Race to Shore Physical Race

For the first time ever on Survivor, this season begins with a challenge- and because the twenty contestants have yet to be divided into tribes yet, this one is for Individual Immunity. And here's another Survivor first- both the first man and the first woman to finish the challenge win Immunity. Everyone starts out far into the ocean, having just been marooned and at the start of their 39 day adventure. That is when Jeff Probst tells them that over at the shore, which can be seen far in the distance, there are two immunity idols, one for each gender, to be claimed, simply by whoever gets to them first. This is complicated because all twenty of the Survivors are in the same boat, so one would assume that they would all arrive at the beach at the same time, where it would then become a sprint to the idols. This is where different strategies begin to go through everyones' minds- "I could jump and try and outswim the boat, but am I even capable of doing that? If I were to do that, what would the others think of me? Do I even want to win this challenge, or does it make me too big of a threat and annoy too many people right out of the gate? But at the same time, I don't want to be voted out first... What if I play the role of spectator and just wait in the back of the boat, to show the rest that I am not a physical threat in this game?" There are just so many different angles to this challenge, and everyone has to make a decision in a matter of minutes, because once the boat becomes within swimming distance of the shore, the game is most definitely on. Now, the interesting thing about this challenge opening the season from the audience's perspective is that it sort of acts as an exposition for a lot of the characters that are going to be a part of this season. It is rare for Survivor challenges to have confessionals, but because this challenge encaptures the first few minutes of the season, it does have confessionals, as certain players are given the chance to tell us at home what is going on in their minds, while simultaneously revealing to us the types of people they are and what we can expect from them down the line; this is a "get-to-know the cast" just as much as it is a challenge, and I find that to be very interesting. For example, James Miller gets the first confessional of the season, and it's a good one- "Jeff's a son of a bitch, I'll tell you that." It's a golden confessional, and right off the bat, the audience knows the type of character that James is going to be. At one, simply amazing point, Wanda Shirk stands up on the boat and starts singing one of the songs she wrote in preparation of being on the show. Then, she gives a confessional saying that she's all about this being one big party for as long as it lasts- great, now the audience knows what to expect from Wanda. Willard reacts with his own confessional, expressing his frustration with Wanda's singing, setting the stage for his somewhat grouchy presence on the show. Stephenie jumps out of the boat too early, putting herself in an awkward situation, but at the same time, revealing to the audience the type of spirit she will have throughout the season. I find all of this exposition stuff to be very interesting, especially since we normally don't get stuff like this in the challenges. Ultimately, Ian and Jolanda end up winning the challenge. Now, my thoughts on the challenge are a bit conflicting. I love the risk vs reward element to the challenge, and I think, especially in this first iteration of the idea, it is a very creative thing for the producers to try, and I really like that. My issue with the challenge, and one that is inherent with the concept, is that I don't really care who wins, because I don't know who any of these people are yet. When Jolanda barely edges out Jenn for the idol, I don't feel excited or disappointed, because, like, who is Jolanda and who is Jenn? I will say, this challenge functions better in returning player seasons, where we already know who everyone is, although the challenge will never feel as novel as it did in its original season... So I will settle on this being a great but not quite fantastic Survivor challenge.

3/5

Supply Dump Physical Race

Survivor: Palau's first true Immunity Challenge is one of my favorite Episode 1 challenges to appear on the show- it proposes a risk vs reward scenario like nothing we had seen before up to this point, and it gives a lot of choice to the tribes in what would otherwise be a somewhat mundane physical challenge. Let me just say, whenever we get a rare challenge like this, which places an emphasis on choice, I always love it. Let's just break down the challenge step by step. It begins with a new obstacle, the "net maze," something we will see quite a bit from here on out. Then we get a tire obstacle, something we will not see quite a bit from here on out, but it's a decent little roadblock. The third section of the challenge is where things truly get interesting- the tribes would have to uncover leaves to reveal paddles tied to four separate heavy crates of survival items. The paddles are mandatory to finish the challenge, but all of the other stuff, being flint, water cans, flour and rice, and a tarp, is completely optional. If you carry any of the optional stuff across the finish line, then your tribe wins it, but if you do not win the challenge, then you do not get any of the bonus stuff, and your tribe is going to tribal council. It really is a fascinating dilema- the best strategy to win is to just take the paddles and book it, but this is a game of survival almost as much as it is a game of strategy- you know how much you will regret passing up that tarp the next time it rains, and if it only takes a few extra seconds and a bit more effort to take some of the luxuries, then why not? Well, the challenge might come down to a few extra seconds; the whole thing is such a gamble, and I admire the concept so much. The fourth obstacle is a wall, certainly nothing new for the show, and the fifth obstacle is a "jungle swamp," essentially a pit of mud that has to be trudged through. The last obstacle entails getting in a canoe, paddling out to retrieve a flag, and then returning to the shore (essentially exactly the same as the final stage of last season's "Outwit, Outplay, Outrig" challenge). The challenge ends in an astonishing blowout, with the Ulong tribe nowhere close to victory, after they bit too hard on all of the various crates of supplies, despite Stephenie's desire for them to do otherwise. This results in them falling majorly behind the Koror tribe, which opted only to take the flint. At the canoe section, the Ulong falls from kind-of behind to extremely behind, as Jeff describes that "Ulong is looking for another island!" The entire thing is a lot of fun to watch, including the predictable ending because there's some satisfying justice in seeing Ulong's greed come back to bite them at the end of the challenge. Sadly, this challenge has never returned, even though it has so much potential I wouldn't mind seeing it every other season.

Now, I'd like to shift gears completely and talk about this season's art direction and overarching theme- similar to how Pearl Islands went for a pirate theme which was incorporated into various elements of the season including challenges, this season has a World War II theme, a homage to the historical significance the waters of Palau had to the war. This theme is behooved by the season's unorthodox art direction, which is easily one of my favorites of any season of the show. It can be seen in all areas of the season, from the tribe colors, being blue and brown, to the tribal council set, but especially in the challenges. Unlike most seasons after Pearl Islands which generally have very colorful challenge design borrowing from all parts of the rainbow, all of this seasons' challenges feel very industrial... metallic; it feels like everything comes in different shades of brown, black, and blue, and it's to the point where it's almost chilling. The reason why I bring it up here is that I think this is the first challenge where that is truly illustrated- particularly with the crates of supplies; they aren't just generic crates with supplies inside, they are authentic-looking military supply kits, and recurring details like this add a level of realism to the season that has always blown me away. More than any other season up to this point, and possibly ever, the art department deserves rewards for their work here.

5/5

Heads Up Physical Race / Mental

"Learn morse code" is what this challenge's treemail demands- that's an unusually hefty request, but I love it. And of course, this plays very clearly into the season's World War II theme. So anyway, there's nothing to see here, just another amazing idea introduced by Survivor: Palau. This is one of those simple-but-spectacular challenges- each tribe swims out to a pontoon, where they must dive down to pull on a rope which is threaded through a barrel. (The entire structure, including the barrel, looks amazing, by the way. Again, you brought it, art department.) As the tribe pulls on a rope, a very heavy footlocker is dragged across the ocean floor, closer and closer to the pontoon, and is just awesome. You can tell just how difficult this is, and the footlocker looks truly epic as it slowly moves across the seafloor, displacing tons of sand around it as it creeps forward. There's also a completely cosmetic, but nonetheless awesome component to this part- every ten feet, a marker buoy pops up out from under the water, revealing how much further the footlocker still needs to be pulled. Much like Pearl Islands' "Signal Fire" challenge, this is proof that there are some very creative, and very smart, might I add, people on the Survivor challenge team, who are able to come up with little technical concepts like this that always impress me and that I don't think I ever would have been able to think of. Once the footlocker reaches the pontoon, it is opened to reveal eight mess kits (even more World War II greatness), each with letters written on them in morse code. The mess kits are then brought back to shore to be placed in the correct order to spell the word "immunity." Koror wins, and so concludes another challenge which truly inspires me in its creative simplicity.

4/5

Hot Pursuit Endurance

It is once again time for the rare tribal endurance challenge, and if you ask me, this is the best tribal endurance challenge to ever appear on the show- wow, it's almost like I can't stop saying great things about this season's challenges so far! So anyway, even though this challenge hasn't appeared that many times on the show, I think the near-universal admiration of it from the fanbase is enough for me to consider this another Survivor classic, having its first run here in Palau. Once again, simple but amazingly effective; each tribe, their members clipped together, starts on opposite ends of an oval ring, carrying backpacks with 20 pound weights. The first tribe to catch the other tribe wins the challenge. As if the 100+ degree temperature wasn't enough, this challenge secures its spot as one of the most brutal ever Survivor challenges by having it take place in shallow water- everyone knows just how frustrating it is to try and walk around in ankle-deep water; it feels like each step takes so much extra effort. And it would be one thing if it were a race through the shallow water, which would be hard, but at least you know the end is in sight. In this challenge though, it's endurance, so you don't even know how long the torture is going to last- it's a challenge designed to push a tribe to absolute exhaustion, to such extent that the other team, which began as far away from you as you were from them, is able to completely overcome them. It is just cruel. It's sort of like having an auto racing competition between two competitors, but instead of the winner being the first person to complete five laps, it's whoever can lap the other driver first. Also, because the tide is rising while this challenge is played, it actually gets harder the longer it goes. By the time the challenge finally ends as Ulong is overtaken by Koror, the exhaustion in everyone's faces speaks for itself. Ultimately, it's an incredibly difficult, incredibly great challenge.

5/5

Sumo at Sea Physical Race

Believe it or not, it is time for the introduction of yet another Survivor classic, and perhaps one of the best and most recognizable challenges in the series- Sumo at Sea. It's another physical contact challenge, making this the first season of the show to have more than one in the same season- I'm all for it. One member from each tribe squares off on a circular platform and ram into each other using padded bags. The first person to knock the other person into the water scores a point for their team. It just sounds brutal, and yes, it is! And I find it to be almost impossibly entertaining!!! They also managed to squeeze in a little bit of this season's World War II/industrial theme by making the platform resemble a helipad- it's a completely unnecessary but brilliant addition to the challenge. Okay, let's talk about how it goes down between Ulong and Koror, and first I'd like to mention that the tribes are playing to 6, and it actually comes down to the final point. That is great for multiple reasons. For one, in a season with a narrative about one tribe always coming so close to victory but never failing to come up just short at the end, the fact that it is so close makes the entire thing so much more nerve-racking for the audience. And it's not like Ulong scores a point and then Koror scores a point and they just alternate the whole time, what happens is actually much more interesting. The challenge begins pretty evenly, but then Koror starts to pull ahead, and it seems like they are going to win. But then, Ulong scores a bunch of points, and that's how we end up at 5-5. And in the spirit of Palau, a season which I always think of as being more of an artful Shakespearian tragedy than a season of Survivor, the Ulong tribe loses the final round, and is sent back to tribal council for the fourth time in a row. The other reason this is great is that we get to see all 11 possible rounds, and there is some very good stuff in there; at one point, Angie scores a point and starts yelling, and we get some really funny commentary from Jeff Probst. He says something like "Angie is so excited she doesn't know what she is saying!" as he waves his hands around in the air. My favorite match-up is the rematch between Stephenie and Jenn; the whole round is very back-and-forth, and there are some harsh collisions between both women. In one round, Ibrehem knocks Gregg into the water with just one push, which is pretty funny. But interestingly enough, aside from that one round, the men on the Ulong tribe lose every single match-up; it is actually the women of Ulong that carry the tribe, which is something unexpected that I very much enjoy.

5/5

Build It Up, Break It Down Miscellaneous Challenge / Physical Race

Get ready for yet another fantastic challenge, that has only ever been used this one time- we do get something similar in Survivor: Micronesia, but it isn't quite the same- this is a very unique concept, so let me go ahead and break it down. Each tribe gets treemail in the form of a box with a flag inside. They are told that the flag belongs to their enemy, and it is their job to make it impenetrable by using the ropes provided... Once the challenge begins, it's going to be the first tribe that is able to open the box that the other team tied up, and I seriously love this idea so much. It is completely different from any other challenge the show had seen up to this point, and besides that Micronesia challenge I mentioned, there's really never been anything like this since. And just like in the "Build a Better Bathroom" challenge, James Miller deserves a lot of credit for making this challenge as entertaining as it is. See, James "knows a few things about knots." James learned in the navy about an elusive knot, that you can't even see— if you try and pull on it, it only gets tighter. You might be thinking "what is this witchcraft?!" Do not question James Miller! Well forgive me for spoiling this, but the Ulong tribe is going to lose this challenge. The reason that I point this out now is because I think it is very funny that the editors do not even show the Koror tribe tying their box, it's like they want the audience to be just as confident about this as Ulong is, and that's what makes what is about to happen all the more funnier.

Now we are at the challenge, and Jeff explains that there is more to this than just the rope- each tribe will have twenty minutes to swim out to retrieve bundles of lumber to build a fortress around their footlocker, making it even more difficult for the other tribe to open the box. Let me just say, another thing I really love about this challenge is how relatable the agony the players must feel about the prospect of opening one of these boxes is. I'm the type of person where I get annoyed just having to untangle a few cords, so this looks nightmarish. Anyway, during this phase of the game, we get some more amazing commentary from Jeff Probst, and you can already start to see that Ulong's dependence on James' strategy may have been a bad idea; "James getting a game plan for Ulong, and it starts with keeping his toga on!" That's not even the only time Jeff rags on James, and at one point, even Coby from the Koror tribe starts making fun of him. So of course, after the twenty minutes pass and each tribe has a pretty sizable structure surrounding their box, they switch, and the race to undo what the other tribe did begins. Ulong's magical knot is no match for Koror, Ulong loses yet another Immunity Challenge, and thus concludes one of the most inventive Survivor challenges.

5/5

Sea Stars Mental / Physical Race

This is kind of like a combination of the generic slide puzzle challenge from Survivor: Africa and the lotus-shaped floating puzzle in Survivor: Thailand. Two very mediocre challenges you would expect to culminate in yet another mediocre challenge, and yet, I must admit that I get quite a bit of enjoyment out of watching this one. You see, the slide puzzle looks very easy, right? But it turns out, the cast of Palau, and especially the people on the Ulong tribe, are terrible at slide puzzles, and I'm glad they are, because they actually turn this into a very entertaining trainwreck of a challenge. I'm just going to focus on Ulong here- so Bobby Jon is chosen to be the caller, and he is absolutely hopeless here. Jeff Probst comments that "Ulong may be worse off than when we started," and it's funny as much as it is true. Eventually we see that the elapsed time is 30 minutes, which is a shocking amount of time to pass in a challenge that is literally just a 4 by 4 slide puzzle that Christian could solve in 10 seconds, and this is where Jeff decides to make another amusing observation: "Bobby Jon, I'm not sure if you've made any progress since we've started." This is when they decide to switch out and make Stephenie the caller, but even the great Stephenie LaGrossa is no slide puzzle saviant. After an absolutely astonishing 1 hour and 15 minutes, the Koror tribe finally finishes this challenge that I think would have taken 15 minutes tops in most other seasons.

3/5

Under Current Physical Race / Mental

This is a pretty good challenge, it essentially takes the Swahili Scramble challenge from Africa and All-Stars and combines it with a whole other physical section. The way the water section works is one person from each tribe at a time has to pull themselves along a rope under the water (exactly like in Pearl Islands'  Keel Hauling challenge) to reach a bag of puzzle pieces. Then the next person goes, and each bag of puzzle pieces is a little bit further from the previous. Once all of the bags are collected, we see something that I think is really cool- the puzzle pieces are actually used to build the word scramble. From there, it's just standard Survivor word scramble stuff— find the words, circle the intersecting letters, unscramble them to form a phrase. It ends up being pretty close, but Ulong loses once again, meaning they lost every possible Immunity Challenge before the sort-of-Merge of Survivor: Palau. Anyway, I think this is good- it's not the most memorable thing to come out of Survivor: Palau but it's enjoyable.

3/5

Perch Endurance

Survivor: Palau has introduced a lot of top tier challenges, but there is no harm in bringing back a few top tier challenges from previous seasons too! This classic Survivor challenge Perch has returned from The Australian Outback and The Amazon, and just like in those two seasons, it is the first Immunity Challenge following the Merge- a perfect spot for it if you ask me. This is also the last time we are ever going to see this challenge- well actually, they kind of do a variant of it in Cook Islands, but in that version, it's less about will power and more about balance, so it's totally different in my opinion. I'm not going to do a whole paragraph again about why I love this challenge so much and why it is objectively one of the most compelling challenges on the show, but if you want to see that, go read what I wrote about this challenge in my The Australian Outback and The Amazon entries. I will say, this is probably the least interesting out of all three appearances, it just doesn't have a big defining moment; In Season 6, it's Jenna and Heidi stripping, in Season 2, it's the elusive "Elapsed Time: 10 Hours" chyron, but even still, I love this challenge so much because of it being solely will power- Stephenie makes a baffling decision to jump down for pizza, and she is very lucky she gets past this. One fun moment during this challenge is when Ian makes an allusion to what happened in The Amazon, when he tells Jeff that he'd take his clothes off for some chocolate and peanut butter, and Jeff jokes "nobody wants to see that, Ian." It's really funny, and it also comes at a time in the series where it is very rare for players to be so meta- the only other one I can really think of off the top of my mind up to this point is in Season 2 when Mad Dog votes for Kel and makes an allusion to Sue's snake and rat speech. But I digress- one other thing I'm obviously going to mention is Jeff's lounge chair he pulls out during this challenge- it's hilarious; if only he had thought to bring it to the Final Immunity Challenge!

5/5

Last Gasp Endurance

Back in my very first entry in which I revisited Survivor: Borneo, when I got the to Witch Hunt challenge, I said that Witch Hunt, or "Folklore," whichever you prefer, was one of my two favorite Survivor challenges of all time. Yep, this is the other one. It's difficult for me to find the right words to describe this challenge, but I'll try my best here. Each player positions themself in the water, underneath a grated steel barrier. As the tide rises, their breathing space slowly fades away. Before long, the water is up to your ears... then your eyes... if it weren't for the fact that you've pushed your mouth through the bars, that would be covered too, and even like that, it won't be long. It is a terrifying challenge- it is chilling to watch; for some reason it is so easy to imagine being one of the competitors, trying not to panic in this Survivor drowning simulator. Survivor: Thailand had a tribal challenge that I was quite harsh on, which attempted to test a similar quality, but the cast was so bad at it, and even if they weren't, it was so clunky and difficult to relate to, just sitting at home watching. This is the complete opposite, just watching this challenge is nerve-racking, you can feel the anxiety. So yes, this is one of my two favorite Survivor challenges.

Now, I would really like to place some extra emphasis on how insanely good of an idea I think this was. I don't know who on the challenge team came up with this, maybe it was Kirhoffer, maybe it was someone else, but whoever it was, they are an absolute genius. Simple but effective has been a recurring theme throughout this series of mine, and I think this the paragon of that philosophy. I mean, just think of what they were going for here. They wanted to make a challenge that specifically tested its players' abilities to remain calm, when everything else in their body told them to do otherwise. So what do you do? Trap them in a cage with spiders? Make them walk on a tightrope really high above the water??? That's probably what some shows would go for, and actually, I think I just described the premise of Fear Factor, but what the challenge team came up with here is something completely unique and unexpected- what if we just use the magic of the environment? Incorporating earth's tides into a Survivor challenge... the changing of the tides is something that has happened on Earth for billions of years, and will continue to happen for billions of years to come- even if humanity completely destroys itself, even if all of us are gone in fifty years- the tides don't know that; I just find there's something so pure and beautiful about that fact, and it is seamlessly worked into the challenge. This isn't Jeff turning a crank making the challenge more difficult, this is just nature- that's it. There is no other challenge on Survivor that is evenly remotely similar in that way, and it's a spectacular thing.

The challenge also introduces a new twist, "Exile Island," where the first person to drop out of the challenge is further punished by being sent to an island all by themselves for the night- I like this, it just adds a bit more to stress over in an already unbelievably pressuring challenge. This person is ultimately going to be Janu, a fact that is integral to the storyline of the season, both by completing Janu's growth narrative and very likely being the catalyst for her sacrifice to save Stephenie from being voted out the next day. We will see this challenge a couple more times on Survivor, which is a very good thing.

5/5

Kamikaze Skill

This is a really fun challenge; I suspect I may like this one more than most people. It's very simple, one person at a time has to throw a coconut at the grid of tiles in an attempt to knock out their own colors. The catch is, you have to be careful, because if you accidentally knock out somebody else' tile, that still counts for them. That can be especially tricky. Consider, for instance, the person you really do not want to win has just one tile left, and it is right next to one of your last tiles. Do you even go for it? Or is it safer to just let someone else sneak up and win? I love challenges that allow for dilemmas like this. And by the way, the tiles are very pretty, great job to whoever painted them. For some reason I find there to be something extremely satisfying when someone nails a really good shot. Another thing I appreciate about this challenge is that it has a clear identity; it's not like so many of the challenges we see today that just sort of end with a "carnival game" that doesn't at all relate to the first half of the challenge- this is a challenge that is proud of being a carnival game and the entire challenge stays consistent in what it is asking of you.

3/5

Second Chance Physical Race / Mental / Skill / Miscellaneous Challenge

It is time for everyone's favorite Survivor tradition, the Survivor Pentathlon! Of course, it is still elimination-style, and we are revisiting six previous challenges, which is a very respectable number. Without going into too much detail about it, here are just a couple of observations: I really like that the last stage is the shooting challenge, it makes the end feel really tense. Just like in Survivor: Thailand, they actually incorporated the food eating challenge as one of the stages, which I love. Also, they actually made the Sea Stars puzzle even easier by adding a second missing piece- is this the easiest puzzle to ever appear on Survivor? The funny thing is, I'm willing to bet that when they first conceived this challenge, there was only one missing piece, but after watching the tribes spend over an hour trying to solve the same puzzle, they thought they had no other choice than to make it even easier.

4/5

R.A.M. Mental / Physical Race

This is a really great challenge; it is sort of like the next evolution of the Box Your Mind challenge from Survivor: Africa. Essentially, you have to race across a bunch of fun-looking obstacles- a disc walk, floating pontoons, and a rope bridge- until you reach the "memory puzzle," which contains fifteen images on a grid. You will then run back to the other side to try and recreate what you saw on your own grid. Of course, most people wouldn't be able to remember all fifteen images at once, so you are going to have to make multiple trips. The trick is trying to remember as many as you can without overwhelming yourself and forgetting everything halfway back to the start; it's risk vs reward, and I love that quite a bit. There are definitely a few entertaining falls along the obstacle course too.

4/5

Tower of Domination Physical Race / Skill

This is definitely an interesting challenge- it is impressively large, and is played in two rounds, elimination-style. In the first round, everyone is attached to a rope, and they must travel through a "tire crawl-through" obstacle, untying rings of keys along the way. After that is the tower section: For the first level, you use the three keys to unlock a series of padlocks to reach the second level. On the second level, you have to untie ropes to open a trapdoor. On the third level, you have to use a grappling hook to retrieve four ladder rungs off the ground (some of these obstacles should sound familiar to the Great Escape Run challenge from Vanuatu). The ladder rungs are used to reach the fourth level, where you must then untie your flag and raise it. All of this is interesting to a certain extent but none of it feels particularly exciting. The second round is pretty cool though- the two competitors have to zoom over the ocean using a flying fox to reach a platform with a bag with giant numbers inside, which have to be tested in various orders on a combination lock until something works. I'm not a huge fan of introducing this element of luck into the game, but it is pretty minor and it isn't a problem for me when the rest of the challenge is so impressive in scope. Also, Jeff is quite funny during this challenge- Katie isn't doing so well and he lets her know it... over and over again.

4/5

Bob-Bob Buoy Endurance

I am so excited to talk about the best Final Immunity Challenge to ever appear on Survivor- and in my opinion, one of the best moments in Survivor history in one of the best finales in Survivor history- if you've seen Survivor: Palau, it is impossible that you would have forgotten this challenge- a challenge which holds the record, to this day, as the longest endurance challenge to ever appear on Survivor. 11 hours and 55 minutes- that is incredible. The Australian Outback's Perch is the second longest endurance challenge at 10 hours, and yet, this manages to be so much more impressive than even that, because these finalists are not just standing on a perch- they are standing on a very painful disc that is constantly tipping over. In a Survivor Oz interview, Ian has said that he and Tom still have issues in their nerves because of this challenge. Anyway, the length of this challenge is incredible, but that in of itself is not what makes this challenge so special. In fact, I would argue that even if this challenge only lasted for a few hours, it would still be the best Final Immunity Challenge, and that is because of the incredible story that is going on during it.

I mentioned earlier how Survivor: Palau feels less like a Survivor season and more like a Shakespearian tragedy- I'd like to elaborate on that. This entire season feels fake- not in a production interference way or anything like that, but fake as in it feels like a movie. There is no other season of Survivor that is anything like it- it feels like a story from beginning to end, that some scriptwriter came up with, and I think it's a miracle that the season actually plays out the way it does. You start with two tribes- Ulong and Koror. Koror is a fun group, and Tom is a great leader. Him and Ian and Katie form a very tight bond, and you want to root for them. At the same time, the people on the Ulong tribe are very likable- there's Bobby Jon, there's Angie, there's James, they are all such lovable people- every single one of them is eliminated before the merge. Ulong does not win a single Immunity Challenge, and an entire family is torn apart by nature of the game— it's a tragedy in every sense of the word. Then we enter Act 2— and it really does feel like an entirely new act; Survivor: Palau feels like two seasons of Survivor combined into one. Act 2 starts off with some bright moments, but it's all a silver lining. The very second episode after the "Merge" sees one woman, who feels that she is content with what she got out of Survivor, decides to sacrifice herself so that the audience favorite and sole survivor of the Ulong tribe can live on. But in the next episode, it proves to have all been in vain, as Stephenie is voted out at the very next vote— it's a tragedy. The game goes on with the remaining Koror members, and the bond between Tom, Ian, and Katie strengthens, but at the Final 4, Ian betrays Tom's trust when he learns that he planned on voting for him had he lost the final challenge. Suddenly, in the spirit of a tragedy, even the brightest part of the season, Ian and Tom's relationship, is no longer. When it gets down to the Final Immunity Challenge, both men are committed to voting the other person out if they win Immunity, with Katie's spot in the Final 2 all but guaranteed. This challenge is the climax of the season— everything had been leading up to this point, where two people, who once ran the game together, are facing off against each other— it simply does not get more climactic than that. At first, it seems very straight forward- whoever falls first is going home and that is that. But as we reach the eleventh hour, literally, Ian starts to reflect. Ian makes the "ultimate shock" (which happens to be the episode title which I think is wonderful), by declaring that his friendship with Tom and Katie is more important to him than the million dollars, and that he will step down and take third place— this isn't an easy decision, obviously, as it isn't made until almost twelve hours pass, but ultimately, Ian decides to sacrifice himself- and it's a dramatic scene. Some people describe this moment as a brilliant but evil act of manipulation on the part of Tom and Katie, who knowingly guilt-tripped Ian into dropping, but I do not see it that way at all- I see it as the culmination of one of the most emotionally-driven and powerful seasons of the show, and so the dramatic story of Survivor: Palau ends with Ian making one final sacrifice so that he can find peace. I'm telling you, you couldn't make this stuff up— and yet, it feels like someone did- and it's really quite beautiful in retrospect- Survivor: Palau may be a dark tragedy, but its story is also a masterpiece. That is what this challenge— that lasted almost twelve hours— means to me.

5/5