Survivor: Palau
Survivor: Palau is the tenth season of the American CBS competitive reality television series Survivor. The season filmed from October 27, 2004, through December 4, 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 ever began with.
For the second time since the series' premiere, the contestants selected the tribes instead of the producers. The self-selection into two tribes of nine left two contestants not chosen and immediately eliminated from the game. The two tribes were named Ulong and Koror. In the game, Koror dominated from the very beginning, winning every immunity challenge and all but three reward challenges. Mid-game, having survived alone at Ulong after the entirety of her tribe had been voted out or eliminated at tribal councils, remaining member Stephenie LaGrossa received a map to Koror. While the players at the finale spoke of this as a merger, the producers have described Palau as the only season without a merge. In the end, fire lieutenant Tom Westman defeated advertising executive Katie Gallagher in a 6–1 jury vote to become the Sole Survivor.
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. The complete season, including the Live Reunion Show, was released on DVD by CBS Home Video on August 29, 2006.
Contestants
| Contestant | Original tribe | Absorbed tribe | Finish |
| ' 23, Dallas, Texas | |||
| ' 55, Ulysses, Pennsylvania | |||
| ' 38, Houston, Texas | |||
| ' 22, Easley, South Carolina | |||
| ' 21, Ventura, California | |||
| ' 25, Huber Heights, Ohio | |||
| ' 56, Bellevue, Washington | |||
| ' 24, New Orleans, Louisiana | |||
| ' 33, Mobile, Alabama | |||
| ' 27, Birmingham, Alabama | |||
| ' 27, Los Angeles, California | |||
| ' 32, Athens, Texas | rowspan=9 | ||
| ' 39, Las Vegas, Nevada | - | ||
| ' 24, Toms River, New Jersey | - | ||
| ' 27, Chicago, Illinois | - | ||
| ' 46, Solon, Ohio | - | ||
| ' † 32, Encino, California | - | ||
| ' 23, Ambridge, Pennsylvania | - | ||
| ' 29, Merced, California | - | ||
| ' 40, Sayville, New York | - |
Future appearances
Bobby Jon Drinkard and Stephenie LaGrossa competed once again the following season, in ', finishing 9th and 2nd. LaGrossa would again compete in ' alongside Tom Westman on the Heroes tribe. LaGrossa finished 19th, while Westman finished 16th.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.