The Towering Inferno

With High Drama And Operatic Emotion, Tom Wins 'Survivor: Palau'

(CBS)  So, with Ian in the doghouse, everyone trooped off to Tribal Council, which host Jeff Probst noted started much later than usual. After revealing Ian's perfidy, the tribe variously displayed their emotions as angry (Tom), stunned (Ian), hurt (Katie) and delighted (Jenn).

The votes came down to a tie, as Tom switched his vote to Ian, while Katie remained loyal to their errant ally. The tie breaker, as it had been for Stephenie and Bobby Jon, was a fire-building contest, which Ian won handily, sending Jenn down the path to the jury.

The shame of it all was this: When Tom, Ian and Katie returned to camp that night, it should have been a great celebration. After all, they had made their alliance together on the very first night, and they managed to see it through to fruition.

Instead, it was a dark night of the soul for Ian, who had to face the music, not only from Tom but also from Katie (of all people), who knew better than anyone how Ian had attempted to betray Tom.

How Katie always seemed to skate by during this game as an innocent party is a mystery of the universe that might never be fully explained to anyone's satisfaction (like crop circles).

In any case, it was a grim trio that made a farewell boat trip, paddling along with the snuffed torches of their fallen comrades, and burying them at sea. When they came upon the torches of those who were not in favor with Katie, she either drowned the torches with no comment, with meaningless commentary ("Coby, Coby, Coby"), or with curt witchery ("Goodbye, Janu").

The final challenge, traditionally, is one that involves endurance. In this game, the three finalists had to hang onto a buoy in the water with their bare feet on a small metal disk. Katie lasted more than four hours, but Ian and Tom were there for nearly 12 hours, and they might be there even now if Ian had not given up.

Why did Ian give up? To win back Tom's respect. How did he arrange that? By making the following deal with Tom: He, Ian, would step off the buoy only if Tom would agree to take Katie to the final two.

The best guess here is that Ian's deal was intended not only as an atonement for his sin of betrayal, but also an acknowledgement of Tom's morally superior approach to playing the game.

So, having patched things up, Tom and Ian were immediately separated, one to return to camp with Katie and the other to be escorted by host Probst to join the jury.