Survivor: Palau is the tenth installment of the reality hit Survivor. A preview of it was shown on the reunion of Survivor: Vanuatu. Survivor: Palau premiered on February 17, 2005. The players of this season are available to be viewed on the official website.

Contestants

The competition was increased to twenty contestants for this series.

After Ulong was reduced to one tribe member, Stephenie was given a map to Koror, and upon arrival was given a Koror buff. While many viewers do not see this as a "merge", it was described as such by the producers in the show.

• Note 1 - Two players were eliminated in a tribal selection process. The contestants were told that the first man and first woman to initially reach the beach would receive individual immunity. Ian and Jolanda won the immunity and were given the responsibility of picking teams. Only 18 people could go into the two tribes; Jonathan and Wanda were the only ones left, and were eliminated immediately. Subsequently, the immunities that Jolanda and Ian had won were nullified.
• Note 2 - On Day 12, both tribes went to Tribal Council. Koror, by winning the 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 - Due to Ulong having 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 the other players with her singing. Jonathan apparently was too individualistic - he swam to shore when others stayed together in the boat and didn't attempt to form any alliances with other players.
• Jolanda - Eliminated for causing the tribe to lose the challenge, and for being bossy.
• Ashlee - Eliminated after asking to be (not shown on the show, but later revealed in interviews). Also for being solitary, and for refusing food, which caused her to be viewed as the weakest player on her tribe.

• 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 quit, per se. He asked to be voted off, but unlike Osten, he still received votes and had votes cast for others.)
• Kim - Eliminated for being lazy, and not really contributing to the tribe.
• 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 never got the chance to.
• 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 revote, she was unanimously eliminated. Her elimination was likely a result of the fact that she and her ally Stephenie had not chosen a back-up target to vote out.
• James - A combination of his poor performance in the previous challenge, and a budding alliance between Stephenie and Bobby Jon, were the causes of James' elimination. 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, with the tribe as small as it was, his elimination was probably just 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 - Lost the immunity challenge described above.
• Coby - Was presumably voted out for excessive scheming, and making it obvious he thought he was on top of the game. He was also promoting dissent among the remaining players by openly talking about the various alliances and frictions that existed. Was also a strong threat for physical or mental challenges.

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 (so far):

First Episode

• The first Survivor to start with 20 Survivors.
• The first to have two Survivors that were never part of a tribe (Wanda and Jonathan).
• The first to have three Survivors leave in the first episode (Wanda, Jonathan, and Jolanda, who was voted off first).
• Ibrehem of Ulong is the first Muslim contestant to be on Survivor.
• Jolanda was the first Survivor castaway ever to win an Immunity Challenge and then be voted off in the same episode after her tribe lost a subsequent Immunity Challenge.
• Jolanda was the first African-American to be voted off in the first episode of a season.

Ulong

• Ulong has performed the worst in pre-merge challenges of any tribe in series history, losing all eight.
• The eighth episode of the season marked the first time in which a challenge decided who would be leaving the game, because Ulong went to Tribal Council with only two members.
• Ulong was reduced to the smallest tribe in Survivor history, at one member.

Koror

• In Episode 5, for the first time both tribes were required to go to Tribal Council and vote out a member regardless of which tribe won the challenge.
• As Willard of Koror is voted off in that episode before the 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. (In Pearl Islands, Rupert was given the choice to stay with Morgan and partake in thier reward, or go back to Drake; he decided to go back to Drake.)

Miscellaneous

• Palau has now had three castaways (Wanda, Jonathan, and Bobby Jon) eliminated from the game without a Tribal Council vote, a series record.
• The first season where the new merged tribe retained the name and buff color of one of the original tribes.

External links

• Zap2It Article on Ulong's losing streak