Survivor: Palau
Koror had started a main 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. Although Stephenie made strong impression on her new tribe, Stephenie became a target due to her strength. In a twist that would used in later seasons, the first player to lose the individual immunity challenge had to spend the night alone on a separate island. Janu, the one who lost, felt she had freedom when she left, and chose to quit the game at the next tribal council, which saved Stephenie from being voted out for one more round. When Koror was down to six, Tom and Ian worried that they would fall against a possible immunity threat, Gregg, and his close ally Jenn, and started a plan with Caryn and Katie to vote out Gregg when they had the chance. Katie, feeling betrayed by Ian, became even more upset when Ian took Tom with him on a reward instead of her as he had promised. Ian tried to make Katie happy, but she still held bad feelings towards him. The final four: Tom, Ian, Katie, and Jenn, chose to allow the next vote to end in a tie between Jenn and Ian, and Ian won in the fire-making tie-breaker challenge. The last immunity challenge made players stand on buoys for as long as possible; Katie jumped off early, but both Tom and Ian stayed for more than 12 hours. Ian chose to quit the challenge, giving immunity to Tom, after Tom played on his regret 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. At the last tribal council, Tom voted Ian out of the game. At the last tribal council, Tom's leadership and physical strength against Katie being too dependent on others, led the jury to vote Tom as the Sole Survivor, 6-1.