Tom Westman (born January 4, 1964) is an American firefighter and television personality best known as the winner of the tenth season of the American
reality show
Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 19 ...
''
Survivor'', ''
Survivor: Palau''
''Survivor''
''Palau''
At the beginning of the game, Westman was not immediately targeted. It was revealed later in the show that when the game began with all 20 castaways on the same island, Westman was in an early alliance with Ian Rosenberger, Katie Gallagher and Stephenie LaGrossa. However, when it came time to pick tribes, LaGrossa ended up on Ulong, whereas Westman, Rosenberger, and Gallagher all ended up on Koror. This three-way alliance stayed strong on Koror. Originally planning to hide behind the younger males of his tribe, Westman soon became known for leadership skills. Koror won every single tribal
immunity
Immunity may refer to:
Medicine
* Immunity (medical), resistance of an organism to infection or disease
* ''Immunity'' (journal), a scientific journal published by Cell Press
Biology
* Immune system
Engineering
* Radiofrequence immunity desc ...
challenge; but in Episode Five, both tribes faced Tribal Council regardless of the challenge outcome, and Westman joined the rest of his tribe to vote out Willard Smith.
As Ulong's numbers dwindled until only LaGrossa remained, she joined Koror in Episode Nine in an unofficial merge. Together with LaGrossa, Westman's alliance controlled the game and voted out Coby Archa. At the Final Eight, Westman's allies Gregg Carey and
Jennifer Lyon
Jennifer "Jenn" Jane Lyon (February 27, 1972 – January 19, 2010) was an American actress and television personality best known for her appearance on '' Survivor: Palau''.
Early life
Jennifer Lyon was born in Nevada, but grew up in Washington ...
decided to vote out LaGrossa, despite Westman's campaigning for her. But Janu Tornell unexpectedly quit the game at Tribal Council after LaGrossa broke down once. At the next Tribal Council, LaGrossa tried to organize an alliance of women against Westman, but Caryn Groedel would not commit and informed him of the plan, leading to LaGrossa being unanimously voted out.
At the Final Three, heavy arguments took place, especially between Rosenberger and Westman. Rosenberger felt as if he had betrayed his friends, and protested that he did not come to play the role of the villain. In the endurance immunity challenge, after close to 12 hours, Rosenberger agreed to step down and be voted off in a sign of repentance for betraying Westman and Gallagher. Westman accepted and Rosenberger was voted out. This immunity win was Westman's fifth out of only seven individual immunity challenges, matching the record for individual immunity wins set by
Colby Donaldson
Colby Donaldson (born April 1, 1974) is an American television personality. He became the runner-up of '' Survivor: The Australian Outback'' (2001). He then competed on two more ''Survivor'' seasons, '' Survivor: All-Stars'' (2004) and '' Survi ...
''(
Survivor: The Australian Outback)'', and since matched only by
Terry Deitz
Terry Deitz (born October 10, 1959) is an American retired U.S. Navy pilot, television host, and two-time contestant on the American reality television show ''Survivor (U.S. TV series), Survivor'', where he placed third in the Survivor: Panama, ...
''(
Survivor: Panama)'',
Ozzy Lusth
Ozcar "Ozzy" Lusth (born August 23, 1981) is a Mexican-born American reality show veteran contestant who has appeared on several shows, including '' Survivor: Cook Islands''; '' Survivor: Micronesia;'' and '' Survivor: South Pacific''. He also com ...
''(
Survivor: Cook Islands)'',
Mike Holloway (''
Survivor: Worlds Apart''), and
Brad Culpepper
John Broward "Brad" Culpepper (born May 8, 1969) is an American former professional football player who was a defensive tackle in the National Football League (NFL) for nine seasons during the 1990s and early 2000s. Culpepper was as an All-Ame ...
(''
Survivor: Game Changers'').
In the end, Westman defeated Gallagher in a 6–1 vote to become the Sole Survivor. He managed to gain the votes of everyone on the jury except Archa.
''Heroes vs. Villains''
In the show's
20th season, Westman participated on the Heroes tribe. He had discovered several
chickens
The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated junglefowl species, with attributes of wild species such as the grey and the Ceylon junglefowl that are originally from Southeastern Asia. Rooster or cock is a term for an adult m ...
on Day One, which all of his tribe was able to surround and catch. At the beginning of the game, he made an alliance with
Colby Donaldson
Colby Donaldson (born April 1, 1974) is an American television personality. He became the runner-up of '' Survivor: The Australian Outback'' (2001). He then competed on two more ''Survivor'' seasons, '' Survivor: All-Stars'' (2004) and '' Survi ...
and fellow ''Palau'' contestant Stephenie LaGrossa. The tribe beat the Villains at the first reward challenge, but lost at immunity. On Day Three, Westman and the rest of the tribe voted out
Jessica "Sugar" Kiper
Jessica Michele Kiper (born February 22, 1979) is an American actress, singer, and model, best known as a contestant from '' Survivor: Gabon'' where she placed third. She was more commonly known to the viewing audience during her run on ''Survivo ...
because of her emotions and her weakness. After going to Tribal Council a second time, he was one of only three people who attempted to vote out Amanda Kimmel, but failed to do so when LaGrossa was voted out. He later found the hidden immunity idol at the Heroes campsite and thus got a target on his back. At the fourth Tribal Council (third for the Heroes), he played the idol which negated three votes cast against him, sending
Cirie Fields
Cirie Tiffany Fields (born July 18, 1970) is an American nurse and reality TV personality who competed on four seasons of '' Survivor''. She first appeared in 2006 on '' Survivor: Panama'', finishing in 4th place. In 2008, she returned and placed ...
home instead. After James Clement had injured his leg at the following reward challenge, Westman attempted to ensure the elimination of Clement. After losing their fourth immunity challenge, Westman again attempted to vote out Kimmel, however the Heroes tribe elected to keep her and Clement over Westman, and he was voted out 5–2.
Reception
Westman played ''Survivor'' for a combined total of 53 days. In 2011, he was officially inducted into the
Xfinity
Comcast Cable Communications, LLC, doing business as Xfinity, is an American telecommunications company and division of Comcast Corporation used to market consumer cable television, internet, telephone, and wireless services provided by the com ...
"''Survivor'' Hall of Fame," alongside ''Cook Islands'' castaway
Ozzy Lusth
Ozcar "Ozzy" Lusth (born August 23, 1981) is a Mexican-born American reality show veteran contestant who has appeared on several shows, including '' Survivor: Cook Islands''; '' Survivor: Micronesia;'' and '' Survivor: South Pacific''. He also com ...
and ''Panama'' contestant
Cirie Fields
Cirie Tiffany Fields (born July 18, 1970) is an American nurse and reality TV personality who competed on four seasons of '' Survivor''. She first appeared in 2006 on '' Survivor: Panama'', finishing in 4th place. In 2008, she returned and placed ...
. In a 2015 interview, host Jeff Probst declared Westman to be one of his top ten favorite ''Survivor'' winners ever, and one of his top six favorite male winners.
Filmography
Television
Personal life
A
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
firefighter for twenty years, Westman retired from Ladder Company 108 in 2005 and transitioned to working in the insurance industry. He has a
deaf
Deafness has varying definitions in cultural and medical contexts. In medical contexts, the meaning of deafness is hearing loss that precludes a person from understanding spoken language, an Audiology, audiological condition. In this context it ...
daughter.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Westman, Tom
1964 births
Archbishop Molloy High School alumni
Living people
Participants in American reality television series
People from Queens, New York
Survivor (American TV series) winners
People from Sayville, New York