Stripped of her snuggle alliance with de facto Survivor: Palau Ulong tribe leader Jeff Wilson following his injury-caused departure from the game, delicate former beauty queen Kimberly Mullen knew her poor work ethic and weak link status would make her a target at the tribe's next Tribal Council. What she didn't know was how quickly it would come, with Ulong voting Kimberly out of the Survivor tribe after it lost yet another Immunity Challenge, its fourth consecutive immunity loss to the still undefeated Koror tribe.
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Last night's CBS broadcast of Survivor: Palau's fourth episode began with Ulong returning from the Episode 3 Tribal Council where, due to a severe ankle injury that he had incurred in camp, the tribe had agreed to honor Jeff's request that they vote him out of the game in order to keep the tribe strong.
Jeff's sudden injury development appeared to have once again saved Kim, who short of flirting with the tribe's men, appeared to have developed little game strategy, from near-certain elimination. Exhibiting a poor work ethic since the Survivor competition began, the 25-year-old graduate student and former Miss Ohio USA had also emerged as a favorite to be booted at Ulong's second Tribal Council until the erratic behavior of 22-year-old fitness counselor Ashlee Ashby, who had refused to eat and isolated herself from the tribe, had granted Kim her initial reprieve.
Retrieving their tree mail on the morning of Day 9, the tribes discovered that their next Reward Challenge would involve a construction challenge, with the two tribes competing to determine which group could build the better outdoor shower and toilet, using tools and materials supplied by product sponsor The Home Depot. Following judging by Survivor's production designer, Koror was determined to have built the better outdoor bathroom, winning them the challenge's huge prize -- a new shelter built by Survivor's production department (so much for roughing it!)
On Day 11 the tribes assembled for their next Immunity Challenge, a strange series of sumo-inspired one-on-one rustic pillow fights in which individual members of each tribe would attempt to score a point by knocking their opponent off the floating ring platform and into the sea. The first tribe to score six points would win immunity.
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Despite his 14 year advantage, 27-year-old hardbody and aspiring model Bobby Jon Drinkard lost his first round match to 41-year-old New York City firefighter Tom Westman, setting an early tone for the competition. With fellow Ulong men Ibrehem Rahman and James Miller also losing their matchups to Koror's men, Ulong quickly fell behind 5-2, hanging on only due to the victories of female tribemembers Angie Jakusz and Stephenie LaGrossa .
Spurred on by second round victories by Stephenie, Ibrehem and Angie, Ulong managed to stage a surprising comeback and tie the score, setting the stage for a winner-take-all rematch between James and Coby Archa , the 32-year-old openly gay hairdresser who had shocked the 33-year-old Mobile, Alabama self-described redneck with a strong initial display of his fierce pillow fighting skills, ending their initial matchup within seconds.
James fared somewhat better in their second round matchup, but in the end, the result stayed the same, with Coby once again defeating the steel worker and winning a fourth-straight Immunity Challenge victory for his tribe. Back at camp, James showed off his redneck attributes. "It feels terrible having my butt whooped by a homosexual... but a lot of gay folks are strong man, they're all working out at the gym and all," he explained in his confessional.
Attempting to successfully stave off elimination once again, Kim campaigned for a man's ouster, telling Angie and Stephenie that if they didn't team with her to attempt to vote off one of Ulong's three men, then one of the two remaining women would surely be the next Ulong member to be voted out.
In the end, tired of her poor work ethic, Angie and Stephenie didn't buy Kim's logic, teaming with the men to vote Kim out of the game via a 5-1 vote at the evening's Tribal Council,