Shaking up Survivor: Palau for the second time in its first twelve days, CBS's special Wednesday broadcast of Palau's fifth episode featured both the decimated Ulong and previously unstoppable Koror tribes being forced to attend Tribal Council and each vote out a tribe member, resulting in Ulong's Angie Jakusz and Koror's Willard Smith being eliminated from the game.
ADVERTISEMENT
Last night's Survivor: Palau fifth episode began with Koror, still undefeated in Immunity Challenges, enjoying yet another relaxing evening while Ulong was conducting its Tribal Council session. After eleven days on the island, strong bonds had begun building among Koror's still nine-strong group of castaways -- including a nascent romantic relationship between Gregg Carey, a 28-year-old business consultant from Chicago, IL, and Jennifer Lyon, a 32-year-old nanny from Encino, CA. While the two had continued to attempt to downplay the nature of their relationship, their attachment hadn't gone unnoticed by their fellow castaways. "It's very obvious. They won't admit how close they're getting, but we can all see it," commented Coby Archa, the 32-year-old hairstylist from Athens, TX.
Meanwhile, over at Ulong, the tribe was returning from its unprecedented fourth consecutive game-opening Tribal Council session. While many tribe members were glad to be rid of Kimberly Mullen, a weak link who they felt had a poor work ethic and contributed little in challenges, the tribe's constant losing was causing depression and infighting among the remaining tribemates. After getting lost when attempting to find a nearby cave that would provide them protection from a heavy overnight storm, Ulong began Day 12 with particularly low morale.
Back at Koror, one thing had seemed to have become clear to the tribe -- that if and when they were forced to go to Tribal Council, Willard's poor work ethic and failure to contribute to camp chores would make him a prime target.
Assembling for Day 12's Reward Challenge, the tribes discovered that there would be no subsequent Immunity Challenge to determine which of them would attend the next Tribal Council session. After explaining the details of the shipwreck challenge that involved salvaging bottles from an underwater wreck, Jeff explained that both tribes would be attending Tribal Council that evening, with a challenge win simply determining which tribe would get to enjoy a stew dinner while watching the other tribe's Tribal Council session.
ADVERTISEMENT
Both tribes got off to a good start in their quest to retrieve the required six bottles, with Jennifer and Stephenie LaGrossa each quickly returning with bottles, leaving the tribes tied after one round. Koror's struggle to pull the platform containing Gregg back to them allowed Ulong (pulling the lighter Angie Jakusz) to move slightly ahead after two rounds, but that lead would quickly evaporate when Ibrehem Rahman was unable to successfully retrieve a bottle despite three dive attempts. Ibrehem's struggles allowed Koror to take a lead they would never relinquish, winning the challenge despite some late-round struggles by Ian Rosenberger, the 23-year-old dolphin trainer from Key Largo, FL.
Despite being aware that they would facing their first Tribal Council that evening, spirits remained high when Koror returned to camp. With the tribe having already marked Williard for departure, there was little need to scheme over the evening's voting, leaving the castaways free to strategize about longer term gameplay -- an opportunity Gregg quickly exploited. Approaching Coby -- one of the four Koror members not in the tribe's dominant five-person alliance comprised of Greg, Jennifer, Ian, Katie Gallagher, and Tom Westman -- Gregg made Coby and fellow outsider Janu Tornell an offer the 32-year-old hairstylist couldn't refuse, proposing a secret alliance in which following the elimination of Willard and Caryn Groedel, Greg and Jennifer would ally with Coby and Janu to oust Ian, Tom and Katie. Anxious to both improve his game position and last longer in the game than Katie, who Coby deeply resented due to her failure to contribute to camp life, Coby readily accepted.
Over at Ulong, Ibrehem's four tribemates made little secret of the fact that they blamed him for losing the chance to eat a stew dinner, putting him on the chopping block for the upcoming Tribal Council.
Arriving at Tribal Council that evening, Koror -- as expected -- voted Willard off in a unanimous 8-1 vote. Moving over to the jury side of the Tribal Council set, Koror then got to enjoy their meal and listen in on Ulong's pre-vote interview session, during which Ibrehem's teammates once again made it clear that he was at risk of being booted in the upcoming vote. Revealing one last surprise, Survivor host Jeff Probst informed the tribes that as part of their reward, Koror would be allowed to vote individual immunity to one Ulong member.
After counting Koror's widely split ballots, Jeff announced that Ibrehem had won the 3-2-2-1 vote, shattering Ulong's plan to vote him off. Suddenly forced to select another target when casting their own elimination ballots, Ulong's five castaways were anything but united in their decision, resulting in three of their four eligible members receiving votes and a 2-2-1 tie between Angie and Bobby Jon Drinkard. With Angie and Bobby Jon forced to sit out the revote, Stephenie, Ibrehem, and James Miller (the recipient of the initial balloting's fifth vote) were forced to cast ballots for either Angie or Bobby Jon, resulting in a 3-0 vote that made Angie the eighth castaway to exit Survivor: Palau.