Episode 14, Tom Wins!

Tom wins the final two Immunity challenges. He chooses to take Katie to the final two with him and has a relatively easy appearance before the Jury. Final votes shown: 4 for Tom and 1 for Katie (that's enough, but I suspect he got six of the seven votes).

The final two hour episode of Survivor Palau started with the final four (Tom, Ian, Katie and Jennifer) talking about the last Tribal Council where Caryn snapped.

There wasn't a Reward challenge. Instead the four of them had a memorial ceremony where they took the extinguished torches of the other Survivors and 'buried them at sea.' As each torch was dropped into the ocean they said a few kind words about their former competitor. It was a nice remembrance of all of the Survivors. Also there were some good looking underwater shots of the torches slowly sinking to the bottom of the ocean.

The first Immunity involved intelligence and a little luck. There was a tower and grappling hooks were used to retrieve ropes. Pieces to a puzzle revealed a combination to a lock. Tom won this Immunity.

Back at camp, it is decided that Jennifer will be voted off. This is all done out in the open and Jennifer is reluctantly resigned to her fate. She even hugs everybody. Then Ian says to Tom something like "I don't know if I would have been able to make that decision," (deciding that Jennifer would leave).

This for some reason makes Tom suspicious of Ian. Tom thinks that he was plotting to vote him off. Jennifer smells blood and throws fuel on the fire. "He was plotting against you Tom!" The three of them gang up on poor Ian and accuse him of 'dishonesty.' Ian says that it was just the game and that he was just exploring all options but that he was always loyal to the three of them (him, Tom and Katie). Didn't they also do similar things? (yes) Despite vehement protests and being on the verge of tears, they don't seem to believe Ian.

First Tribal Council
The voting is a tie, two votes for Ian and two for Jennifer. The tie is broken with a fire building challenge. Ian wins, so Jennifer is removed from competition.

Back at camp, Tom lays into Ian again. He tells Ian to be a man and admit that he made a mistake. (I don't think Ian did anything wrong.)

Final Immunity Challenge
This is traditionally an endurance competition and Palau would not break with that custom. Each Survivor was to stand on a tiny platform on top of a buoy in the water. The last one down wins Immunity.

After about five hours or so Katie was the first one to give up. (Who said women usually do better in the endurance challenges?) At around the seventh hour Tom offered Ian a deal: Ian steps down and Tom will take him in the final two with him. Ian doesn't trust him (I wonder why?) and makes the same offer to Tom. Tom also declines the deal.

At just before the twelve hour mark, Ian tells Tom he will give up if the three of them can be friends again and Tom takes Katie to the final two. Yes, you read that correctly. Ian was just giving up and he didn't even want to be in the final two; he just wanted to be friends again!

They then had an impromptu Final Tribal Council. Tom asked Ian again if he wanted him to take Katie to the final two with him. Ian said 'Yes', he just wants to be friends. Tom then said that they would have been friends anyway but now he also respects Ian. (See, all of the senseless brow beating that Tom heaped on Ian earlier really paid off in the final Immunity Challenge.)

Ian is voted off, leaving the Jury to decide whether Tom or Katie wins the one million dollars.

The Jury Questions Tom and Katie.
This was pretty uneventful. Tom played the 'I'm Just an Average Guy Lucky to be Here' role, and he played it well. Katie was a bit stand off-ish. This was really on display when Janu wanted to ask her a question and she refused. Katie said that Janu had already made up her mind to vote for Tom, so why should she bother to answer her question. I think this hurt Katie in the eyes of the rest of the Jury. Some of them looked on in disbelief as Katie declined to respond to Janu. Anyway, Gregg seemed to blame Tom for his demise and Cory was very angry with both of them. Of course when it was Ian's turn it was a love fest. The rest of the jurists asked the standard questions.

Time for the final vote.

The Survivor Reunion
(Held at the Sullivan Theater in New York City.)
Here the votes were revealed in front of a live audience. Four votes for Tom were shown to just one for Katie. That's enough to give the one million dollars to him. I suspect Tom got six of the seven votes. Tom then ran over to hug his wife and family. Tom, a New York City fireman, really had the audience on his side throughout the evening.

The remainder of the reunion was the usual feel good session. Past bad blood was forgotten as everybody reminisced about their time together on the island. Janu admitted that she had already made up her mind to vote for Tom before Katie refused to answer her question. Jeff Probst asked everyone if they thought that he coerced Janu into quitting at Tribal Council. They all agreed that he hadn't done so. Coby revealed that he has adopted a baby girl. As if that wasn't sweet enough, he then said that he's named her Janu after Janu. Coby and Janu then hugged while everyone let out a collective "Ahhh!" I may have missed it, but I don't think that James' stripper wife tried to kick Stephenie's ass, as James stated she would on several occasions.

So ends Survivor Palau. I hope that you enjoyed my little blog. The next Survivor will air in September and it will be set in Guatemala. The Survivors will live amongst ancient Mayan ruins.

I plan on blogging again. My blog for Survivor Guatemala is already started but it is a little sparse right now and I will change the template and its look before the next edition starts.

The URL is: http://survivor11.blogspot.com .

Have a nice summer and I hope to see you in the fall!

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Tom Westman Wins 'Survivor: Palau'

By Derrik J. Lang, Associated Press Writer

At 41, New York City firefighter Tom Westman scorched his competition on "Survivor: Palau" to become the oldest winner of the competitive reality show.

"I played with intensity," the gray-haired Westman told The Associated Press in an interview following his win Sunday at the Ed Sullivan Theater. "I didn't hold back and fly under the radar. I thought I might be able to do that, but they got the real Tom Westman out there."

In a season of "Survivor" firsts, Westman stuck to his day-one alliance with dolphin trainer Ian Rosenberger and advertising executive Katie Gallagher and led the Koror tribe to win every immunity challenge, a feat that's never happened in the past nine seasons of "Survivor."

"Somebody told me recently they stopped coloring their hair after I did so well on the challenges," Westman joked.

Westman, a father of three who lives in Sayville, N.Y., made no secret of his prowess, winning seven individual immunity challenges and staying out of hot water when it came time for players to vote each other off the island. He never received a vote against him.

"When I saw how young the cast was, I thought, `This is gonna be perfect,'" Westman told the AP. "They're not going to know I'm a physical threat until it's too late for them. I didn't get to play that game. I played it hard. I played it as myself. While some people think that may not be too bright strategically, it did work out for me."

Westman is now $1 million richer and the owner of a new car. He said he plans to use the money toward college for his children and fixing up his house.

"I'm going to take care of my family," he said. "We've now got that cushion that most middle-class families don't have. Everything is going to be a little easier, a little sweeter."

The finale wasn't sweet for the three losers. Nanny Jenn Lyon lost during a tiebreaker challenge after Westman learned Rosenberger planned to double-cross him. Then, Rosenberger gave up during the final endurance immunity challenge, insisting Westman take Gallagher to the final two in a show of respect. During the final tribal council, runner-up Gallagher was called "mean" and "lazy."

Following Westman's win, host Jeff Probst announced the next location and title for the eleventh edition of the reality show: "Survivor: Guatemala — The Maya Empire." Probst said the latest batch of survivors will live among Mayan ruins.

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Survivor Live: Caryn

Survivor Live, the Internet Talk Show
Guest: Caryn
Hosts: Dalton Ross (Entertainment Weekly) and
Jenna Morasca, sole survivor Survivor Amazon

Caryn continues to be holier-than-thou by saying that she played with integrity and wouldn't give up so the others, presumedly liars and cheats, had to gang up to vote her off. The BS continued to fly as she says that no one pulled her through the game, that she got as far as she did by being honest and playing the "social" part of the game well. From atop of her dais, Caryn is disappointed with Ian. She said she thought he was a "golden boy" until she recently found out that he was "lying" (I'd say playing the game).

Hypocrisy thy name is Caryn.
She was dishonest on Palau. She admits to not telling the others that she is an lawyer, but in secret she told Willard the truth (on the island, during the game). Perhaps in her line of "work" such sins of omission are allowed and legal. Who knows what else she "lied" about that we aren't aware of.

Caryn get ye a clue.
You were Tom's pawn for a while. He used you for at least the last several weeks, "pulled through" in your vernacular. If Caryn played the "social" part of the game so well then why did she piss off so many people early on? She admits this too when she said that after Willard was voted off she had to get playing the game and be nicer.

Comments about the others.
Tom and Ian are real players because they were willing to resort to picking rocks if necessary. (And I'd say each of them played Caryn as well.) Besides Stephenie this wasn't a strong group of women. She regrets not talking with Coby and telling him to settle on just one or two people for an alliance. (Coby was more of a threat because he was a player, that's why he went so soon. Caryn was a pawn.)

She ends with that standard Survivor cliche: She now has a greater appreciation for everything. However she mixed in that she's now "much richer" than when she started the game. By richer she means spiritually. Nice touch, it's too bad I really don't believe her; her reality distortion field leaves me questioning everything she says. It's amazing, she thinks that people will believe everything she says.

What's next for Caryn? Back to work as a civil rights lawyer. I guess the 'civil rights' part is to soften the 'lawyer' part. She then made a shameless attempt to get on Law and Order or Court TV. I for one hope that she is quickly consigned to the dustbin of Survivor history and that we never ever hear from her again. Did I mention that I don't like her?

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Note: there will be a Survivor Live Monday at 2:00 pm ET with the final four Survivors. Also Dalton and Jenna will do a redcarpet broadcast at CBS.com the night of the final show - hey that's tonight!

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Early Show: Caryn

Caryn is playing the "I played honestly, I have integrity, but they don't" routine. She was angry at all of the deception that was going on. Did she ever watch Survivor before going on the show! That's what Survivor is all about.

Anyway that's why she snapped at Tribal Council. She wanted Katie to know that Tom was plotting against her. (Katie is pretty smart, I'm sure she assumed that already.)

Caryn said that Katie and Jennifer aren't playing to win, they're playing to be runner-up. (Well, guess who also got farther than you Caryn?) She also says that the final four will be determined by the Immunity challenges. (Wow, thanks for that insight.)

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Episode 13, Caryn Gone

Since I missed this episode, Jeff D was kind enough to write up a synopsis for me. Thanks Jeff!

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Right away, Jen knows she's on the block and tries to pull Ian into a 3-way alliance with Katie to take down Tom. This, incidentally, was my prediction as Jen's best move, and to my mind is indicates she can think clearly under pressure. As it turns out, Jen's pressure situation eased considerably after the rewards challenge.

The rewards challenge was a little boring this time, and a little easy to predict that it was only a shoot-out between Tom & Ian. The challenge was to paddle a raft back and forth from the dock to each of 5 buoys, and collect a marker from each one. Each marker had a number representing a distance from Palau to some world famous city. After collecing all 5 markers, the challengers had to match the correct distance to the city. I think they were (in order): Manila, Tokyo, Paris, London, & New York. Tom & Ian were neck & neck during most of the race while Jen held a solid 3rd. In returning the 4th marker to the dock, Tom made a fatal mistake and threw his marker towards the basket, but missed and had to go retrieve it. This gave Ian the easy victory... and with it, a brand new Corvette!

This is where Jen's game breathed a new life because Ian, who had promised to take Katie if he won reward, instead took Tom. Ian claimed that he and Tom had a prior agreement to take the other if a car was part of the reward. This was a dumb move for Ian, because even though he and Tom predicted an all-girl alliance and agreed to foil it by keeping the girls separated, he decided not to take Katie. This, then infuriated Katie who decided to take initiative at convincing Caryn to help vote off Tom or Ian, to which Jen happily concurred.

Very little of the camera time was devoted to the accomodations and food that Ian and Tom enjoyed, but more focus was given to Katie's displeasure with Ian's decision, and Caryn's considerations of her best move. Upon the guy's return, they find Caryn, who smartly asked Ian directly (with Tom there) about who would be going to the final 3. Ian sputters, and fails to commit to bringing Caryn into a final 3 with Tom. Tom, who has been convinced by Caryn that Katie is out to get him, goes into a mode of brow-beating Ian & Katie into remembering the original alliance, yadda yadda. It's an interesting turn of events where even Ian admits that maybe his best move is to vote off Tom.

Oh, and I couldn't forget the emotional exchange between Ian & Katie. Katie, who had been refusing to even speak with Ian upon his return from reward, finally agrees to go chat. Ian fully admits his mistake, Katie still can't trust him, they both start crying, blah blah blah. In the end, although Katie keeps her cards pretty close, it appears that she might have a hard time voting against Ian (but Tom I'm not so sure).

Before the immunity challenge, it strikes me that if Tom doesn't win immunity, he is probably done. Jen & Katie appear to be pretty solid and may be able to convince either Ian or Caryn (or both) to vote against Tom.

The immunity challenge is a combination of a balancing obstacle course and memory. The players had to cross a rope bridge with cross members, step from floating buoy to buoy, and then finally cross a tight rope (with a hand guide) to a floating dock. Then, they had to memorize a 4 X 5 set of tiles, cross back to the starting point, and match the puzzle. After a couple of hard falls and some serious pressure, Tom finishes first and wins immunity. It was surprising to me that nobody was able to put together the puzzle with less than 3 looks at the original (Tom got it after his 3rd look, I think), but it made for a gripping challenge.

Before heading up to tribal council, Ian & Katie have another one-on-one chat on the beach. Katie appears to be holding all the cards deciding whether or not she will vote off Ian.

Caryn shows concern that if Katie sides with the boys, then the old 3-way alliance will have been refortified and she will be out in the cold. To that end at Tribal, Caryn blatently attempts to smear Ian and sway Katie to vote against him. It gets pretty heated and the jury appears to be loving it. It isn't enough, though, and she ends up getting all the votes. The viewers weren't shown, of course, when the last minute negotiating went down. My guess is that Katie & Ian made up on the beach, and agreed right there that Caryn was the one going home.

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