Gay Ex-Mormon Sean Edwards Quits 'Survivor 45' to Mixed Results

The fan-favorite gay ex-Mormon on "Survivor 45" has decided to call it quits, leaving audiences and remaining players with mixed emotions about his departure.

As reported by Entertainment Weekly, 35-year-old school principal Sean Edwards left the show after a series of unfortunate events. His team, Lulu, lost every single immunity challenge and the marooning competition. Then, a Lulu tribemate quit three days into the game. Things haven't exactly been a walk in the jungle for Edwards.

On day nine, Edwards decided that he wanted to walk away from the game, saying that he wanted to spend time with his husband. However, that logic didn't make sense to many viewers because eliminated contests are sent to housing in Fiji so they can stick around and decide the ultimate winner of the game.

Even "Survivor" host Jeff Probst called Edwards' reasoning into question on his "On Fire" podcast. According to Probst, Edwards was "romanticizing" his exit.

Speaking to EW, Edwards says it was a matter of reclaiming time he lost in his past.

"And bits of that surfaced for me throughout the game of like, 'Well, is this really helping me to rewrite my past?' But every time I felt that throughout the game, I'd kind of push it down," he said. "No, I'm here for a reason. Push forward, push through."

Then Edwards says he had a revelation. " 'Sean, you don't need to erase your past. You need to learn how to embrace it.' And for me, that was so impactful, and I was still in the moment at Tribal – you could see me, I'm still pushing that down – I'm like, 'I'm here to play Sifu. I'll be your pizza. Whatever you want me to be, I'm here for it'."

About Probst's comments, Edwards says he has nothing but respect for him.

"Yeah, I certainly respect Jeff's thoughts on the situation and how he was reading into it. I think also about the fans out there and all of their opinions and thoughts, and I have no expectation that anyone can understand why I did what I did, because my decision was extremely personal," he said. "No one has lived a day in the life of Sean, and so I don't expect other people to understand it."

And there you have it. Edwards is out of the running for winning "Survivor 45," but we can still root for him to represent on screen.

Read his complete interview with Entertainment Weekly here.