Foreword: As one of the LPL's most popular superstar teams, IG drew massive attention from fans for the "Knight's Road" match against TT, as the result would determine IG's ability to reach the Summit Group and the World Championship. IG lived up to expectations, wrapping up the BO5 in only 68 minutes, a new LPL record. This was supposed to be a night of celebration for IG fans, given that the team's performance far exceeded expectations. However, the post-match discussion took a completely different turn when IG's on-site host, October, publicly apologized.

IG's victory over TT was entirely due to the individual performances of their players. Both top laner TheShy and bot laner Jiaqi dominated their opponents during laning phase. The match was so one-sided that many viewers lost interest in the game itself. As a result, the audience's attention shifted to off-stage incidents. Some spectators noticed that IG's host, October, made a major mistake during the mid-game Q&A session, angering the live audience. Many even demanded that October publicly apologize to the affected fan.

This year, the LPL introduced a mid-game interactive segment to enhance the on-site audience's engagement and sense of belonging. The host asks questions, and audience members compete to answer; correct answers win an LPL team jersey. During the iG vs. TT match, host October invited a male spectator (referred to as "Brother" below) to answer a question: "Which two LPL pro players have the highest win rate with Gwen?" Brother first replied, "Top laner TheShy has a high win rate with that champion," and then paused to think.

At that moment, another spectator nearby began to answer. October immediately turned to this person and asked for his answer. He replied, "Bin and TheShy are the top two in Gwen win rate." October corrected him, saying, "The IDs are correct, but the order is wrong." At this point, the original Brother suddenly blurted out, "TheShy has the highest win rate, and Bin is second!" But October did not respond to him. Then, a female spectator nearby repeated exactly what Brother had just said. Finally, October awarded the team jersey to the female spectator.

October's apology sparked support from industry insiders.

After this incident, many viewers began to sympathize with Brother. The main purpose of the mid-game interactive segment was to reward fans, but October's actions showed a lack of respect for the on-site audience. Brother was chosen to answer the question, but while he was still thinking, another person cut in. What made it worse was that Brother actually gave the correct answer first, yet October ignored him and gave the jersey to the interrupting spectator.

As public criticism grew, IG's on-site host October posted an apology, stating, "Time was tight, and I had to move the process along, which forced me to let the second audience member answer." However, this explanation was quickly debunked by netizens in the comments. The female spectator who answered second actually took longer than Brother did. Moreover, after she gave a wrong answer, October even took the extra step of reminding her about the order of the names.

Currently, most viewers are more concerned about one question: Why did October ignore Brother's correct answer and give the reward to the second person? While many are criticizing October's lack of professionalism, some industry figures have come to her defense. For example, esports journalist Wang Weichen stated, "This incident would have been a non-issue in the past, but now that people are more sensitive, it's being blown out of proportion."

Conclusion

In my opinion, the core issue here is October's lack of professional competence. If she had strictly followed the rules or clearly informed Brother that he was disqualified for taking too long, such a controversy would never have erupted. In her apology, October also mentioned that she would buy a team jersey to compensate Brother. So, who do you think bears more responsibility in this situation?