Amber Mariano

Amber Joy Mariano (née Brkich) is the Sole Survivor of. She originally competed on.

Although not known as an influential personality in The Australian Outback, Amber returned for All-Stars and quickly aligned with Rob Mariano where Rob brought her to the final two, with Amber defeating Rob by a 4-3 vote. Their relationship continued after the show and they ended up getting engaged at the live Reunion Show when Rob proposed before the votes were read. Their relationship transcended to marriage.

Profile
Retrieved from CBS.com

The Australian Outback
Amber was a participant in the second season of Survivor, having auditioned for the season to put off getting a job after college. She was a member of the green Ogakor tribe. She was quick to fortify a strong friendship with fellow contestant Jerri Manthey, who helped construct an alliance with Colby Donaldson and Mitchell Olson. Ogakor seemed to be the weaker of the two tribes, losing three consecutive Immunity Challenges. Before Ogakor's first Tribal Council, Amber's ally, Jerri, accused fellow tribe mate Kel Gleason of smuggling beef jerky into the game. Amber helped the tribe search Kel's bag when he was away but they failed to find anything. Amber voted for Kel at Tribal Council because she considered him to be the least trustworthy member of the tribe.

After losing the next challenge Amber targeted Maralyn Hershey because of her weakness at the Immunity Challenge. At Tribal Council Maralyn was voted off. At Ogakor's next Tribal Council Amber thought her four-person alliance was going to eliminate the tribal annoyance Keith Famie. She was surprised to learn that her ally Colby had flipped on her alliance, thus causing a tiebreaker between Mitchell and Keith. Amber's ally, Mitchell was eliminated by the tiebreaker. Ogakor went on to win all the following Immunity Challenge's, keeping Amber safe until the merge.

Upon the merge, Ogakor managed to use the knowledge that one of Kucha's members, Jeff Varner, had received votes beforehand, and eliminated him through a tiebreaker, thus gaining a numeric advantage over the Kucha tribe. The ex-Ogakor members stuck together in eliminating Alicia Calaway, but the ex-Kucha tribe then convinced Keith, Colby and Tina Wesson to turn on their alliance and vote out Amber's closest ally, Jerri. After Jerri's elimination, the Ogakor Alliance once again came together to oust Nick Brown. In No Longer Just a Game Amber felt secure in her alliance and thought they were going to vote out Rodger Bingham. Unfortunately for Amber the remaining Kucha members once again convinced Tina and Keith to turn on their alliance. At Tribal Council, Amber was voted out for playing an "under-the-radar game", and was a threat to win the show, ultimately landing in sixth place. Colby was the only one to not vote against her.

At Final Tribal Council, as a member of the jury, Amber cast her vote for Colby, who failed to win the million dollars. Colby ended up losing to Tina Wesson.

Voting History
In The Killing Fields, the vote ended with a 3-3 tie between Keith and Mitchell, forcing a revote. Amber did not change her vote on the revote. In The Merge, the vote ended with a 5-5 tie between Colby and Jeff, forcing a revote. Amber did not change her vote on the revote.

All-Stars
As one of the quieter personalities of, Amber's inclusion in the All-Stars installment of Survivor came as a surprise to most fans. She was a member of the red Chapera tribe, a boisterous group including Rob "Boston Rob" Mariano, Sue Hawk, and fellow Survivor: The Australian Outback alumna Alicia Calaway.

In the season's premiere episode, Rob and Amber agreed to form an alliance, with Rob citing his reasoning as: "chapera"

- She's beautiful; any idiot can see that.

As part of the most dominant tribe in Survivor: All-Stars, Amber enjoyed a healthy winning streak, until Day 12, where they suffered their first loss in an Immunity Challenge. Boston Rob and Amber's relationship was a matter of discussion at the Tribal Council, but Amber claimed to have come to play Survivor, not a dating game. Ultimately, the tribe decided to remove Rob Cesternino, who was perceived as the biggest strategic threat.

The following day, in a twist that "dissolved" the yellow Saboga tribe, two of its four remaining members, Jenna Lewis and Rupert Boneham, joined Chapera. Rob and Amber quickly fortified a long-term alliance with the tribe's two new members, one of the pair's many "agreements." The Chapera tribe then enjoyed a lengthy winning streak, winning immunity the next three times. The group did lose one member, however, when Sue Hawk opted to leave the game due to an indecent encounter with Richard Hatch.

In the season's ninth episode, a tribal shuffle managed to merely make each contestant switch buffs, with the exception of Amber, who remained on the Chapera tribe with Lex van den Berghe, Shii Ann Huang, Jerri Manthey, and Kathy Vavrick-O'Brien. The tribe went on to lose the next challenge and, in one of the season's more famous moments, Rob said to Lex, "You take care of her, I'll take care of you." In perhaps an ironic twist of fate, it came down to Amber and her former Outback ally Jerri at that night's Tribal Council. Jerri was eliminated, with Lex staying true to his deal with Rob, and Amber was spared.

In the following episode, the merge occurred, and Lex was chosen to be eliminated, despite Rob's promise to "take care of him." In the episodes following, Rob and Amber managed to maintain several "alliances," including their agreement with Rupert and Jenna, an agreement with Tom Buchanan, and an agreement with Alicia Calaway. With all these castaways believing themselves to be safe, Rob and Amber proceeded through the game, eventually finding themselves in the final four with Jenna and Rupert.

In the final four, Amber won her first individual Immunity Challenge, and she and Rob convinced Jenna to vote out her ally Rupert instead of forcing a tie. In the final three, Rob won immunity and chose Amber to continue with him to the final two. Facing the jury, Rob and Amber met much criticism for their gameplay.

In the season finale several months later, Rob and Amber revealed they were still dating, Amber even wore a yellow "I Love Rob" shirt (and was booed by the audience in the process) at the finale/reunion. Just before the votes were read, Rob surprisingly proposed to Amber and she accepted. It was revealed that, in a 4-3 decision, Amber was the Sole Survivor.

At the Survivor: America's Tribal Council special, Amber was one of ten females from the first eight seasons to be in the "Hottest Survivor Woman" category. Amber ended up winning.

Post-Survivor

 * In May 2001, Amber along with the other castaways of The Australian Outback appeared as panelists on  for Survivor Week. Amber appeared on two episodes, first episode being paired with Jerri and second episode as an individual panelist.
 * As an engaged couple in 2004, Brkich and Mariano participated in the seventh season of The Amazing Race. At one point in southern Africa, Mariano and Brkich saw their own photo on a magazine cover. They were also recognized in countries all over the world and assisted by locals who recognized them. Although Rob and Amber won four separate legs (the 2nd, 4th, 7th and 10th legs), the couple finished in second place behind the winners Uchenna and Joyce Agu.
 * Amber lived in her hometown, Beaver, Pennsylvania (a suburb 40 miles northwest of Pittsburgh), until her marriage to Rob. The couple then moved to Pensacola, Florida.
 * In 2006, they also took up residence in Las Vegas, Nevada to support Rob's poker career.
 * In summer of 2009, Amber, along with the other first eighteen Survivor winners, appeared on a TVGuide special "Survivor Millionaires: Where Are They Now?"

Marriage to Rob Mariano

 * Amber and Rob married on April 16, 2005 in Paradise Island, The Bahamas. They currently have four daughters: Lucia Rose (born July 4, 2009 ), Carina Rose (born December 10, 2010 ), Isabetta Rose born (born May 5, 2012 ) and Adelina Rose (born June 20, 2014 ).
 * In 2007, Rob and Amber competed on the first All-Stars season of The Amazing Race as newlyweds. After winning first place for the first three legs, they came in last and were eliminated in the season's fourth episode, finishing the race at the 8th place.
 * Rob and Amber filmed a 10-episode show for the Fox Reality Channel, Rob and Amber: Against the Odds in 2006, which aired in 2007. Set in Las Vegas, the show follows Rob's attempt to become a professional poker player and features professional player tutoring Rob.

Trivia

 * Amber is the first contestant from Pennsylvania.
 * Amber was the youngest contestant in The Australian Outback.
 * Amber is the first contestant to buy a "mystery item" at the Survivor Auction that was revealed to be a "trap item". She bought a pitcher of water from the Herbert River.
 * In a pre-game interview for All-Stars, Amber considered Rob Cesternino and Richard Hatch the best players of the game at the time.
 * Amber is the only contestant to reach the merge in  to never have been a member of Mogo Mogo.
 * Amber received exactly six votes against her in both of her seasons.
 * Amber is the first of two contestants to obtain a car without winning the car challenge (the second being Dreamz Herd).
 * Amber is the first winner of a three-tribe-format season. She was followed by Denise Stapley in , Tony Vlachos in, Mike Holloway in , and Michele Fitzgerald in.
 * Amber is the first returning player to win the game and the first of seven overall.
 * She would later be followed by Parvati Shallow in , Sandra Diaz-Twine in , Rob Mariano in , John Cochran in , Tyson Apostol in , and Jeremy Collins in .
 * Amber is one of fifteen castaways, along with Rob Mariano, Keith Tollefson, John Palyok, Ethan Zohn, Richard Hatch, Hayden Moss, Whitney Duncan, Twila Tanner, Jenna Morasca, Jon Dalton, Natalie Anderson, Nadiya Anderson, Michael Jefferson, and Caleb Reynolds to compete on another reality show besides Survivor.
 * According to his profile for, husband Rob Mariano listed Amber as the previous Survivor castaway that he respects the most.
 * In, Amber was referenced by her husband numerous times. The most noteworthy mention was when Rob compared Matthew Elrod and Andrea Boehlke's relationship to his with Amber. Also, the namesake for that season's merged tribe was the name of one of Amber's stuffed animals.