Survivor: Palau

Survivor: Palau is the tenth season of the United States reality show Survivor. Its preview appeared during the final episode of Survivor: Vanuatu. Survivor: Palau premiered on February 17, 2005. The complete season, including the Live Reunion Show, was released on DVD by CBS Home Video on August 29, 2006.

Applications were due on June 22, 2004. Around 800 applicants were selected for an interview between the latter part of July and August 2004. Out of these 800, 48 were chosen as semi-finalists for an interview in Los Angeles during September 2004. From these semi-finalists, 20 were chosen to participate in the show between October to December 2004.

It began with twenty contestants. Each one arrived, as instructed by the producers, dressed in street clothes typical of one's career — ostensibly for publicity photos — but this was the only clothing for all of the game. Tom Westman's wife told him to wear swim trunks as underwear, for she remembered the Pearl Islands contestants, tricked into street clothes for all of that game. For the second time in Survivor history, the contestants, not the producers, selected the tribes. On the second day of the first episode, that self-selection into two tribes of nine left two not chosen — and gone from the game on the spot. The two tribes were Ulong (named after Ulong Island, one of Palau's tourist spots) and Koror (named after the capital city of Palau at the time). Koror dominated from the very beginning, winning all but three reward challenges and every Immunity Challenge. Having survived alone at Ulong, Stephenie LaGrossa received a map to Koror. Upon her arrival, she received its brown buff. 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 vote.

This season got Survivor a Primetime Emmy Award nomination in 2005.

In addition to Jeff Probst naming this as one of his favorite seasons, he also stated that the final immunity challenge was his favorite immunity challenge from any season. He also said Palau was his favorite filming location.

Stephenie LaGrossa and Bobby Jon Drinkard competed once again in Survivor: Guatemala where they placed 2nd and 9th respectively. LaGrossa again competed on Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains alongside Tom Westman who returned for the first time. They were both on the Heroes Tribe where they placed 19th and 16th respectively.

Jolanda Jones, who was the first one voted off, campaigned for the Houston City Council in 2007 where she won in a runoff election. She campaigned for re-election in 2009 although her tenure during her second term was marred by controversy in response to a City of Houston ethics investigation. Jones lost a runoff election in December 2011 receiving 46% of the total vote - her opponent, chiropractor Jack Christie, received a campaign endorsement from former Houston Mayor Bill White. She has hosted the Houston Survivor Challenge (now the Houston Reality Challenge) with the backing of the City of Houston and the local CBS affiliate KHOU 11 during her first term in office.

On January 19, 2010, Jennifer Lyon died at the age of 37 after a 5-year battle with breast cancer, becoming the first former Survivor castaway to pass away.