Surviving Palau, the Finale: “Nobody Would Have Predicted This Move”

Before Survivor: Palau began, I predicted that Ian Rosenberger would win. He showed that my belief was not misplaced by winning the very first immunity necklace and forming a tribe that won every single tribal immunity. And he’s still here. I still think he’s in a good position, as long as he can avoid any more emotional entanglements with Katie.

Speaking of Katie, I have heard from people who think that her whole overly-emotional thing with Ian was a planned act of strategy. I don’t believe it was. If it was, she deserves an Oscar and she should be given more credit than I’ve been giving her – but I just don’t think she’s that smart.

In the next couple hours, we’ll find out both whether I was right in my prediction and whether Katie is that good an actress. It’s time for the Survivor finale!

After 15 minutes of telling us what happened to lead up to this point (which you don’t need because you’ve been reading my recaps throughout the season), we find Jenn waking up at camp and Katie saying true colors came out the night before. She tells us that she and Ian had already resolved everything but she was glad it was brought up at Tribal Council that Ian had betrayed her. Wha?! OK folks, I think this cinches it – she is telling this to the camera, so she has no reason to be acting. She really does think Ian betrayed her, despite the fact that she had betrayed him first. Hypocrite.

Ian tells us that he took a lot of heat and his stock with the jury went down – but that can be a good thing because that makes Tom the biggest target. So he feels good!

As Tom and Ian are working around camp, they hear the women screaming, sounding like they need help. Ian runs to find them, with Tom a bit behind, and it turns out they have been given breakfast in the form of various fruits, eggs, and alcohol (of course).

After they finish celebrating and eating, Ian, Jenn, and Katie talk about how they can’t let Tom win immunity – and if he does lose, he’s gone. Ian says it’s the moment he’s been waiting for the entire game, so he has to beat Tom. But if he doesn’t win the challenge, he will be Tom’s best friend again. So I see Ian hasn’t learned anything about how the women will tell all to anybody…

The contestants arrive for the challenge, and another car is awaiting them – a Chevrolet SSR. However, it goes to the winner of Survivor, not the winner of today’s challenge. Oh, and the overall winner also gets a million bucks, in case they’d forgotten.

The challenge will be as follows: The four competitors are attached to a rope and have to go through a tire crawl-through. At three points along the way, they have to stop and untie keys. Once they make it to a tower, they untie themselves and unlock a series of padlocks. Then they move up to the next level and untie a series of ropes to release a trap door. They go up to the third level and use a grappling hook to retrieve four ladder rungs from the ground. Once they have all four, they build a ladder and make their way to the top level. The first two to do so move on to a final round.

The final round begins with a race down a flying fox to retrieve a bag that has three numbers in it. The numbers are a combination for a lock. They need to figure out the combination (which introduces a lot of luck to the challenge), open a box, get a flag out, and raise it. First to do so wins immunity.

And they’re off! Jenn gets to her first set of keys first, followed by Tom and Ian – Katie is already pretty much out of it. As they move along, Jenn, Ian, and Tom are tied up. Jenn and Ian get tangled while Tom has it easy going because he is next to Katie, who is way behind.

Tom gets to the tower, followed by Ian and Jenn. Katie is so far back that host Jeff Probst notes she is “either very worn out or not worried at all.” Tom gets his three locks undone and moves up to the second level, followed quickly by Ian. Jenn gets up there too. Katie eventually joins them, but by that point Tom is almost up to third level.

Tom hooks the first ladder run while Ian moves up to the third level, followed quickly by Jenn. Ian gets his first run as Tom gets his second. Then second and third, respectively. Tom pulls in his fourth while Jenn is having little luck. Ian has his third but Tom is already at the top and is first to make it to the final round.

Ian gets his fourth rung and puts together his ladder. Jenn is still struggling. Katie is, as Probst says, “Nowhere close.” Ian gets up to the top and takes the second position. So to absolutely nobody’s surprise, Tom and Ian move on to the final round.

Tom and Ian get ready to slide down the flying fox. And they’re off again! They grab their bags and run back to the beach, with Tom slightly ahead. Ian gets his bag untied first and starts to work on the lock. The first try doesn’t work. Probst even notes that there is luck involved here (though he says it’s “a little bit” when in fact it’s pretty much all luck at this point). Tom is wrong in his first try, Ian is wrong in his second. Tom is wrong; Ian is wrong; Tom is right! Tom gets his flag out and raises it to win immunity!

The foursome return to camp and Ian tells us that before the challenge, he was still debating in his mind whether he would send Tom or Jenn home if he won. He didn’t win, so that means it must be Jenn. But Jenn talks to Tom, who says his deal with Ian was to go to the end and then go toe-to-toe in the final round (not sure if he truly means the Final Two or the last three – the final immunity challenge). He says they’re not there yet so he can’t turn on Ian.

Katie and Ian join the conversation and Tom flat-out says he was telling Jenn that despite how tempting it is to let Ian loose tonight, he can’t do it yet because of their bond and promises. Jenn seems appreciative of knowing where she stands, and she and Tom hug. Awww. Then Jenn hugs Katie and then Ian. More awwwww. Or gaaaag.