Firefighter Tom Is Sole Survivor

Tom Westman, 41, becomes oldest Survivor winner, outlasting competition on Survivor: Palau

By Sarah Hall May 16, 2005 6:00 PMTags

Firefighter Tom Westman smoked the competition on Survivor: Palau and became the oldest winner of the reality show to date.

The 41-year-old Sayville, New York, resident is $1 million richer after leading the Koror tribe to victory in every single immunity challenge--a Survivor first--and winning a record five of seven individual immunity challenges.

Westman also stayed true to the alliance he formed on the first day with dolphin trainer Ian Rosenberger and advertising executive Katie Gallagher. Over the course of the game, he never received a vote against him and beat Gallagher in the final tally by a lopsided 6-1 count.

Westman said his relatively mature age worked in his favor as his younger teammates saw him as less of a threat, despite his status as tribe leader.

"I thought I could hide under my gray hair," he said. "My strategy was to be Tom Westman and be true to my word."

This was the first season of Survivor in which the teams did not merge as their numbers dwindled. As a result, it was also the first season to see a "tribe of one" as Stephenie LaGrossa was left the last member of the Ulong tribe and finally was sent to join the Koror tribe.

In the end, Rosenberger, Gallagher and Westman were left to compete against each other in the final immunity challenge to decide who would make it to the final two.

The contestants were given an endurance challenge to see how long they could stay atop a buoy. Gallagher lasted four hours before leaping into the water out of exhaustion, leaving the two men to duke it out.

In a surprising move 11 hours into the challenge, Rosenberger, who had earlier been caught in an attempt to double-cross Westman, ceded the win to Westman out of respect, insisting that he take Gallagher to the final two.

At the final tribal council, Gallagher was attacked for being "lazy" and "mean," while Westman's straight-forward charm won him support.

When asked by the jury why he shouldn't be awarded the million-dollar prize, Westman replied, "I've already had my payday...this is a once-in-a-lifetime thing. I've been compensated."

Faced with a choice of voting for Gallagher or Westman, the jury had no trouble with selecting Westman as the sole Survivor.

The firefighter said he planned to use the money to pay for college for his children and fixing up his home.

"I'm going to take care of my family," he said. "We've now got that cushion that most middle-class families don't have. Everything is going to be a little easier, a little sweeter."

Meanwhile, Westman's victory wasn't the only big news of the night at the Survivor: Palau finale. Coby Archa, the gay hairdresser from Texas who was the first member of the Koror tribe eliminated, announced that he had adopted a baby who he named after fellow castaway Janu Tornell, a Las Vegas showgirl.

Finally, host Jeff Probst revealed that the next season of Survivor will be called Survivor: Guatemala--The Mayan Empire and contestants will live and compete among Mayan ruins. The 11th season of the series is scheduled to debut in September.

Survivor: Guatemala will have its work cut out to match the success of its predecessor. Ratings for Survivor: Palau were huge for CBS, dominating its Thursday night time slot with an average of 21 million viewers, making it the fifth-most watched program this season.

Facing off against ABC's powerhouse lineup of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition and Desperate Housewives, the two-hour Survivor finale was a strong second place, averaging about 20.3 million viewers, per overnight estimates. That's up over the 19.7 million who tuned in for the previous edition, Survivor: Vanuatu. However, ratings slipped for the hourlong Survivor Reunion Show, which only managed 16.7 million viewers against ABC's rookie hit Grey's Anatomy.