'Survivor:' The Glazed Temptation

The donuts held the secret to "Survivor: Palau" this week.

As the tribes merged, one of the long-standing Koror tribesmembers was voted out after foregoing immunity for a ring-shaped lump of glazed dough. Apparently, a Krispy Kreme can melt a man's will. It certainly melted Coby Archa's.

The cranky, backstabbing beta-male didn't see his voting off as a comment on his annoying diva persona. No, he said his tribesmembers saw him as the toughest challenger.

"What a smart group of people to get rid of me…. because I was a threat," Coby said.

Would he have stood up against a lesser species of carbohydrate?

Stephenie LaGrossa expected to be canned, because she was the new girl on the block. She was the only remainder of her self-destructive tribe, now added to the Koror mix. Never did host Jeff Probst seem so cruel than when he sent scrappy Steph way from tribal council the prior night alone. Would she paddle her canoe solo in across the dark ocean? Would she sleep without the comfort of another human breath?

"This is scary as hell," Steph said.

Her conscience seemed to kick in as her small campfire provided the only light around. "I learned how to light a fire and keep a fire from Bobby," she told the camera. "And then I beat him at it."

"I feel like I'm going to like starve to death," the woman viewers began to think of as Superwoman said as she tried fishing, without success. She gathered coconuts for hours.

While Stephenie busted her butt over on Ulong, The cranky Koror crew lounged. Janu Tornell sniffed a lily-white flower in a hammock. Jenn Lyon washed braided her hair. Repeatedly.

Ian Rosenberger observed that because Janu never leaves the hammock, "She's like the dysfunctional aunt who lives in the attic."

Now, we must understand a few things about Steph. She's tough. She took down three men from Alabama. She can shoot a gun, dive, wield a hatchet and adeptly hold a conversation. But this alone time has put her in a different state of mind. We'll call it "anxious lonely pre-teen girl."

After reading her tree mail, which she was instructed to pack her bags and go over to Koror's island, she started squealing.

"Oh my gosh. That's awesome!" she said. "I'm gonna have friends."

That's not all.

"I hope I don't cry when I see them," exasperated, she went on. "They're gonna be like, 'What's wrong with this lunatic psycho?!'"

But the new girl was welcomed with open arms. Katie Gallagher, Jenn and Steph had a serious bonding walk through the woods in which they talked personal hygiene, hookups and miscellaneous topics more fitted for "Sex and the City" than "Survivor: Palau."

She showed her Philly roots when taking a tour of the hut.

"Their place is just sic!" she told the cameras.

But before too much bonding could be done, two native Palauans showed up in a reed canoe to teach the survivors how to fish. But Coby caused some drama, the source of which was unclear. He either wanted to fish or didn't want to fish, and whatever Ian, Gregg and Tom said, it didn't seem to help.

They left Coby at the shore.

Not only did the men, who fished into the sunset, come back with 13 fish and a lobster, but they also brought back a bottle of rum. Everyone filled their bellies with the fish, and, apparently, had quite a few swigs of rum to wash it down with.

"With you came the party!" someone said to Stephenie across the table in the dark night.

Before the end of the meal, Tom was stumbling on his words, saying something that resembled, "I knew we needed new l-l-legs" before falling off his bench.

But the hardworking firefighter was the first one awake in the morning, trying to make some redeeming fish catches.

"Stephenie's going to add a whole new layer to this game," Coby said before pulling her off to the side to share gossip. But his version of the alliances didn't seem to match the ladies'. Steph hopped back over to her girls to share what Coby said, though it wasn't clear whom she believed.

For the immunity challenge, each survivor was given a pedestal in the water to stand on. Whoever stayed put the longest would win immunity.

But after an hour and no motion, a trio of donuts made the situation stickier. Instead of diving in immediately, though, Coby brought out his bargaining skills. If more than one tribesmember would jump, how many donuts would each get? Coby wanted at least two. "I could do two," host Jeff Probst said.

Janu and Coby jumped.

"What does it say when two people voluntarily give up immunity for a couple of donuts?" Jeff asked the tribe.

"Either they want to go home or they don't think they're in danger of going home," Katie said.

After 2 hours and 23 minutes of standing on pedestals, Jeff came out with a tray of chocolate chip cookies and milk. Before he could say what it was…

"I have with me a tray of 15 coo…" Jeff uttered.

Four of the standers jumped off.

Three remained.

But a pizza stood between them and immunity.

Only Tom, who wasn't strong against native rum, was strong enough to stand and not leave the perch to eat.

Immediately, tribal council followed the challenge. Steph has seen the flames and vote readings nearly a dozen times, but the other tribesmembers were unfamiliar. So, too, were some of the women with the planned outcome of the evening.

Janu thought she'd be voted out, as did Steph. But instead, Coby took a steady string of votes.

He seemed sad as he said, "They did give me a chance to be a part of the team." For more of Coby's thoughts on the life and times of Koror, tune in to Friday's The Early Show.