LAST EDITED ON 05-16-05 AT 10:57 AM (EST)

First things first: the reason why I'm posting this in the Fanatics forum is because I'd like this thread primarily to be an honest discussion about what happened to make Ian concede the game to Tom and Katie. I don't expect everyone to have only positive things to say about Ian; I welcome any civil criticism of this unprecedented move. However, if you feel inclined only to make mean-spirited comments about Ian's personality or character please take it over to Bashers because, well, that's why Bashers is there!

I think it would be useful to start with a brief summary of Ian's bio from the official Survivor website. He spent his summers in high school working as a camp counselor and also volunteered for an organization that helps children with mental and physical disabilities. He currently works as a dolphin trainer and dolphin-assisted therapist for children with disabilities. He is most proud of participating in Penn State's Dance Marathon, where he did not sit or sleep for 48 hours and helped raise $3 million for children with cancer. I just saw him on the Early Show and the guests he chose to take to New York were not his family, but a group of kids with cancer.

This paints a portrait of someone who is very concerned about the well-being of others. Someone who dedicates most of his time to charitable causes or working with disabled children would also, I imagine, be a sensitive and caring individual. True to form, his sensitivity came through loud and clear in the final days of his time on the island. With each passing day he became more and more consumed with his emotions and less focused on the fact that, in the end, Survivor is nothing but a game and one of the goals is to "outwit" the other players.

My initial reaction when I saw Ian drop out of the final immunity challenge was one of anger. Even though I actually expected him to do something to sacrifice his place in the final two for Katie, I still could not believe that someone would go so far into the game only to essentially drop out of the competition. The fact that he spent 12 hours clinging to that pole before he resigned was even more incredible. Despite having anticipated such a move on his part, I was very mad at him and was greatly disappointed with his decision.

The more I thought about it, though, the more the whole situation made me sad. I have actually now come to feel that the main reason Ian quit was because Tom and Katie gave him such a hard time in camp the day before. This is not to say that Tom should not have questioned Ian about plotting against him. When they all came back from Tribal Council and Tom was shocked that Ian was still there (after having tried to vote him out) it is completely understandable that he would be upset.

Still, the way things played out struck me as very unfair. Tom and Katie teamed up on Ian and essentially badgered him into feeling as if he had no other recourse but to quit in order to regain his honor. They really laid into him and they wouldn't let him get in so much as a word. Every time he tried to defend himself or explain his actions Katie and Tom would cut him off and go back to attacking his game and his character. I found it to be extremely hypocritical, especially on Katie's part. She had agreed to join him and vote off Tom had he lost the immunity challenge and here she was berating Ian! Tom wasn't much better; how dare he act as if he'd never broken his word or lied to anyone! Who is he to crucify Ian for trying to eliminate his biggest competition when he himself had schemed to vote off Gregg? They both knew that Ian was a sensitive guy and they both knew how such a two-fronted assault on him would make him feel. It seemed to me that they used Ian's emotional nature as a means to manipulate him into losing the desire to continue playing the game.

I don't think Ian slept very much (if at all) that night and so I'm sure he was physically and mentally drained even before he went into the final challenge. The lowest point for me, however, was Tom's response to Ian's offer to step out of the game. Tom could have been a good sport and responded with something along the lines of, "Ian, it means a lot to me that you would let me win immunity and ask me to take Katie to the final two. That really shows me that you're sorry about what happened and that you wish you had stayed loyal to me. Just the fact that you would do that proves to me that you're an honest guy so I'm not going to ask you to go through with it. Let's duke it out and may the best man win."

Of course, that's not what he said. I count his response to Ian's offer to be among one of the most manipulative and slimy moves ever made in Survivor. Tom told Ian that he could earn back his respect by stepping down. He basically insinuated that the only way Ian could ever prove to him that he was a decent person was by sacrificing himself to atone for his mistakes. What the hell was Tom thinking? I found his holier-than-thou response to be sickening. How dare Tom respond that way? How dare he act as if he had never behaved in a dishonorable or disloyal manner during the course of the game?

~*~Andromeda~*~