Survivor: Palau

Survivor: Palau
Season Information
Season No.	10
Filming Dates	October 27, 2004 – December 4, 2004
Season Run	February 17, 2005 – May 15, 2005
Winner	Tom Westman
Viewership (in Millions)	20.91

Survivor: Palau is the tenth season of Survivor. It was filmed in the island-country of Palau in the Micronesia subregion of Oceania. The main theme of the season was the Pacific Theatre of World War II.

This season ended with New York City fire lieutenant Tom Westman defeating advertising executive Katie Gallagher in a 6-1 vote.

Survivor's 10th season earned the show a Primetime Emmy Award nomination in 2005.

Development

Applications were due June 22, 2004. Around 800 applicants were selected for an interview between the latter part of July and August. Out of these 800, 48 were chosen as semi-finalists for an interview in Los Angeles during September. From these semi-finalists, 20 were chosen to participate the show between October to December 2004.

Twists/Changes

• Expanded Cast: This is the first season to feature twenty contestants.
• Schoolyard pick and elimination: The contestants start the game by competing for two individual immunity necklaces awarded to the first man and the first woman to reach them. The winners then pick one member of the opposite sex to join their tribe and add another contestant to it. The last man and the last woman who are not picked are eliminated from the game.
• Double Tribal Council: On one occasion, both tribes have to vote somebody out of the game.
• Tiebreaker challenge: A fire-starting contest is held in case of a tie or if there are only two people left on a tribe.
• No Merge: Ulong was absorbed into its rival tribe after being reduced to only one member.
• Exile Island: Exile Island is introduced for the first time. Used only once as punishment for the first blood of an Immunity Challenge, the exiled contestant is sent to a remote location with minimum supplies to live there for a certain period of time.

Castaways

Contestant		Tribe Affiliation		Finish	Votes Against
		Original Tribe	Absorbed Tribe
File:S10 jonathan t.jpg	Jonathan Libby 23, Dallas, TX	None		Eliminated Day 2	0
File:S10 wanda t.jpg	Wanda Shirk 55, Ulysses, PA
File:S10 jolanda t.jpg	Jolanda Jones 38, Houston, TX	Ulong		1st Voted Out Day 3	6
File:S10 ashlee t.jpg	Ashlee Ashby 22, Easley, SC	Ulong		2nd Voted Out Day 6	6
File:S10 jeff t.jpg	Jeff Wilson 21, Ventura, CA	Ulong		3rd Voted Out Day 8	5
File:S10 kim t.jpg	Kim Mullen 25, Huber Heights, OH	Ulong		4th Voted Out Day 11	8
File:S10 willard t.jpg	Willard Smith 56, Bellevue, WA	Koror		5th Voted Out Day 12	8
File:S10 angie t.jpg	Angie Jakusz 24, New Orleans, LA	Ulong		6th Voted Out Day 12	8
File:S10 james t.jpg	James Miller 33, Mobile, AL	Ulong		7th Voted Out Day 15	7
File:S10 ibrehem t.jpg	Ibrehem Rahman 27, Birmingham, AL	Ulong		8th Voted Out Day 18	4
File:S10 bobbyjon t.jpg	Bobby Jon Drinkard 27, Troy, AL	Ulong		Eliminated Day 21	2
File:S10 coby t.jpg	Coby Archa 32, Dallas, TX	Koror	Koror	9th Voted Out 1st Jury Member Day 24	7
	Janu Tornell 39, Las Vegas, NV	Koror		Quit 2nd Jury Member Day 27	1
File:S10 stephenie t.jpg	Stephenie LaGrossa 24, 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
File:S10 caryn t.jpg	Caryn Groedel 46, Solon, OH	Koror		12th Voted Out 5th Jury Member Day 36	7
File:S10 jenn t.jpg	Jenn Lyon 32, Encino, CA	Koror		13th Voted Out 6th Jury Member Day 37	3
File:S10 ian t.jpg	Ian Rosenberger 23, Key Largo, FL	Koror		14th Voted Out 7th Jury Member Day 38	5
File:S10 katie t.jpg	Katie Gallagher 29, Merced, CA	Koror		Runner-Up	1
File:S10 tom t.jpg	Tom Westman 40, Sayville, NY	Koror		Sole Survivor	0

Season Summary

The twenty contestants began the game by rowing to the beach they would live on, with the first player of each gender to reach shore winning Immunity. However, once ashore, they received no additional instructions nor were divided into tribes, and began to work on a common shelter. The next day, Jeff Probst announced that they would now pick tribes via a school-yard pick, with those who had won immunity getting to choose first. The last man and woman remaining would immediately leave the game. Eventually, Jonathan Libby and Wanda Shirk did not get picked, and were sent home. The two tribes, Koror and Ulong, then participated in the first Reward/Immunity challenge, with the winner, Koror, deciding to leave their present beach to another one they had not seen.

On paper, it seemed that the young and athletic Ulong tribe had an advantage over the old and slower Koror tribe, but Ulong's lack of teamwork found themselves lose every Immunity Challenge in the first 21 days, decimating them down to a paltry tribe of two: Stephenie LaGrossa and Bobby Jon Drinkard, who faced each other off in a fire-making challenge, with the former emerging victorious. After spending the night alone, she was instructed to travel to camp Koror, and was given a Koror buff, thus having no merge.

Koror developed a core group of five: Tom Westman, Ian Rosenberger, Gregg Carey, Jenn Lyon, and Katie Gallagher, and those on the outside saw them as a threat but were not able to break them. Despite making an immediate strong impression on her new tribe, Stephenie was targeted due to her strength and tenacity. She was able to buy herself some time when the Koror alliance decided to get rid of Coby Archa. A twist sent Janu Tornell, the first to bail from the next Immunity Challenge, to a secluded island where she had to be alone. Tornell found the experience liberating, and decided to quit the game at the next Tribal Council, effectively sparing Stephenie from being voted out. Stephenie's run lasted for only one more round, as she was finally sent home after not winning Immunity or being able to break Koror's bond.

With only Koror members remaining, Tom and Ian worried that they would fall against a potential Immunity threat, Gregg, and his close ally Jenn, and plotted with Caryn Groedel and Katie to vote him out when they had the chance. Katie, feeling betrayed by Ian, became even more distraught when Ian took Tom with him on a reward instead of her as he had promised. Ian attempted to make amends, but Katie still held bad feelings towards him. After eliminating Caryn from the game, the final four opted to allow the next vote to end in a tie between Jenn and Ian. In the subsequent fire-making challenge, it was Ian who prevailed.

At the Final Immunity Challenge, which ran for 12 hours, Ian decided to step down after being burdened by his numerous deceptions. He asked Tom, who won the challenge, to vote him out, making him the final member of the jury. 

At the Final Tribal Council, Tom was lauded for his leadership that led Koror to a clean Immunity Challenge sweep, but was barbed for his machismo. Katie on the other hand was appreciated for her honesty, but was more heavily berated for her poor challenge performances, being gossipy and mean towards others beside Tom and Ian. In the end, Tom won the title of Sole Survivor in a 6-1 landslide.

Episode Guide

Episode		Air date	Challenges		Eliminated (vote)	Finish	Viewers (in millions)	Ratings/Share (18-49)
			Reward	Immunity
1	"This Has Never Happened Before!"	February 17, 2005	None	Ian	Jonathan (no vote)1	Eliminated Day 2	23.66	9.1/23
				Jolanda	Wanda (no vote)1	Eliminated Day 2
			Koror2		Jolanda (6-3)	1st Voted Out Day 3
2	"Love Is in the Air, Rats Are Everywhere"	February 24, 2005	Ulong	Koror	Ashlee (6-1-1)	2nd Voted Out Day 6	21.64	7.9/20
3	"Dangerous Creatures and Horrible Setbacks"	March 3, 2005	Ulong	Koror	Jeff (4-2-1)	3rd Voted Out Day 8	21.80	8.5/N/A
4	"Sumo at Sea"	March 10, 2005	Koror	Koror	Kim (5-1)	4th Voted Out Day 11	21.80	8.1/22
5	"The Best and Worst Reward Ever"	March 16, 2005	Koror		Willard (8-1)	5th Voted Out Day 12	18.42	6.9/19
				[Ibrehem]3	Angie (2-2-1; 3-0)4	6th Voted Out Day 12
6	"Jellyfish 'n Chips"	March 23, 2005	Ulong	Koror	James (2-2; 2-0)4	7th Voted Out Day 15	19.15	7.3/19
7	"The Great White Shark Hunter"	March 31, 2005	Koror	Koror	Ibrehem (2-1)	8th Voted Out Day 18	20.89	7.7/21
8	"Neanderthal Man"	April 7, 2005	Koror	Koror	Bobby Jon (no vote)5	Eliminated Day 21	19.75	7.0/20
9	"I Will Not Give Up"	April 14, 2005	None	Tom	Coby (7-1-1)	9th Voted Out 1st Jury Member Day 24	20.0	7.4/23
10	"Exile Island"	April 21, 2005	Caryn, Gregg, Janu, Tom	Tom	Janu (no vote)	Quit 2nd Jury Member Day 27	18.66	6.8/20
11	"I'll Show You How Threatening I Am"	April 28, 2005	Survivor Auction	Ian	Stephenie (6-1)	10th Voted Out 3rd Jury Member Day 30	21.21	7.8/20
12	"We'll Make You Pay"	May 5, 2005	Gregg [Jenn, Katie]	Ian	Gregg (4-2)	11th Voted Out 4th Jury Member Day 33	20.07	7.1/21
13	"It Could All Backfire"	May 12, 2005	Ian [Tom]	Tom	Caryn (4-1)	12th Voted Out 5th Jury Member Day 36	19.3	7.1/21
14	"The Ultimate Shock"	May 15, 2005	None	Tom	Jenn (2-2; 1-1; tiebreaker)4,6	Eliminated 6th Jury Member Day 37	20.80	7.8/18
				Tom	Ian (1-0)	13th Voted Out 7th Jury Member Day 38
			Jury Vote		Katie (6-1)	Runner-Up
					Tom (6-1)	Sole Survivor
15	"Reunion"						16.72	6.5/16
Notes: ^1 Due to not being picked by the initial tribes, Jonathan and Wanda were automatically eliminated. ^2 Combined Reward and Immunity Challenge. ^3 The Koror tribe voted to give individual immunity to a member of Ulong. Ibrehem was granted immunity in a 3-2-2-1 vote. ^4 The vote resulted in a tie. Per Survivor rules, a revote would commence. ^5 With Ulong having only two members, a fire-making challenge was held to determine the elimination, which Bobby Jon lost. ^6 Per Survivor rules, in case of a deadlock tie at the final four, a fire-making challenge would be held between the tied players.

Voting History

Survivor: Palau Voting History
		Tribe Selection		Original Tribes											Jury Phase
Episode #:		1			2	3	4	5			6		7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14
Eliminated:		File:S10 jonathan t.jpg Jonathan	File:S10 wanda t.jpg Wanda	File:S10 jolanda t.jpg Jolanda	File:S10 ashlee t.jpg Ashlee	File:S10 jeff t.jpg Jeff	File:S10 kim t.jpg Kim	File:S10 willard t.jpg Willard	File:S10 angie t.jpg Angie		File:S10 james t.jpg James		File:S10 ibrehem t.jpg Ibrehem	File:S10 bobbyjon t.jpg Bobby Jon	File:S10 coby t.jpg Coby	Janu	File:S10 stephenie t.jpg Stephenie	Gregg	File:S10 caryn t.jpg Caryn	File:S10 jenn t.jpg Jenn		File:S10 ian t.jpg Ian	File:S10 katie t.jpg Katie	File:S10 tom t.jpg Tom
Vote:		No Vote		6-3	6-1-1	4-2-1	5-1	8-1	2-2-1	3-0	2-2	2-0	2-1	No Vote	7-1-1	No Vote	6-1	4-2	4-1	2-2	1-1	1-0	6-1
►	Tom	—		—	—	—	—	Willard	—		—		—	—	Coby	—	Stephenie	Gregg	Caryn	Ian	Ian	Ian	Jury Vote
►	Katie	—		—	—	—	—	Willard	—		—		—	—	Coby	—	Stephenie	Gregg	Caryn	Jenn	Jenn	—
►	Ian	—		—	—	—	—	Willard	—		—		—	—	Coby	—	Stephenie	Gregg	Caryn	Jenn	None	—		Tom
►	Jenn	—		—	—	—	—	Willard	—		—		—	—	Coby	—	Stephenie	Caryn	Caryn	Ian	None			Tom
►	Caryn	—		—	—	—	—	Willard	—		—		—	—	Coby	—	Stephenie	Gregg	Ian					Tom
►	Gregg	—		—	—	—	—	Willard	—		—		—	—	Coby	—	Stephenie	Caryn						Tom
►	Stephenie	—		Jolanda	Ashlee	Jeff	Kim	—	Bobby Jon	Angie	Ibrehem	James	Ibrehem	—	Coby	—	Caryn							Tom
►	Janu	—		—	—	—	—	Willard	—		—		—	—	Stephenie	Quit								Tom
►	Coby	—		—	—	—	—	Willard	—		—		—	—	Janu								Katie
	Bobby Jon	—		Angie	Ashlee	Kim	Kim	—	Angie	None	James	James	Ibrehem	Eliminated
	Ibrehem	—		Angie	Kim	Jeff	Kim	—	James	Angie	James	None	Stephenie
	James	—		Jolanda	Ashlee	Kim	Kim	—	Angie	Angie	Ibrehem	None
	Angie	—		Jolanda	Ashlee	Jeff	Kim	—	Bobby Jon	None
	Willard	—		—	—	—	—	Katie
	Kim	—		Jolanda	Ashlee	Jeff	James
	Jeff	—		Jolanda	Ashlee	James
	Ashlee	—		Jolanda	Jeff
	Jolanda	—		Angie
	Wanda	Eliminated
	Jonathan

Notes:

• Jonathan and Wanda were automatically eliminated due to not being selected on a schoolyard pick.
• With only Stephenie and Bobby Jon remaining a fire-making challenge was held to determine the elimination.
• With Ian and Jenn tied at the revote, a fire-making challenge was held to determine the elimination.

Reception

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Trivia

The unused buff supposedly for the merged tribe.

• For the first time in the series' history, one tribe "conquered" the other by winning every single Immunity Challenge and absorbing the other tribe's last remaining member. Had Koror and Ulong merged, their tribe color would have been green.
• This is the only season where the pre-Jury boots outnumbered those who reach the Jury phase.
• It is the first season of US version of Survivor to have a cast of twenty.
• Palau is the first season to eliminate three castaways in one episode. Jonathan and Wanda were eliminated in the schoolyard pick, while Jolanda was voted out the day after in a standard Tribal Council scenario.
• This is the last season to not have a Hidden Immunity Idol.
• This season marks the first time to have a tie since Survivor: Marquesas due to the players' concern regarding the controversial purple rock tiebreaker. In Survivor: Samoa, Jeff Probst confirmed that the rock-pulling tiebreaker only applies in votes outside the final four, whereas in a final four situation, the contestants are to compete in a fire-starting challenge. 
• This season ties with Survivor: Caramoan for having the most tie votes, with three.
• Palau is the only season to have two fire making challenges occur.
• The font used for the tribes and Palau subtitle is "Stencil."
• Palau is the first season to have Exile Island. However, Exile Island was only used for one episode. Survivor: Panama was the first season to use it as a full season twist.
• Palau is the first season where contestants were eliminated before Day 3.
• With this season having no merged tribe, Palau has the fewest number of tribes, with two.
• The season's Tribal Council set was a decorated with actual World War II relics such as fallen aircraft, weapons, bags of cement and barbed wires. The set took eight weeks to build, took 25 tons of cement, 14 tons of rubble and a thousand bags of sand.
• Ulong and Koror's camps would be used by the Malakal and Airai tribes respectively years later, in Survivor: Micronesia.