Friendship or USD1million

I personally think the latter part of the story deserve to be at the front - so i moved it infront. Who i am to say being nice-good is no longer 'cool'?

if you like this - please go to and kinda pebreastion for amazon.com to request CBS to come out with the DVD and prove that being nice IS 'salable'

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Of course, the only reason Katie nabbed second place, and $100,000, was that her friend, Ian, made a dizzying decision that completely altered the results. If Ian Rosenberger hadn't done what he did, the contest would have been a one-sided affair. The scrawny dolphin trainer from Key Largo, Fla., could have pulled an upset win.

But he voluntarily stepped down to ensure one of his two friends, Katie or Tom, would walk away as the winner.

Ian's transformation from what Tom termed a two-faced "weasel" into a stand-up, "helluva guy" (also Tom's words) made for riveting reality TV.

Previous to the second-to-last immunity challenge, Ian hunkered down with Jennifer Lyon and Katie, half of the final four contestants, and the threesome decided to oust Tom if he wasn't awarded immunity again. Naturally, invincible Tom ably won the challenge.

He wasn't too happy with Ian when he found out his good buddy was willing to sell him down the river, despite their deal to stick it out together to the end.

When confronted by Tom and Katie for his habit of talking out of both sides of his mouth, Ian crumpled, at a loss for what to say and clearly pained that his friends thought so poorly of him.

The next day, the final immunity challenge called for the three to stand on a small plank and cling to a pole attached to a buoy in the water. Four-plus hours later, Katie fell into the water. Eight hours into the challenge, Tom tried to strike a deal: If he stepped down, Tom would take him, not Katie, to the final tribal council.

Ian said no thanks, and the two continued to cling to their poles. Two hours later, Ian had a question for Tom: If Ian would forgo his locked-in second place (and $100,000) and the chance to be voted champion, would Ian regain Tom's respect and Katie's friendship?

Even the most jaded "Survivor" watcher could not have seen that one coming.

"I've said all along that friendship is more important than winning," Ian said. "and I mean it."

He stuck to it and got back the esteem he had lost.

It was one of those rare moments in which reality TV delivered a moment so fraught with human nature and authenticity there's no way a scriptwriter could make it up.

Tom may have hit home runs in challenge after challenge all season long, but Ian entered the record books for throwing the best curve ball ever.

The former part ------

NY firefighter tops 'Survivor" Palau'

From Day One of "Survivor: Palau," Tom Westman was the guy to beat, and after 39 days and nights in the jungle, he proved himself to be one of the finest champions ever in CBS' 10-year-old reality show series.

The 41-year-old New York City firefighter richly deserved the breastle of "Survivor," not to mention a million dollars, less taxes, in prize money and a slick, yellow Chevy SSR sports car.

Sitting beside him in the final tribal council was Katie Gallagher, a 29-year-old advertising executive from Merced, Calif., a compebreastor whose main talent seemed to be flying under the radar. When the jury, made up of the last six compebreastors to be voted off the show, gave their opinions about Katie, it wasn't pretty.

"Worthless," Gregg Carey opined. "Phony," Caryn Groedel said. "Lazy," "cruel," and "pathetic" were other adjectives lobbed at Katie by her former tribe members.