal council, and after getting assurance from Jeff Probst that she would be able to serve on the jury (he stopped the taping and asked the producers), she agreed to step down from the game. Realizing she was being used by some of the other players, she wanted to "throw a wrench into their game". Stephenie had urged Janu to quit, and Janu sympathized with Stephenie's dilemma, though officially she said she was not stepping down simply on her behalf. Because of the circumstances of her departure, it was not regarded as being as dishonorable as that of Osten Taylor from Pearl Islands and her final words were aired at the end of the episode.
• Stephenie - The original Koror members went through with their previous plan to vote the final remaining Ulong member out. Because he saw her as a major threat to his long-term plans (while seeing Janu as no threat at all), Gregg insisted she be voted out. Stephenie attempted to convince the Koror women to overthrow the men, but it was not meant to be.
• Gregg - The original plans to vote out Caryn were scrapped when Ian and Tom realized Gregg would target them next (as he had done with Stephenie) after seeing the events that had occurred at the reward challenge, where Gregg had taken Jennifer and Katie with him on a yacht reward instead of the two of them. He was also considered a major challenge threat. An alliance of Tom, Ian, and Caryn was joined by Katie, who broke her new deal with Gregg due to her bond with Ian and fear of a tie vote "Purple Rock" scenario.
• Caryn - The final five players allowed paranoia to sink in, and many possibilities for alliances were discussed and broken throughout the episode. During tribal council, Caryn elected to reveal private conversations with the rest of the tribe, and did it for both sides of the predominant conflict, which was men against women. Both sides, feeling that Caryn wasn't trustworthy, and also feeling hurt by what she did, unanimously voted her out.
• Jennifer - The alliance of Tom, Ian, and Katie had planned to stick together and vote off Jenn, but after Tom discovered that Ian plotted against him, he joined Jenn and changed his vote to Ian instead. With a split 2-2 decision between Ian and Jennifer, they performed a fire-building challenge; as the loser of the challenge, Jennifer was eliminated.
• Ian - After spending nearly 12 hours on a buoy, Ian made a deal with Tom that if Ian stepped down, Tom would take Katie to the final two. Ian felt guilty for all the wrongs he had committed to Tom, and said that he wanted to leave without that burden. After Ian stepped down, an impromptu tribal council was held, in which Tom simply spoke his vote for Ian, and he was voted off.
• Katie - While she appeared to be more honest and less rehearsed in her responses, Katie was clearly viewed by most of the tribe as a useless and mean-spirited member who got to the final two by riding on Tom and Ian's coattails. She won only Coby's vote.
• Tom - Had the tribe's respect for the most part, and essentially dominated the entire game, winning five out of seven individual challenges. Won in a 6-1 decision with the votes of Ian, Jennifer, Caryn, Gregg, Stephenie, and Janu.

[edit] Voting history

Note 1: The vote was initially tied 2-2 between Angie and Bobby Jon, but after a revote, Angie was unanimously eliminated.
Note 2: Stephenie first voted for Ibrehem, causing a tie; however, in a revote, Stephenie changed her vote and voted for James, sending him home.
Note 3: Neither Stephenie nor Bobby Jon actually voted for each other because if they had voted, they would have both been forced to vote for each other, thus the fire-making challenge was required.
Note 4: Quit the game at Tribal Council.
Note 5: Jennifer and Ian competed in a fire-making challenge similar to that of Stephenie and Bobby Jon's. Ian easily won this challenge, thus sending Jenn home.

[edit] External links

• Official CBS Survivor Palau Website