Amber Mariano

Biography
Amber Brkich is from Beaver, Pennsylvania and is a graduate from Westminster College, where she earned a B.A. degree in Public Relations, minoring in Speech Communications. Prior to departing for Australia, while Brkich searched for her "career job," she was an administrative assistant and lived with her parents. Her previous occupations while attending school included waitress, librarian assistant, swimming instructor, lifeguard and babysitter for her professor.

Brkich's favorite hobbies are going out with her friends, dancing and just generally having fun. She is a member of Alpha Gamma Delta Sorority, where she was Vice President and New Member Coordinator. Brkich also belongs to the Catholic Church. Her birth date is August 11, 1978.

Australian Outback
Originally placed on the Ogakor tribe, Amber became a member of a five-person alliance on the first day. Consisting of Colby Donaldson, Jerri Manthey, Mitchell Olson, Tina Wesson, and herself, this original alliance would control Ogakor for its first two Tribal Councils. At her first Tribal Council, in the second episode, she voted for Kel Gleason (along with the rest of the tribe) for the beef jerky incident and his general social ineptitude. The following Tribal Council, she voted with the rest of her alliance against Maralyn Hershey, who was percieved as the weakest link.

During the pre-merge period of the game, Amber grew especially close to Jerri and Mitchell, who were closer to her in both age and interest as compared to the older Keith and Tina. Amber and Jerri fantasized about food (especially chocolate) to the annoyance of Colby. After a third consecutive immunity challenge loss against the competing tribe, Kucha, Amber (along with Jerri and Mitchell) was shocked when former alliance members Colby and Tina betrayed Mitchell and forced a deadlock tie between him and Keith, eventually leading to Mitchell's elimination. Ogakor's losing streak continued through the next reward challenge, after which Amber cried and said she was "so tired of losing." Although it seemed that Amber and Jerri were in danger of being voted out, Ogakor won the following immunity challenge, and avoided the Tribal Council after that when Michael Skupin of the Kucha tribe was evacuated due to severe burns.

Amber made the merge and became a member of the Barramundi tribe on Day 20. Because of her former tribemate Tina's knowledge that Jeff Varner of the Kucha tribe had recieved previous votes, the five former members of Ogakor were able to gain the advantage over the five former members of Kucha in a deadlock tie between Colby and Jeff. It now seemed that Amber would make the final five along with her former Ogakor tribemates by voting off the remaining members of Kucha one by one, as the Tagi tribe did in the previous season, Borneo. The process of "Pagonging" began with Alicia Calaway's ousting, but at the next Tribal Council, however, Amber and Jerri were once again betrayed by Colby, Keith and Tina when the three teamed up with the three remaining Kucha members (Elisbeth Filarski, Nick Brown, and Rodger Bingham) to vote off the abrasive Jerri.

Percieved by Barramundi as little else besides Jerri's loyal friend, Amber now felt she was all alone in the Outback. Even after being betrayed a second time by her former Ogakor tribemates, Amber did not approach the former Kucha members to form a counter alliance, a move that would be criticized by fans and by Bryant Gumbel of The Early Show (who even went so far as to call her dumb). Colby, Keith and Tina spared her for one more Tribal Council to vote out Nick, but at the final six, Keith and Tina decided it would be more beneficial to keep Rodger and Elisabeth, and she was voted out (4-2, only Colby voted to save her) after enduring the flood of the Barramundi camp. In her final words, Amber admitted she was relieved to be out of the game.

On the jury, Amber decided to cast her vote for Colby (the runner-up) over Tina (the winner) in the final two, because although she was betrayed by both, she held Tina most responsible for her ouster, and because Colby had held true to his promise and never voted against her.

Amber made little impact after Australian Outback (although recieved more notoriety than people in subsequent seasons) due to her quiet nature on the show and lack of airtime. She was generally regarded by fans as one of the duller contestants, who rode on the coattails of stronger personalities, like Jerri.

All Stars
Three years after her run on Australian Outback, Amber Brkich competed in All Stars. Many fans of the show were puzzled at her inclusion in the All Star edition of the show, due to the relatively little impact she made on her first appearance, her under the radar gameplay, and reserved personality. It was specualted that she was the second choice replacement for Elisabeth Hasselbeck, her Australian Outback castmate, who had made a much larger impact, and could not participate because she was trying to become a host on the daytime television talk show, The View. It is also speculated that Amber was selected for her physical appearance and the fact that she had appeared on one of the more high-profile seasons of the show.

However she came to be on the show, Amber was originally placed on the Chapera tribe (one of three All Stars tribes) with Rob Cesternino, Rob Mariano, Susan Hawk, Tom Buchanan, and Australian Outback castmate Alicia Calaway. On the first day "Boston" Rob Mariano of Marquesas approached her for a secret alliance, and she accepted. The twosome (which became known as Romber among fans) would remain together through the end of the game and beyond, become the most dominant force in All Stars and later, one of the most dominant and influential forces in all of reality television. The Chapera tribe dominated the first few challenges, losing only one immunity challenge in the first four episodes. At the subsequent Tribal Council, Rob Cesternino was unanimously voted out for being a strategic threat. Rob and Amber continued to grow close to one another and began to snuggle at night in the tent. After the episode five reward challenge in which Saboga was dissolved, Chapera absorbed Rupert Boneham and Jenna Lewis. "Romber" quickly made a four person pact with the two new Saboga members and therefore had two conflicting loyalties the entire game: one to the original Chapera members (mainly Tom, but also Alicia), and one to the dissolved Saboga tribe members (Rupert and Jenna). This conflict would later make All Stars remembered as one of the nastiest and most personal Survivor competitions ever.

The new Chapera tribe continued to dominate, losing only one member in the next four episodes, when Susan Hawk quit the game. In episode nine, a suprise tribal switch left Amber on Chapera while all of her other tribemates were switched to Mogo Mogo. The entire former Mogo Mogo tribe was switched to Chapera. The situation seemed bleak for Amber, as she was outnumbered 4 to 1, and it turned more dire when Chapera lost the immunity challenge. However, Rob, in a last-ditch effort to save Amber, begged his real-life friend Lex van den Berghe to keep her in return for an in-game favor. Lex accepted the offer, in what was later proclaimed by fans as one of the stupidest decisions ever made on Survivor. Lex, Kathy Vavrick O'Brien, and Shii Ann Huang betrayed their former tribemate Jerri Manthey to save Amber in the hopes that Rob would seee to it that they got further in the game. Amber also voted for Jerri (ironically, Amber's friend from the Australian Outback) to save herself.

Amber once again made the merge and joined the Chaboga Mogo tribe (this time, the merged tribe only consisted of nine members). At the first merged Tribal Council, Rob and Amber made a bold move and betrayed Lex, holding true to the original Chapera alliance. Rob took most of the blame for the betrayal, which would later affect him in front of the jury. The pagonging of former Mogo Mogo members continued with the ousting of Kathy, another former friend of Rob's. The  pagonging was interrupted when Shii Ann, the next slated to go, won immunity. Rob and Amber were forced to choose between their two main loyalties earlier than expected. Ultimately, they chose to vote out Alicia (who had made a secret pact with Rob to never vote for each other). However, they still led Tom to believe that the final three would consist of themselves and him. The following Tribal Council, Shii Ann lost immunity and was voted out unanimously. Before leaving however, Shii Ann voted for Amber after saying that her vote would signify who she thought was playing the best game. By this time, Rob and Amber's relationship had become romantic, and they were not afraid of sharing it in front of the group, kissing and cuddling in front of everybody at the campfire. They felt very comfortable in their positions. At the last reward challenge, Rob won and, not suprisingly, chose to take Amber with him. It was revealed that not only had Rob won a car, but Amber had as well. When they got back at camp, Amber decided to tell her tribemates instead of witholding the information.

With the pagonging complete, Rob and Amber were finally forced to show where their loyalties truly lied. At the final five Tribal Council, they were forced to choose between their allegiance to Big Tom, who had been with them since day one, and their four person pact with Rupert and Jenna, created in episode five. After Rob instigated conflict between Rupert and Tom to ensure that a counter alliance would not be created, Rob and Amber decided that Tom had compromised his credibility along the way by talking to other people about breaking up Rob and Amber. An infuriated and betrayed Big Tom was voted out before giving a death glare to Rob. The game had become very personal.

In the final four, Rob and Amber persuaded Jenna to betray Rupert and manipulated her fear of not being able to beat him in a jury vote. They were successful, and Rupert was voted out. At the final immunity challenge, Rob won and easily chose to vote out Jenna. Rob and Amber had made the final two. In a heated Final Tribal Council, in which many angry speeches were made at Rob by his betrayed friends, Amber won four votes to rob's three. She recieved votes from Lex, Alicia, Shii Ann and Tom. It is generally believed that Amber recieved jury votes not for her own gameplay, but because of Rob's backstabbing, as was said in some of the jurors' voting confessionals.

At the live All Stars finale, just before the vote reveal, Rob proposed to Amber on national television, and she accepted. At America's Tribal Council, Amber was voted "Hottest Woman."

Many fans considered Amber undeserving of winning All Stars citing her lack of agressive gameplay and letting Rob do most of the strategizing. Amber herself admitted that she could not have won the game without Rob, leading some to believe she was nothing more than a coattail-rider. She had little more airtime and confessionals than her first outing, but recieved more notoriety for her romance with Rob. She is still considered as one of the dullest winners to date by fans of the show.