Survivor: Palau is the tenth season of the American CBS competitive reality television series Survivor. The season filmed from November 1, 2004, through December 9, 2004, and premiered on February 17, 2005. Filming took place in Koror, Palau. Hosted by Jeff Probst, it consisted of the usual 39 days of gameplay with 20 competitors, the most the series had ever begun with up to that point.
Fire lieutenant Tom Westman defeated advertising executive Katie Gallagher in a 6–1 jury vote to become the Sole Survivor.
Format
Survivor is a reality television show created by Mark Burnett and Charlie Parsons and based on the Swedish show Expedition Robinson. The series follows a number of participants who are isolated in a remote location, where they must provide food, fire, and shelter for themselves. Every three days, one participant is removed from the series by majority vote, with challenges being held to give a reward (ranging from living and food-related prizes to a car) and immunity from being voted off the show. The last remaining player is awarded a prize of $1,000,000.
Contestants
The two tribes were named Ulong (named after Ulong Island, one of Palau's tourist spots) and Koror (named after the capital city of Palau at the time). This was the first (and only) season in Survivor history not to have a merged tribe.
Notable contestants include Miss USA 2002 competitor and Miss Ohio USA 2002 Kim Mullen, Actress Jennifer Lyon, and eventual Texas House of Representatives member, Jolanda Jones.
+List of Survivor: Palau contestantsContestantAgeFrom Tribe Finish Original Absorbed Placement Day 23 Dallas,Texas rowspan="2" EliminatedDay 2 55 Ulysses,Pennsylvania 38 Houston,Texas rowspan="4" 1st voted out Day 3 22 Easley,South Carolina 2nd voted out Day 6 21 Ventura,California 3rd voted out Day 8 25 Huber Heights,Ohio 4th voted out Day 11 56 Bellevue,Washington 5th voted outDay 12 24 New Orleans,Louisiana rowspan="4" 6th voted out 33 Mobile,Alabama 7th voted out Day 15 27 Birmingham,Alabama 8th voted out Day 18 27 Troy,Alabama Eliminated Day 21 32 Athens,Texas rowspan="2" rowspan=9 9th voted out1st jury member Day 24 39 Las Vegas,Nevada Quit2nd jury member Day 27 24 Toms River,New Jersey 10th voted out3rd jury member Day 30 27 Chicago,Illinois rowspan="6" 11th voted out4th jury member Day 33 46 Solon,Ohio 12th voted out5th jury member Day 36 32 Encino,California Eliminated6th jury member Day 37 23 Ambridge,Pennsylvania 14th voted out7th jury member Day 38 29 Merced,California Runner-upDay 39 40 Sayville,New York Sole Survivor
Future appearances Bobby Jon Drinkard and Stephenie LaGrossa competed again in Survivor: Guatemala. LaGrossa and Tom Westman competed in Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains on the Heroes tribe. LaGrossa also competed on Survivor 50: In the Hands of the Fans.
Outside of Survivor, LaGrossa competed on the USA Network reality competition series Snake in the Grass. LaGrossa also competed on the first season of the Peacock reality TV series The Traitors.
Season summary
The twenty players began the game by rowing a boat to shore, with the first player of each gender to reach shore to win immunity. The next day, Jeff Probst announced that they would now pick tribes via a schoolyard pick, with those who had won immunity getting first pick. In addition, the last male and female remaining would immediately leave the game. 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.
As the challenges continued, it quickly became apparent that Ulong was the weaker tribe, while strong leadership by Tom and Ian at Koror kept the tribe intact. Ulong would win no immunity challenges and few reward challenges, and Koror's only visit to tribal council was the result of a double-elimination twist. Stephenie and Bobby Jon, the last two members of Ulong, lost the final tribal immunity challenge. Since they were unable to vote, the two faced off in a fire-making challenge with Stephenie emerging victorious. After spending the night alone, she was instructed to travel to Koror, and was absorbed into their tribe.
Koror developed a core group of five – Tom, Ian, Gregg, Jenn, and Katie – and those on the outside saw them as a threat but were unable to break them. Despite making an immediate strong impression on her new tribe, Stephenie was quickly identified as a target due to her strength and for being the outsider. In a twist that would eventually lead to its use in later seasons, one individual immunity challenge required the first player to drop out to spend a night alone on an isolated island. Janu was exiled and found the experience liberating, choosing to quit the game at the next tribal council, effectively sparing Stephenie from being voted out. However, her safety would not last and Stephenie was subsequently voted out.
With six players remaining, Tom and Ian decided to spare Caryn, the last remaining outsider, instead plotting with her to eliminate Gregg for potentially strengthening a bond with Katie after going on a reward together. Despite voting Gregg out, Katie felt betrayed by Ian, and her feelings worsened 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 harsh feelings towards him. After disposing of Caryn, the final four players opted to allow the next vote to end in a tie between Jenn and Ian, and Ian won the subsequent fire-making challenge.
The final immunity challenge required players to stand on buoys for as long as possible; Katie dropped out early, but both Tom and Ian remained for nearly 12 hours. Ian opted to quit the challenge, conceding immunity to Tom, after Tom played on his remorse for hurting Katie's feelings and breaking his promises to her. Forgoing the usual tribal council, Tom voted Ian out of the game on the spot. At the final tribal council, Tom's leadership and physical ability against Katie's less dominant gameplay led the jury to award Tom the title of Sole Survivor by a vote of 6–1.
+Challenge winners and eliminations by episodeEpisodeChallenge winner(s)EliminatedNo.TitleOriginal air dateRewardImmunityTribePlayer1"This Has Never Happened Before!"February 17, 2005 rowspan="2" Ian rowspan="2" JonathanJolandaWandacolspan="2" Jolanda2"Love is in the Air, Rats Are Everywhere"February 24, 2005Ashlee3"Dangerous Creatures and Horrible Setbacks"March 3, 2005Jeff4"Sumo at Sea"March 10, 2005Kim5"The Best and Worst Reward Ever"March 16, 2005 rowspan="2" WillardAngie6"Jellyfish 'N Chips"March 23, 2005James7"The Great White Shark Hunter"March 31, 2005Ibrehem8"Neanderthal Man"April 7, 2005Bobby Jon9"I Will Not Give Up"April 14, 2005Tom rowspan="7" Coby10"Exile Island"April 21, 2005Caryn, Gregg,Janu, TomTomJanu11"I'll Show You How Threatening I Am"April 28, 2005IanStephenie12"We'll Make You Pay"May 5, 2005Gregg[Jenn, Katie]IanGregg13"It Could All Backfire"May 12, 2005Ian[Tom]TomCaryn14"The Ultimate Shock"May 15, 2005rowspan=2 TomJennTomIan15"The Reunion" In the case of multiple tribes or castaways who win reward or immunity, they are listed in order of finish, or alphabetically where it was a team effort; where one castaway won and invited others, the invitees are in brackets.
Episodes
Voting history
No tribesOriginal tribesAbsorbed tribeEpisode1234567891011121314 Day 2 3 6 8 111215 18 21 24 27 30 33 3637 38 Tribe colspan="2" colspan="2" colspan="2" colspan="3" EliminatedJonathanWandaJolandaAshleeJeffKimWillardAngieJamesIbrehemCobyJanuStephenieGreggCarynJennIan VotesEliminated6–35–18–13–02–22–02–1Challenge7–1–1Quit6–14–24–12–21–1Challenge1–0 VoterVoteTomWillardCobyStephenieGreggCarynIanIanIanKatieWillardCobyStephenieGreggCarynJennJennIanWillardCobyStephenieGreggCarynJennJennWillardCobyStephenieCarynCarynIanCarynWillardCobyStephenieGreggIanGreggWillardCobyStephenieCarynStephenieJolandaAshleeJeffKimAngieIbrehemJamesIbrehemCobyCarynJanuWillardStephenieCobyWillardJanuAngieAshleeKimKimAngieJamesJamesIbrehemIbrehemAngieKimJeffKimJamesAngieJamesStephenieJamesJolandaAshleeKimKimAngieAngieIbrehemAngieJolandaAshleeJeffKimWillardKatieKimJolandaAshleeJeffJamesJeffJolandaAshleeJamesAshleeJolandaJeffJolandaAngieWandaEliminatedJonathanEliminated Jury vote 15 Day39 Finalist Tom Katie Vote6–1JurorVoteIanJennCarynGreggStephenieJanuCoby
Reception Survivor: Palau has generally received praise from fans and critics alike, particularly for the gameplay of winner Tom Westman, and such memorable moments as the "bah-bah-buoy" challenge that lasted almost 12 hours (the longest challenge in American Survivor history), as well as the first-ever "tribe of one" in Survivor history. Host Jeff Probst ranked it as his 4th-favorite in 2010, citing the memorability of the buoy challenge and also calling Westman "one of our greatest winners." Andrea Deiher of Zap2it similarly ranked Palau as #4, saying that LaGrossa "became maybe the toughest woman ever to play the game," and called the buoy challenge "the most epic immunity challenge ever." Tom Santilli of Examiner.com ranked it 7th, saying that it "was one of the strongest [seasons], and featured a very memorable overall cast," adding that the "tribe of one" incident "may be one of the saddest moments in history, and cemented Stephanie in the hearts of many fans." Entertainment Weekly'''s Dalton Ross ranked it as the ninth-best season of the series, saying that he "loved watching one tribe decimate the other...the challenges may have been Survivors best ever," and although he claimed that everyone "knew Tom would win from episode 1, it was still gripping nonetheless."
In 2014, Joe Reid of The Wire ranked it 10th, stating that Westman "went pretty much wire-to-wire in barnstorming this season," and played "Perhaps a perfect game," while also noting that "Stephanie and Bobby Jon won our hearts by surviving the longest on the decimated Ulong tribe, the losingest tribe of all time." In 2015, a poll by Rob Has a Podcast ranked Palau 13th out of 30 with Rob Cesternino ranking this season 9th. This was updated in 2021 during Cesternino's podcast, Survivor All-Time Top 40 Rankings, ranking 18th out of 40. Palau was also ranked 13th on "The Purple Rock Podcast," with the summary stating: "Palau has a lot of things going for it: great challenges, a good cast, an interesting way to start the game, and several great story arcs. All of those factors work into an interesting final episode that make the season memorable and result in an excellent winner." In 2020, Inside Survivor ranked this season 17th out of 40 citing "its wholly unique story—a story unlike any other season that came before or after" with the decimation of the Ulong tribe. In 2024, Nick Caruso of TVLine ranked this season 13th out of 47.
In addition to host Probst naming this as one of his favorite seasons, he stated that the final immunity challenge was his favorite immunity challenge from any season. He also said Palau was his favorite filming location. Survivor'' earned a Primetime Emmy Award nomination in 2005.
References
External links Official CBS Survivor Palau Website