Survivor Rankdown 2.0 (Winner Reveal Page 225)

[Solaris]

 20. Ian Rosenberger

Survivor: Palau 3rd Place

 

 

 

Average: 14.33

 

RANKINGS:

Andrelliott - 2/20

JC - 7/20

Zoey - 9/20

Alex - 17/20

Amanda - 17/20

Steven - 18/20

Andy - 19/20

Hayden - 20/20

Public - 20/20

 

ANDRELLIOTT:

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Ian Rosenberger

 

After the last rankdown, it's no secret that Ian is one of my favourite contestants and probably my favourite male contestant by a long shot. Ian's reputation benefits from the fact that he only played the game once, compared to his other Palau comrades, whose reputations were mostly tarnished by their subsequent seasons. Palau is really just an iconic season for a lot of reasons. If you told me, before the season, that one of the tribes would absolutely decimate the other tribe in challenges every week leading up to the merge, I would have said that it sounds boring and probably not tuned in, but Palau was far from boring and Ian was one of the reason's why.

 

He provided the perfect foil for Tom. In the early game, Ian and Tom's strength and leadership are what led Koror to so many immunity challenge wins. As the youngest member of Koror, Ian and Tom seemed to have a very paternal relationship, with Tom as the older father and hero figure and natural leader of the tribe with his past as a firefighter and first responder during 9/11. After losing every member of Ulong save Stephanie, the really battle between them began, with every individual immunity challenge win going to either Tom or Ian. Ian, ever the strategist, knew that at some point he would have to target his closest ally, Tom, to have any shot at winning but Tom's streak of immunities continuously blocked his plans. Unfortunately for Ian, Tom caught wind of his strategizing and at the Top 4, Tom and Jenn teamed up to force a tie, voting for Ian, while Ian and Katie voted for Jenn. With the tie unable to be broken, Ian and Jenn went to a fire-making challenge where Ian was victorious and snuffed Jenn's torch. In the final three immunity challenge, Ian, Tom and Katie suffered through a long endurance challenge. Ian, overcome with the guilt of having to betrayed all his allies to get to that point in the game, made the decision to step down and give the final immunity to Tom before requesting to be voted out. At tribal council, Tom's verbal confirmation was all it took for Ian to become the last member of the jury. In the end, he was one of the eight people who voted for Tom to take home the million dollars.

 

Now, some people may argue that Ian let his personal feelings get in the way of his game, but part of why I love Ian is because he's such an incredibly complex character. When Palau aired, we'd seen plenty of contestants lie, cheat and steal to get to the final tribal council, with mixed results. Ian was one of the first players to really show the toll that those decisions take on the human psyche and show that sometimes integrity means more than the money. Now, you may not agree with that decision, but that's part of what makes Ian so interesting. Since the show, Ian's been doing great things. He's started a charity and got married and is living his life and, based on that picture and his twitter, has aged like fine wine and continues to be unproblematic. According to the Survivor Wiki, he was part of the casting call for Heroes vs. Villains and offered a spot on Second Chances, but honestly, I'm glad he said no. Would I like to see Ian play again? Absolutely, but I also love his perfect, single season story arc on Palau.

 

 

JC:

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Ian Rosenberger - I remember him being part of the tribe that won everything under the leadership of Tom Westman and them taking out Stephenie and Bobby Jon’s tribe and annihilating them. He was somewhat of a nerd, which I am always rooting for!

 

ALEX:

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Ian Rosenberger

Easily one of the most likable men in Survivor history. I don't think I've ever seen anyone say a bad word about him. Ian's a rare character with a storyline we've never seen on Survivor before, and will likely never see again. Survivor is so gamebotty now, it's refreshing to see someone who saw the game as second to the experience. But he never mocked the game like Greg or anything. He came out there to play the game and try to win, but if making moves tarnished the experience for him, it wasn't worth it. Since no one on Koror had to play the game for like 20 days, we watched Ian just hang out and form real and meaningful bonds with his tribemates, notably Tom and Katie. Basically, Ian just enjoyed hanging out on the island with his friends. So when they killed Ulong and had to begin playing the game, Ian was ready. He formed such strong relationships and was in such a good position, it would be a cakewalk to the end.

As he got closer to the end and he could see the win, Ian started playing harder. He wasn't afraid to make big moves and go behind Tom and Katie's back. First, he didn't pick Katie for the car reward, which she viewed as a betrayal. Katie and Ian's relationship is hilarious to me because literally everyone hated Katie except for Ian who loved her WAY too much. Ian like on his hands and knees begging for Katie's forgiveness is kind of painful to watch, but also demonstrates what a big heart he has. The real drama comes at the final four when he plots to take Tom out with Jenn. Unfortunately for Ian, Tom wins immunity and Jenn IMMEDIATELY rats Ian out to save her own ass. So Ian has to go through hell again and beg his bffs for forgiveness. He gets sent to the fire-making challenge, but beats Jenn and secures his spot in the final three. All he has to do is win immunity and he likely wins the game...

but yeah. That happens.

Definitely one of the most memorable moments in Survivor history. I really feel bad for Ian here. Tom pretty much emotionally terrorizes him into quitting and it's really tough to watch. The cutthroat nature of the game was really breaking Ian down and leads him to do this . This scene is why I can't take Ben's bullsh*t in WAW seriously at all. Ben quit because he was a crybaby who knew he wouldn't get the jury votes. Ian had an actual experience on the island and was getting more and more traumatized by the day. Ian truly is an angel and such a unique part of the Survivor canon. Unfortunately I'm ranking him this low cause I gotta be anti-man for #Justice4Cirie and #Justice4NatAnderson. Also I love so many people in this endgame, he wouldn't be much higher than, like, 12th or 13th anyway so it doesn't really matter.

 

 

AMANDA:

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Ian is a very interesting character. His moral struggle and feelings of guilt after he voted for Tom at the final 4 tribal council and then him essentially quitting Survivor by handing Tom immunity after nearly 13 hours, asking Tom to vote him out, to win back the trust of Tom and Katie is a powerful moment. What his friends and tribe mates thought of him suddenly became more important than the game. It was quite a moment. Ian added a lot to the season outside of that one moment, though! He was part of the incredibly dominant Koror tribe that won everything. He was in a strong alliance within the Koror tribe that took him deep into the game. He's just a great character that added quite a lot to the season. Congrats to Andrew for getting him here, as I know he's someone you really wanted in the final ranking.

 

 

STEVEN:

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IAN ROSENBERGER

Ian Rosenberger is a repeat Survivor Rankdown finalist, but he has still only played Survivor once. He was part of the dominant Koror tribe and came across as a really nice guy throughout this time on the show. He was Tom's righthand man and had a close friendship with Katie too. The three of them ended up in the Final 3, but the reality of having to betray his friends was too much for Ian. He threw the Final 3 immunity challenge and asked to be voted out in an attempt to repair his friendships with Tom and Katie. I still don't understand this move, but this was back when Survivor was a true social experiment instead of the biannual sporting event of big moves and superfluous advantages it has now become. Overall, Ian is a nice guy and not someone I dislike at all. This is just where he falls on my ranking out of this Top 20.

 

 

ANDY:

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IAN ROSENBERGER - I really like Ian and I remember him being one of my favorite characters after I watched Palau. Palau is just a weird season for me that I have had no desire to re-watch since my first time watching it a few years back, so no character would really place all that high especially in a top 20 as stacked as this one. I bet if I rewatched it I would appreciate Ian a lot more, but for now he’s an easy #19 for me. Ian was the third place finisher who is best known for giving up the IC at the top 3 to let Tom vote him out and make amends with their relationship. That would likely NEVER happen in modern Survivor today but it made for really compelling television when it happened. I also remember loving his relationship with Katie throughout the season, and just finding Ian really likable overall. I won’t be mad if he places high but I highly doubt he will, lol.

 

HAYDEN:

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20.) Ian Rosenberger

So, Ian Rosenberger is probably my least favorite of the top 20 Survivors, but I do wanna say that I still do like him and he’s mostly hurt by me not being very familiar with Palau. Anyways, Ian finished third that season after deciding to throw the Final Immunity Challenge in order to earn back Tom and Katie’s friendship after having previously gotten into fights with both of them. Honestly, I can respect Ian choosing friendship over the prize (though I equally understand the opposite viewpoint lol). If only I wasn’t so bad at binging shows, maybe I’d have grown fonder of Ian and ranked him higher. A few fun facts I wanna throw out there; Ian is the 4th tallest Survivor player ever at 6’8”. Ian is the first contestant ever to have been verbally voted out. And lastly, Ian was offered a spot on Survivor Cambodia, but he declined.

 

PUBLIC:

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I think I was the highest ranking for Ian in the Public vote.  I ranked him at #12.  He is one of my favorite male contestants ever.  He is my second favorite from Palau, and the only likable one left after Stephme was out.  Good job on the individuals who got him into the game.  Public clearly didn't favor him though.  

 

 

@Alex95 @*Amanda @sublymonal @Elliott @#jeah @hayden98 @JC @Steven_ @Zoey

Edited September 29, 2020 by Solaris

[Alex95]

A fair 20th place.

 

Did you forget to put Zoey's writeup in @Solaris?

[Deeee]

Ian had an iconic storyline. Solid 20th place finish. 

[sublymonal]

Ian? Last? With this group of misfits? 

[*Chris]

Public ranked him 20? Interesting. (I totally forgot where I ranked him, but I know it's not 20)

[Elliott]

[*Amanda]

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[JC]

A male last?

 

[Deeee]

@Elliott check Twitter. If it makes you feel any better, I still had my #1 rank 25th. LOL.

[Steven_]

I figured a guy would be last, but I didn't think it'd be Ian.

[*Amanda]

Andrelliott already flopping with this ranking.  

[Alex95]

Yul, Rob C, and Sean next three boots? 

[#jeah]

Definitely who I thought would be #20.  

[Solaris]

36 minutes ago, Alex95 said:

A fair 20th place.

 

Did you forget to put Zoey's writeup in @Solaris?

 

 

No Zoey had to step away for a couple of days.  She wasn't able to get them to me.

[Solaris]

Do we want #19 tonight too?

[Steven_]

25 minutes ago, Solaris said:

Do we want #19 tonight too?

 

[Solaris]

#19 is ready.  Predictions?

[Alex95]

Sean Rector.

[Alex95]

If my number one is next though, don't post it yet I'm almost done with the writeup 

[Solaris]

new page for #19!

[Steven_]

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Edited September 29, 2020 by Elliott