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Survivor: Palau

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Template:Infobox Television Survivor 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 contestants all spent the first night together tribeless, then on Day 2 the first woman and the first man to win the Individual Immunity the previous day would start the selection process by picking a person of the opposite sex. The newly selected member would select another person of the opposite sex, and the process would be repeated. The last two people left were eliminated. A total of three, including the traditional tribal council vote-off on Day 3, were eliminated in the first episode.

When the Ulong tribe 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.

Contestants

Contestant Original Tribe "Merged" Tribe Finish Total Votes
Jonathan Libby
23, Dallas, TX
none
Eliminated
Day 2
0
Wanda Shirk
55, Ulysses, PA
none
Eliminated
Day 2
0
Jolanda Jones
39, Houston, TX
Ulong 1st Voted Out
Day 3
6
Ashlee Ashby
22, Easley, SC
Ulong 2nd Voted Out
Day 6
6
Jeff Wilson
21, Ventura, CA
Ulong 3rd Voted Out
Day 8
5
Kim Mullen
25, Huber Heights, OH
Ulong 4th Voted Out
Day 11
8
Willard Smith
57, Bellevue, WA
Koror 5th Voted Out
Day 12
8
Angie Jakusz
24, New Orleans, Louisiana
Ulong 6th Voted Out
Day 12
8
James Miller
33, Mobile, AL
Ulong 7th Voted Out
Day 15
7
Ibrehem Rahman
27, Birmingham, AL
Ulong 8th Voted Out
Day 18
4
Bobby Jon Drinkard
27, Troy, AL
Ulong Eliminated by Tie-breaker
Day 21
2
Coby Archa
32, Dallas, TX
Koror Koror 9th Voted Out
1st Jury Member
Day 24
7
Janu Tornell
39, Las Vegas, NV
Koror Quit 11th
2nd Jury Member
Day 27
1
Stephenie LaGrossa
25, Glenolden, PA
Ulong 10th Voted Out
3rd Jury Member
Day 30
8
Gregg Carey
27, Chicago, IL
Koror 11th Voted Out
4th Jury Member
Day 33
4
Caryn Groedel
46, Solon, OH
Koror 12th Voted Out
5th Jury Member
Day 36
7
Jennifer Lyon
32, Encino, CA
Koror 13th Voted Out
6th Jury Member
Day 37
3
Ian Rosenberger
23, Key Largo, FL
Koror 14th Voted Out
7th Jury Member
Day 38
5
Katie Gallagher
29, Merced, CA
Koror Runner-Up 1
Tom Westman
41, Sayville, NY
Koror Sole Survivor 0

The Game

Challenges
Episode Title Air Date Reward Immunity Eliminated Vote Finish
This Has Never Happened Before! 2005-02-17
None
Ian
Jonathan
No
Vote
Eliminated
Day 21
Jolanda
Wanda
No
Vote
Eliminated
Day 21
Koror
Jolanda
6-3 1st Voted Out
Day 3
Love is in the Air,
Rats Are Everywhere
2005-02-24
Ulong
Koror
Ashlee
6-1-1 2nd Voted Out
Day 6
Dangerous Creatures and
Horrible Setbacks
2005-03-03
Ulong
Koror
Jeff
4-2-1 3rd Voted Out
Day 6
Sumo at Sea 2005-03-10
Koror
Koror
Kim
5-1 4th Voted Out
Day 11
The Best and Worst Reward Ever 2005-03-16
Koror
Ibrehem
Willard
8-1 5th Voted Out
Day 122
Angie
Tie 6th Voted Out
Day 122
Jellyfish 'N Chips 2005-03-23
Ulong
Koror
James
Tie 7th Voted Out
Day 15
The Great White Shark Hunter 2005-03-31
Koror
Koror
Ibrehem
2-1 8th Voted Out
Day 18
Neanderthal Man 2005-04-07
Koror
Koror
Bobby Jon
No
Vote
Eliminated 9th
Day 213
I Will Not Give Up 2005-04-14
None
Tom
Coby
7-1-1 10th Voted Out
Day 24
Exile Island 2005-04-21
Tom, Caryn,
Gregg, Janu
Tom
Janu
No
Vote
Quit 11th
Day 27
I'll Show You How Threatening I Am 2005-04-28
Survivor Auction
Ian
Stephenie
6-1 12th Voted Out
Day 30
We'll Make You Pay 2005-05-05
Gregg
[Jennifer, Katie]
Ian
Gregg
4-2 13th Voted Out
Day 33
It Could All Backfire 2005-05-12
Ian
[Tom]
Tom
Caryn
4-1 14th Voted Out
Day 36
The Ultimate Shock 2005-05-15
None
Tom
Jennifer
Tie 15th Eliminated
Day 37
Tom
Ian
1-0 16th Voted Out
Day 38
The Reunion 2005-05-15 Jury Vote
Katie
6-1 Runner-Up
Tom
Sole Survivor
  • 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.

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.
  • 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 of 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 came up short and 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 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 Jenn 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. (This is puzzling, because it is fair to assume that the Koror tribe had been informed of the fire-building challenge between Stephenie and Bobby Jon, either by Stephenie herself or by Jeff Probst. It would seem that they were never expressly informed that the "Purple Rock" tie-breaker was no longer in use.)
  • 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 Jenn, they performed a fire-building challenge, and loser Jenn 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, Jenn, Caryn, Gregg, Stephenie, and Janu.

Voting Chart

This is a chart of the voting history of all the tribe members, and their results.

On the graph, blue represents a member of Ulong, while brown represents a member of Koror. After someone has been eliminated, their future squares will be black.


Starting Tribes "Merged" Tribe
Episode: Episode 1 Episode 2 Episode 3 Episode 4 Episode 5 Episode 6 Episode 7 Episode 8 Episode 9 Episode 10 Episode 11 Episode 12 Episode 13 Episode 14 Runner-up Sole Survivor
Eliminated: Jolanda
6/9 votes
Ashlee
6/8 votes
Jeff
4/7 votes
Kim
5/6 votes
Willard
8/9 votes
James
2/4 votes
2
Ibrehem
2/3 votes
Bobby Jon
Elimination Challenge 3
Coby
7/9 votes
Janu
No vote 4
Stephenie
6/7 votes
Gregg
4/6 votes
Caryn
4/5 votes
Jennifer
2/4 votes 5
Ian
1 vote
Katie
1/7 votes
Tom
6/7 votes
Angie
2/5 votes
1
Voter Vote
Tom
Willard
Coby
Stephenie
Gregg
Caryn
Ian
Ian
Jury Vote
Katie
Willard
Coby
Stephenie
Gregg
Caryn
Jennifer
Ian
Willard
Coby
Stephenie
Gregg
Caryn
Jennifer
Tom
Jennifer
Willard
Coby
Stephenie
Caryn
Caryn
Ian
Tom
Caryn
Willard
Coby
Stephenie
Gregg
Ian
Tom
Gregg
Willard
Coby
Stephenie
Caryn
Tom
Stephenie
Jolanda
Ashlee
Jeff
Kim
Bobby-Jon
Ibrehem
Ibrehem
Coby
Caryn
Tom
Janu
Willard
Stephenie
Tom
Coby
Willard
Janu
Katie
Bobby Jon
Angie
Ashlee
Kim
Kim
Angie
James
Ibrehem
Ibrehem
Angie
Kim
Jeff
Kim
James
James
Stephenie
James
Jolanda
Ashlee
Kim
Kim
Angie
Ibrehem
Angie
Jolanda
Ashlee
Jeff
Kim
Bobby Jon
Willard
Katie
Kim
Jolanda
Ashlee
Jeff
James
Jeff
Jolanda
Ashlee
James
Ashlee
Jolanda
Jeff
Jolanda
Angie

Template:Fnb The vote was initially tied 2-2 between Angie and Bobby Jon, but after a revote, Angie was unanimously eliminated.
Template:Fnb Stephenie first voted for Ibrehem, causing a tie; however, in a revote, Stephenie changed her vote and voted for James, sending him home.
Template:Fnb 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.
Template:Fnb Quit the game at Tribal Council.
Template:Fnb Jennifer and Ian competed in a fire-making challenge similar to that of Stephenie and Bobby Jon's. Ian won this challenge easily, thus sending Jenn home.

Trivia and Survivor Firsts

In a pre-show interview, host Jeff Probst stated that this season of Survivor would feature the most "Survivor firsts" ever.

Among the firsts this season:

General Firsts

  • The first Survivor to have 20 castaways.
  • The first to have two Survivors that were never part of a tribe (Wanda and Jonathan).
  • The first to have any Survivors last fewer than three days (Wanda and Jonathan were eliminated on Day 2).
  • The first to have three Survivors leave in an episode (Wanda and Jonathan, and Jolanda, who was voted off first).
  • The first time someone was not allowed to partake in a reward their tribe had won. (Willard was voted off before Koror got to eat their beef stew.)
  • Ibrehem of Ulong is the first contestant of Muslim faith to be on Survivor.
  • Jolanda was the first Survivor castaway ever to win Immunity and be voted off in the same episode. The Immunity that she won was only good until Day 2, when the tribes were selected.
  • The first time four contestants quit the game in one season. (Ashlee & Jeff, asked to be voted out; Janu, voluntarily quit; Ian, promised Tom he would step down if he took Katie to the Final 2.) In addition, Willard knew about his ouster beforehand and did nothing about it.
  • The first Survivor to have no merge color (which would have been green). With Stephenie being the sole Ulong in the core group, she was merely absorbed into the Koror.
  • Stephenie was the highest-ranking Ulong, at seventh. The Koror are the first tribe to place more than five members in all of the top spots.
  • The first season in which a whole tribe won all of the tribal immunity challenges, and a member of the same tribe won each of the individual immunity challenges.
  • Tom is the first player to win more than 5 individual challenges and become sole survivor.
  • Ian is the first ever person to get voted out outside Tribal Council.

Ulong

  • Ulong (OOH-long) performed worst in challenges of any tribe in Survivor history at the time, losing all eight immunity challenges and four out of seven reward challenges. This makes Ulong the first tribe to lose all immunity challenges. As a result, the name of the tribe has achieved verb status in Survivor lore, to indicate a tribe that is repeatedly defeated for immunity. This record would later be broken on Survivor: Fiji, in which Moto defeated Ravu in all eight immunity challenges and all but one of the reward challenges, though this records includes the tribes before and after a tribal swap. As well, Ravu was kept in far more severe conditions than Moto, while Ulong and Koror were kept on equal footing.
  • For the first time, a tribe was reduced to one member. Stephenie was Ulong's sole member.

Ulong as a verb

  • The original tribes were selected using a 'schoolyard' pick approach, with the two immunity winners selecting one person of the opposite gender, and then that person selecting the next person by the same means until each team had 9 players. By this selection method, only two of Ulong's members were over the age of 30; none were over 40. When they were formed, they believed their youth and strength would work to their total advantage. However, the opposing tribe (with only three members in their 20s) valued wisdom and teamwork and used it to score the first tribal sweep in Survivor history. As the article in the link indicates, "ulonging" is now used to describe a prolonged losing streak.

Koror

  • Koror is the first tribe in Survivor history to have brown as its tribal color and to win every single immunity challenge. However, it did lose three reward challenges.
  • As Willard of Koror is voted off in that Episode 5 before his reward food is served, this marks the first time ever that a member of a tribe that has won a Reward Challenge does not get to partake in the reward without choosing to do so. The same thing later occurred in Episode 6 of Survivor - Cook Islands. Aitutaki won a similar reward challenge, with Cao Boi being voted out before the reward (in this case lamb shanks and cider) was given. (In Pearl Islands, Rupert was given the choice to stay with Morgan and partake in their reward, or go back to Drake; he decided to go back to Drake.)
  • The final six members are all from the same original tribe.
  • Koror is also the first tribe in Survivor history to be named after a city- Koror, Palau.

Miscellaneous

  • Palau had six castaways (Wanda, Jonathan, Bobby Jon, Janu, Katie, and Tom) finish without being voted out; a series record. Bobby Jon did get voted out, however, in Survivor: Guatemala.
  • Janu became the first player to quit the competition and to still be allowed to make a goodbye speech during the closing credits. She quit the game because she said she got everything she could out of the experience while on Exile Island. She is also the first contestant to quit the game during the jury phase of the game and was still a juror even though she quit.
  • Janu became the first player alone to be "exiled" from their tribe, and to be left on a separate island for a night. She intentionally dropped out of the previous challenge because she wanted to be on Exile Island. Before, in Survivor: Pearl Islands, when Jon won a reward challenge (by lying to the others about his grandmother's death), the rest of the members were exiled to another island. This became the theme of the show two seasons later, Survivor: Panama - Exile Island.
  • The first time a tribal council vote was not held at the Tribal Council area.
  • The record for most votes cast in a single episode (episode 5)
    • 9 Koror TC votes
    • 8 Koror immunity votes for Ulong
    • 5 Ulong TC votes
    • 3 Ulong tiebreaker votes
  • The first time a tribal council vote was cast verbally, without the player(s) writing down their votes.
  • Jenn was not shown speaking until the fourth episode, a record for the show.
  • The first time both African American contestants (as almost each season of Survivor up until this point has coincidentally had only two African American contestants as part of the cast) held individual immunity in one season.
  • The endurance challenge on Day 38 is the longest-lasting challenge in Survivor history, at 11 hours and 55 minutes.
  • With three, this season marks the largest amount of ties at tribal council in a season. Before Palau, there had not been a tie since Marquesas.
  • Stephenie attended all tribal councils in the game (whether as a player or as a jury member) except Koror's tribal council at which Willard was voted out, and the impromptu tribal council at the final immunity challenge, giving her the record for the most tribal councils attended by a single player in one season.
  • The two tribes were named for Koror Island and Ulong Island, two islands in the Palau Islands. The Koror tribe camp was ironically located on Ulong Island (where they went following their first immunity win).
  • Tom, Ian, Jolanda, and Ibrehem were the only people to win individual immunity during the entire season. During Episode 1, Ian and Jolanda won the individual immunity by being the first man and woman to reach the shore (later in the episode, they started off the tribal selection during the schoolyard pick 'em). Ibrehem didn't technically "win" individual immunity, but possessed it during episode 5 when Koror voted for him to have it. After the merge, only Tom and Ian were the only winners of individual immunity (Tom won five, Ian won two).
  • The first tie-breaker challenge involved with fire where the first player to have the flame just touching the torch (which would light up immediately) won the challenge. The second and final tie-breaker challenge was the same except it required both players to have a flame that would last long enough to burn the rope and raise a flag to win that challenge. This second tie-breaker challenge would be used in future seasons of Survivor should any ties occur.
  • Ian stated he would take his clothes off for chocolate and peanut butter during the first individual immunity challenge. This is a reference to Survivor: The Amazon's Heidi Strobel and winner Jenna Morasca, who did take off their clothes for chocolate (Oreo Cookies) and peanut butter.