Bobby Jon Drinkard was raw Southern intensity — a wild-eyed Alabama competitor who became the emotional core of Palau's doomed Ulong tribe. As Ulong lost challenge after challenge and dwindled to two, his refuse-to-quit fire (and his battles with Stephenie LaGrossa) made him a fan favorite.
The image that stuck was the balut: when Koror sent Tom Westman over to face him in the duck-embryo eating reward, Bobby Jon gagged and retched his way through all five, fists at his lips, while Tom calmly powered through to take the win. It was Ulong in a nutshell — Bobby Jon willing to choke down anything, and still coming up short.
When the tribe finally shrank to just him and Stephenie, the two faced off in a fire-making tiebreaker at Tribal; Stephenie got her flame first and sent him home — leaving her, not him, as the lone Ulong survivor. He came back for Guatemala, made the merge, and went out ninth. Pure heart, every second he was out there.
