Neanderthal Man

Neanderthal Man
Episode Information
Version	United States
Season	Palau
Episode Number	8/15 (147)
Original Release	April 7, 2005
Viewership (in Millions)	19.75
Ratings/Share (18-49)	7.0/20
Episode Chronology
Previous	"The Great White Shark Hunter"
Next	"I Will Not Give Up"
Subpages

Neanderthal Man is the eighth episode of Survivor: Palau.

Story

“	A Survivor becomes irritated with the tribe's living conditions and lack of maintenance around camp, which has attracted unwelcome visitors. Several weeks surviving on an island has driven one Survivor to exhibit unruly behavior, much to the concern of a tribemate. The Survivors get a chance to sample a Palauan delicacy, which can be rather difficult to swallow. Who has the will to stomach this indigenous cuisine? Two Survivors disagree on how the tribe should enjoy their Reward, leaving one of them feeling defeated and annoyed with the final decision.	”
—Episode Synopsis

Day 19

Koror dealt with a rat infestation, which Coby ascribed to their sloppy handling of coconuts. He also complained about the lack of work done by the girls and Janu's wanting to quit for 8 days. After they won the fresh water reward, Jenn and Tom were at odds over how to use the water. Tom's suggestion of using it for drinking purposes won out. 

At Ulong, Steph was scared by Bobby Jon's intensity after the challenge. 

Tom and Ian also discussed the Day 1 plans they made with Stephenie to get to the end.

Day 20

Steph talked about Bobby Jon's primitiveness, noting how he blew snot rockets, didn't wash, and ate the entire crab. They also experienced the difficulties inherent in a two-person tribe, having trouble even just getting the outrigger in the water. The isolation made her very emotional.

Day 21

Bobby Jon caught a fish, again giving Ulong protein before the Immunity Challenge.

After the challenge, Koror reveled in their dominance in spite of their quirkiness. Coby was especially proud of his internal fortitude. 

Ulong was again dismayed by their performance. They pondered both the nature of the Immunity Challenge and the logistics of having just one person left. 

Challenges

• Reward
• Immunity

Challenge: Cool Hand Balut
Alternating players, each tribe must eat one, two, three, and four balut in each of four rounds. They must finish to score a point. Most points after four rounds wins. In a tie, each tribe chooses their own representative for the tiebreaker, eating five balut.
Reward: 55 gallons of fresh drinking water contained in a portable shower head, toiletries
Winner: Koror

Challenge: Under Current
One at a time, the tribe members have to swim to the closest of a line of five pontoons, pull themselves along a rope beneath it to a bag of puzzle pieces, unclip it, climb up, run along a balance beam back to the first pontoon, and swim back to shore. The two tribes must repeat the process four times, heading to the next farthest pontoon each time. Once all four bags have been collected, both members have to assemble the pieces to form a word-search grid. They must find listed words in the grid, take the letters used in more than one word, and rearrange them to form a mystery three-word phrase.
Winner: Koror

Tribal Council

Because only Stephenie and Bobby Jon attended Tribal Council, their votes would have canceled each other out, and they did not vote. Instead, they took part in a tiebreaker challenge.

Tribal Council 9: Ulong
Fire-Making Challenge
Participant	Result
Bobby Jon	Lost
Stephenie	Won
ELIMINATED: Bobby Jon Drinkard

Final Words

	Bobby Jon	“	I feel like a brand new man. I really do. I wish I could keep going. I have a lot left in me but I hope I can turn that energy and that attitude into something positive for me. I am definitely proud of Stephenie because I think she's honestly, probably the top player in the game. I would just tell Stephenie to keep on doing what she is doing. I mean, the girl is almost invincible.	”

Still in the Running

Jonathan 20th	Wanda 19th	Jolanda 18th	Ashlee 17th	Jeff 16th	Kim 15th	Willard 14th	Angie 13th	James 12th	Ibrehem 11th
Bobby Jon 10th	Caryn Koror	Coby Koror	Gregg Koror	Ian Koror	Janu Koror	Jenn Koror	Katie Koror	Stephenie Ulong	Tom Koror

Trivia

• This episode marks the only time a two-person tribe competed in a tribal challenge.
• With Bobby Jon's elimination, Stephenie was the last remaining member of Ulong.
  • This marked the only time a tribe was left with only one member.
  • This was the only time a tribe of two has attended Tribal Council, as Jeff Probst confirmed on his On Fire podcast that a tribe of two would never attend Tribal Council again.
• This is the first time the fire-making tiebreaker is used.
  • This is the only fire-making tiebreaker to take part outside the final four.
  • This is the only fire-making tiebreaker where the winner has to light a torch, rather than break a rope.
• Ian and Tom, the two castaways competing for Koror in the Reward Challenge, were the two castaways to compete in neither of Koror's challenges in the previous episode "The Great White Shark Hunter". As the sit-out rule does not apply across episodes, this was entirely a coincidence.
• This is the first episode to air final words, but not show any votes, as none were cast. Instead, a brief montage highlighting Bobby Jon's Survivor experience is shown.
• The name of the Reward Challenge, Cool Hand Balut, is a reference to the 1967 film Cool Hand Luke.
• This episode holds the record for highest percent of an entire cast being immune from Tribal Council, as 8 of the 10 remaining castaways, or 80%, were immune.