Robert Carlo "Rob" Mariano (also known as Boston Rob) is the Sole Survivor of Survivor: Redemption Island.
Rob's rivalry with Russell Hantz in Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains eventually led to their return in Redemption Island. It was in this season where Rob played one of the most dominant games of all time; having unquestionable control over the Stealth R Us alliance and impressive challenge performances. Despite his cutthroat game-play turning off several jury members, Rob's superior gameplay compared to his disliked fellow finalists Natalie Tenerelli and Phillip Sheppard, finally awarded him the title of Sole Survivor after 117 days and 4 seasons.
Profile[]
Rob Mariano (35)
Current Residence: Pensacola, Fla.
Previous Seasons: Survivor: Marquesas, Survivor: All-Stars and Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains
Rob Mariano, more commonly know as "Boston" Rob, returns to Survivor: Redemption Island with one goal in mind: to win. "It's like I have been climbing this mountain for almost ten years now, and I'm not gonna quit until I get to the top." One of Rob's most defining characteristics is his determination. In 2000, he woke up the day of the Boston Marathon and decided to run it as an unofficial entry with absolutely no training and finished.
After growing up in Boston and graduating from Boston University, Rob met his wife, fellow castaway Amber Brkich, during Survivor: All-Stars and proposed to her during the live finale. Rob and Amber are happily married and living in Pensacola, Florida with their two daughters, Lucia Rose and Carina Rose.
Why will Survivor: Redemption Island be different? "I feel like I have done my best every time I played and I have always done what I said I was gonna do. I mean, I played this game three times. A lot has gone wrong every time. I'm hoping that this time I can make something go right."[1]
Survivor[]
Contrary to the reception of the Zapatera tribe to Russell Hantz, Rob was warmly received by his Ometepe tribe. It didn't take him long to be accepted into an alliance, which consisted of Andrea Boehlke, Matt Elrod, Grant Mattos, Natalie Tenerelli, and Ashley Underwood. His first target was Kristina Kell, who was looking for the Hidden Immunity Idol. They decided to split the vote between Kristina and Francesca Hogi when Ometepe lost the first Immunity Challenge. At that Tribal Council, Rob saw an opportunity to manipulate Phillip Sheppard, who was a loose cannon. Phillip's vote would break the tie and send Francesca to Redemption Island. When Ometepe lost the second Immunity Challenge, Rob made a deal with Phillip that he would protect him and welcome him into the Ometepe alliance if he followed the plan and acted as if he was getting voted out, but he told Phillip that he was not going home. Rob and the Ometepe alliance then blindsided Matt, a member of their own alliance. They did this because they feared Andrea and Matt would develop into a power couple, very much like Rob and Amber did in Survivor: All-Stars. After Ometepe won the third challenge, they then voted out Kristina, but split the vote with Phillip, just in case she had the idol. Rob then found his own idol when he lied that he had bowel problems and went to look for it. Ometepe then won the remaining Immunity Challenges left until the merge, turning an 8 to 6 disadvantage into a 6-5 advantage pending the result of the final duel.
When Matt re-entered the game as a result of Redemption Island, he decided to keep with Rob despite considering flipping. He was honest in telling Rob he was initially considering flipping on their alliance, which prompted Rob to turn his other allies on Matt, thus sending him back to Redemption Island. The Ometepe alliance then started their Pagonging of the Zapatera tribe, voting off Mike Chiesl, David Murphy, Julie Wolfe, Ralph Kiser, and Steve Wright. During this period, Zapatera tried to target either Rob or Phillip unsuccessfully, with only a few instances of his allies briefly straying from his "Buddy System" strategy. It would be that strategy that caused Natalie to alert Rob that Ashley was considering working with some Zapatera members, which solidified that Rob's optimal endgame scenario would involve Phillip and Natalie.
After Steve was voted out, there was nowhere left to hide, and the Ometepe alliance was forced to turn on themselves. Rob continued to be in control, and he convinced everybody to vote off Andrea instead of Phillip, who he conspired to take to the Final Three with because of his unpopularity with the jury members. Ashley was Rob's next intended target due to her previous albeit minor betrayal of trust as well as her closeness to Natalie. This plan was halted when Ashley won the Immunity Challenge. Rob was forced to eliminate his good friend in the game, Grant, due to his superior strength in challenges to Natalie. Andrea then came back into the game via Redemption Island and was then voted off again by Rob, Phillip, Natalie, and Ashley, who was starting to open her eyes to Rob's gameplay. Rob played his idol as it was the last chance to do so, negating Andrea's vote and forcing Ashley and Natalie to vote for Andrea. Rob had destroyed all other clues or evidence to other idols in the game. Rob then won immunity from the second-to-last Tribal Council, and thus won a spot in the Final Three. Rob then decided to take Phillip and Natalie to the Final Three with him. He believed he could win against them because Phillip was disliked by the jury especially by the Zapatera members, and Natalie had done nothing in the game and around camp, and had just been one of his minions. Ashley, realizing that she was going to get voted off, tried to convince Natalie to vote for Phillip, forcing a tie, but Natalie stayed loyal to Rob, consequently voting off Ashley.
At the Final Tribal Council, Rob delivered his argument to why he should be the Sole Survivor, which was much more developed than Phillip's or Natalie's, which were both very weak. However, he was criticized for being cutthroat and a cult leader, and his potentially creepy relationship with Natalie. Rob raised the stakes by saying that regardless of tonight's result, this would be his last day on Survivor. David lobbied for Rob to get the votes needed to win, citing Rob's gameplay this season as one of the best in Survivor history. Rob then won an easy victory, mastering his strategy and finally becoming the Sole Survivor, only losing Ralph's vote to Phillip, as Phillip said earlier that Ralph was Zapatera's hardest worker. Rob won by an 8-1-0 margin.
| Episode | Tribe Affiliation |
Challenge | Challenge Type | Sit-Out? | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ometepe | Push It Uphill | Reward/Immunity | No | Lost |
| 2 | Smash, Grab, Smash | Reward/Immunity | No | Lost | |
| 3 | Spin Cycle | Reward/Immunity | No | Won | |
| 4 | Toolin' Around | Reward/Immunity | No | Lost | |
| 5 | Smoko | Reward/Immunity | No | Won | |
| 6 | Beach Balls | Reward/Immunity | No | Won | |
| 7 | Crash Course | Reward/Immunity | No | Won | |
| Tribes Merged, Day 19 | |||||
| 8 | Murlonio | Roller Ball | Immunity | Lost | |
| 9 | Meso Soup | Immunity | Lost | ||
| Gang Hang | Immunity | No | Lost | ||
| 10 | Mayan Pizza | Immunity | Won | ||
| 11 | Log Jam | Reward/Immunity | Invited1 | ||
| Flashback | Immunity | Won | |||
| 12 | Step on Up | Immunity | Won | ||
| 13 | Bone to Pick | Reward/Immunity | Lost | ||
| 14 | A Numbers Game | Immunity | Lost | ||
| Meso Maze | Immunity | Won | |||
| Sole Survivor, Day 39 | |||||
| Notes: ^1 Grant shared his reward with Rob.
| |||||
| Episode | Rob's Votes |
Voted Against Rob |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Francesca | - |
| 2 | Matt | - |
| 3 | Ometepe Tribe Immune | |
| 4 | Phillip | - |
| 5 | Ometepe Tribe Immune | |
| 6 | Ometepe Tribe Immune | |
| 7 | Ometepe Tribe Immune | |
| 8 | Matt | - |
| 9 | Mike | - |
| David | David, Julie, Ralph, Steve | |
| 10 | Julie | Individual Immunity |
| 11 | Ralph | Ralph, Steve |
| Steve | Individual Immunity | |
| 12 | Andrea | Individual Immunity |
| 13 | Grant | - |
| 14 | Andrea | |
| Ashley | Individual Immunity | |
| Jury Votes for Rob |
Andrea, Ashley, David, Grant, Julie, Matt, Mike, Steve | |
| Sole Survivor, Day 39 | ||
References[]
| Preceded by Nicaragua  Fabio Birza |
Sole Survivor Titleholder Redemption Island  Rob Mariano |
Succeeded by South Pacific  Sophie Clarke |
| Survivor: Redemption Island Castaways | |||||||||||||||||
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