Jeff Wilson (Survivor) - Gameplay

Gameplay

The twenty players for Palau began the game by rowing a boat to shore, with the first player of each gender to reach shore to win immunity. However, once ashore, they received no additional instructions nor tribal divisions, and began to work on a common shelter. 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. Koror only had to attend tribal council and vote for one of their own once during the first 21 days as part of a double-elimination challenge. Unlike in several previous seasons, there was no tribal swap and Ulong's numbers continued to dwindle. With only two members left, Stephenie and Bobby Jon, going into tribal council, 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 given a Koror buff instead of a typical tribal merge.

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 not able to break them. Despite making an immediate strong impression on her new tribe, Stephenie was immediately 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, the one affected, felt the experience liberating, and chose to quit the game at the next tribal council, effectively sparing Stephenie from being voted out. It would last for only one more round, and Stephenie was subsequently sent home after not winning immunity or being able to break Koror's bond.

When Koror was down to six, Tom and Ian worried that they would fall against a potential immunity threat, Gregg, and his close ally Jenn, and plotted with Caryn and Katie to vote out Gregg 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. The final four: Tom, Ian, Katie, and Jenn, opted to allow the next vote to end in a tie between Jenn and Ian, and Ian won in 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, and Ian felt that dropping out would make up for the emotional damage he had done. Foregoing 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 apparent riding-of-coattails, led the jury to vote Tom as the Sole Survivor, 6–1.