Tom wins, but Ian will be remembered

During the final “Survivor Palau” tribal council, jurors were presented with two different theories of the game that seemed to encapsulate everything we’ve learned these past 10 seasons.

Tom Westman argued that he outplayed 19 other people, while Katie Gallagher reminded the jury that she’d outlasted everyone else.  Ignoring for a moment the fact that the jurors were casually fashioning a noose for Katie while waiting their turn to ask questions, both she and Tom presented compelling arguments.

Thus, in a game that uses “Outwit. Outplay. Outlast.” as its motto, the real question was this: Who outwitted the others?

The answer, of course, was Tom, whose affability and fatherliness masked 39 days worth of strategizing, handing him an easy victory. Tom played the game aggressively, dominating challenges and turning his back on his friends when he needed to. “You tell lies or do whatever you gotta do to get ahead,” he said. But his likeability overpowered his duplicity, and in the end, that made him nearly invincible.

“You can’t beat this guy,” Katie said while the jury took turns verbally weed-whacking her. But Tom didn’t win just because Katie attracted less-than-friendly feelings from the jurors (Gregg warmly noted that Katie was “worthless,” “insignificant,” “embarrassing,” and “pathetic”; Caryn was much kinder and said Katie was simply “phony,” “cruel,” the “laziest person at camp,” and “bad at challenges.”)

Because of his game play, Tom deserved the win, but he is ultimately an innocuous choice. He’s strong, he’s hot, and he’s both a father figure and a firefighter who played the game as hard as he could. He was always prepared to deal with the consequences of his actions, unlike some of his fellow tribe members. He stabbed a shark with a wooden pole. What’s there to dislike?

Still, Tom was never a safe bet. Had Caryn allied with the other women instead of running to Tom to reveal their plans, Tom would have gone home a few weeks ago. Tom was viewed as a threat (heck, he won five of seven individual challenges and led his tribe to 11 victories out of 14 attempts). And let’s not forget the shark.

He also altered his strategy as necessary, much to the dismay of some jury members. As host Jeff Probst mentioned during the reunion, Tom applied game theory, making his best move based upon what he assumed to be the move others would be making. It hurt some of his friends, but took him to the end.

Real surprise wasn't the winner, but the win
Still, the real surprise of the “Survivor Palau” finale was not that Tom won, because he was the obvious favorite early on, but the way the pieces fell into place to ensure his victory during the last three days.

Of the final four, Jenn was in the weakest position, and seemed the logical choice to join the jury first. She did, but only after a game-changing series of events unfolded. First, Ian slipped and revealed to Tom that their bond was not as tight on Ian’s end.

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