S40: Boston Rob Mariano

[ProfCrash]

11 hours ago, Mrs. P. said:

Tyson

Another person I would have been fine with not appearing on the show.

[truthaboutluv]

YMMV, but I've always felt like the arguments of how good a Survivor player is, is so subjective, because there are so many uncontrollable variables that go into the game. It's also why I don't subscribe to the someone took multiple times to win so it's proof they're not a good player. Because as I've always said, many consider Cirie an amazing Survivor player and she never won. 

With Wendell on this season, it makes me think of Dominik. Did Dominik not play an amazing game? Because many would argue he did and that in fact he had a far more visible game than Wendell and he should have won. But he didn't and so based on pure win/loss, he's not such a great player because he didn't win. 

Like I said, so many variables go into this. In Rob's case, for both Marquesas and All Stars, his game got flipped by a tribal swap. Sure other people have turned things around even in a vulnerable position in a swap but again, that's usually included being put with players from another tribe who aren't aligned. Players who maybe were down in their old tribe and are looking to jump ship. 

For All Stars, he mostly stayed with his original tribe but his number one ally got swapped. Some could argue he screwed himself making the offer to Lex. But do people think Rob would have been perfectly safe with Amber out of the game? Because Alicia swore after All Stars that she was ready to jump ship on Chapera if Amber had been voted out. But when she saw Amber survived, it convinced her that Lex and company may have been in Rob's pocket and so she was too scared to do it. 

Again there are so many ifs and buts and alternative scenarios one can spin. And as someone else noted, it's definitely a bigger challenge for players who are more known, in these kinds of seasons. Because you have a player like Sophie who won her original season. Awesome, great. But people still don't really know her that well. Tyson forgot her name and viewers are on the boards asking what season she was on. That works in her favor.

Because if you're out there, are you going to gun for quiet Sophie who is decent in challenges or a Rob who has this huge reputation that precedes him. Of course not. Is that proof positive that Sophie is absolutely a better player than Rob or anyone else eliminated first?

And then you have the tribal challenges. Say this season was different and Dakal was the one losing more than Sela. How differently would things have looked by now? Who knows who would have been out already in Dakal, how alliances and numbers would have shaped up heading into the swap for Sela members, etc.

There are just too many uncontrollable variables that go into this game for me to be all, "you didn't win immediately, so you're not that great of a player". But again that's just me. Which is why I've said, I don't get into the debates of greatest Survivor player and how amazing a player someone is or isn't. 

[truthaboutluv]

For all those who felt robbed out of not seeing the Rob and Amber reunion at EoE.  Here you go. Figured they'd put it up as a secret scene online.

Rob cracks me up - "he's just taking some time to hang out with his wife and his friends before winning the game". Don't see that happening but at least he was in good spirits. 

 

Edited March 19, 2020 by truthaboutluv

[ljenkins782]

13 minutes ago, truthaboutluv said:

For all those who felt jipped out of not seeing the Rob and Amber reunion at EoE.  Here you go. Figured they'd put it up as a secret scene online.

Rob cracks me up - "he's just taking some time to hang out with his wife and his friends before winning the game". Don't see that happening but at least he was in good spirits. 

 

I gotta say, this EOE looks WAY more fun than last season's. and LOL at Natalie saying "Amber was my wife til you showed up.." 

Quote

As far as ranking great players, just based on overall finishing positions I would say Parvati ranks way higher than Rob when it comes to all time greats. But the show doesn't seem to consider her that way.

The show definitely considers Parvati one of the greats. I'd say she's the "Rob" of the female side. Had she not been off having a baby during the filming of last season, it could very well have been here sitting there with Rob with a giant statue of her on the beach. Sandra won twice, but I feel like Parvati's name comes up far more in those dumb "which Survivor do you think you are/want to  be" interviews. 

Edited March 19, 2020 by ljenkins782

[Guest]

1 minute ago, ljenkins782 said:

The show definitely considers Parvati one of the greats. I'd say she's the "Rob" of the female side. Had she not been off having a baby during the filming of last season, it could very well have been here sitting there with Rob with a giant statue of her on the beach. Sandra won twice, but I feel like Parvati's name comes up far more in those dumb "which Survivor do you think you are/want to  be" interviews. 

I'd agree with this. I think a lot of people like and admire Sandra, but Rob and Parvati seem to be the ones that players aspire to be. I don't know how many past contestant pre-show interviews are still available online, but it would be an interesting study to see who got the most answers in the "which former player are you most like" question. I'm not volunteering XD

[fishcakes]

How does Amber look so gorgeous after being on EoE for however many days? Damn. And maybe it's the firelight, but she could pass for 22 years old there.

[Guest]

1 hour ago, truthaboutluv said:

For all those who felt jipped out of not seeing the Rob and Amber reunion at EoE.  Here you go. Figured they'd put it up as a secret scene online.

Rob cracks me up - "he's just taking some time to hang out with his wife and his friends before winning the game". Don't see that happening but at least he was in good spirits. 

 

I'm just gonna say it, and I don't care how much of a hypocrite it makes me since I hated EoE the first time: I would love it if Rob's hopelessly optimistic prediction of him and Amber making it to the final 2 again comes true. I've been all in on that pair since All-Stars and all through the Amazing Race, so why stop now?

Besides, my back-up favorites keep getting voted out as well, so I have to cling to something!

[fishcakes]

1 hour ago, tracyscott76 said:

I'm just gonna say it, and I don't care how much of a hypocrite it makes me since I hated EoE the first time: I would love it if Rob's hopelessly optimistic prediction of him and Amber making it to the final 2 again comes true.

If this does happen, I want the finale to be split-screen between FTC and Lex at his house watching FTC.

[BK1978]

On 2/19/2020 at 3:40 PM, AncientNewbie said:

Rob's embodied the "crafty construction guy" construct so long that I think people forget (including other contestants who need to know better) that he got a psych degree from good school and was allegedly a good enough athlete to walk on to a D1 hockey team that's generally a contender. A lot of years have passed, but the level of underestimation never seems to fade, even among people in awe over his previous successes. 

I think it could be the accent.  I honestly do.  Now I am far from being smart, but I have a Rhode Island accent which is very similar to Rob's Boston accent and I have noticed that people tend to treat me like I am an idiot and maybe it is not because of the accent but I always think it could be. 

On 2/19/2020 at 5:47 PM, grandmabegum said:

Ha! I never knew this. I went to BU though a few years after Rob did. Also, my college boyfriend (also went to BU -- only specifying cause there's so many colleges right there) went to the same high school as Rob. Small world.

Of track, but it always freaks me out when I am acquaintances with someone on the show. This has happened twice. And it's just like, casually flipping on TV, "Oh, I used to work with that guy!"

If you do not mind me asking, who was the other person you knew?  The closest I ever got to "knowing" someone on a reality show was my buddy went out on a couple of dates with Michelle's (from season ten of Big Brother) cousin. 

Now for what I initially came in here to say, I was watching Rob's talking head from the tribe swap episode of season four and oh boy would that not fly today.  I personally found it hilarious but with the cancel culture thought police today that would have not gone down well.  I am actually shocked they have not come after him for the comments.  I mean they have done it other more famous people.  Maybe Rob is not famous enough to be on their radar.

10 hours ago, fishcakes said:

If this does happen, I want the finale to be split-screen between FTC and Lex at his house watching FTC.

Only if he brings back the blue mohawk of justice. TM Miss Ali (I think).

[grandmabegum]

I work in TV so you can probably guess from there.

[Porkchop]

There's a story about Rob that I love. He woke up one morning (in his early 20s, I'm guessing) and realized it was the day of the Boston Marathon, and decided to run it. No practice, no registration, no get-ready of any kind ... off he goes to the start of the marathon, starts running, runs for something like 20 miles, walks for the last six miles, smiles and goes out for a beer. 

I love the guy for doing this. Can anyone verify this story?

[Hera]

@Porkchop, that story seems to be from his Marqueasas bio:

Quote

Mariano attended Boston University where he boxed and played rugby. In 1999, Mariano graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology. He aspires to one day become a doctor. His hobbies include hockey, fishing and playing cards. In 2000, he woke up the day of the Boston Marathon and decided to run it as an unofficial entry with absolutely no training. He stopped along the way to eat burgers and drink beer. He ended up walking the last 13 miles of the race and finished in 6 hours and 20 minutes. He couldn't walk for three days afterwards.

 

[grandmabegum]

I want to believe this to be true, but the starting line to the marathon is not in an easily accessible place that you would just wake up and mosey on over to the start. Then again I don't know where in Boston he was living. I ran it in 2003 with a friend and we had to get up super early and have someone drive us. So it's possible, and I don't know why he would make a story up, but if he wasn't registered there's no proof. I shall further investigate this and it's something to do on lock down.

ETA: Though the not walking for 3 days after checks. I lived in a three story walk up. It's not going up the stairs that will get you, it's coming down.

Edited March 23, 2020 by grandmabegum

[Nashville]

On 3/22/2020 at 7:47 PM, grandmabegum said:

ETA: Though the not walking for 3 days after checks. I lived in a three story walk up. It's not going up the stairs that will get you, it's coming down.

Sounds like something I did back in the 90s, when I was much younger and stupider. A couple of work buddies and I were stuck in Albuquerque on an August weekend between meetings, and we decided to run out to the Grand Canyon. They wanted to do the burro rides, but those were booked up several months in advance. Everybody was pretty bummed about it until one idiot suggested, “Hey – as long as we’re here, why don’t we hike down in the canyon a ways?”

One guess who the idiot was.  The next day it took me 20 minutes to get out of bed - and I was the quickest up of the bunch.

[Jextella]

So, I'm spending WAAAYYY too much time on Twitter today, but this is so fun I thought I'd share. 

[fishcakes]

2 hours ago, Jextella said:

So, I'm spending WAAAYYY too much time on Twitter today, but this is so fun I thought I'd share. 

This is the greatest piece of Survivor video ever, made even greater by the song. "When Will I See You Again?" by The Three Degrees, which is also the first 45 I ever bought. (If you don't know what a 45 is, ask your mom.)

[Guest]

14 hours ago, fishcakes said:

This is the greatest piece of Survivor video ever, made even greater by the song. "When Will I See You Again?" by The Three Degrees, which is also the first 45 I ever bought. (If you don't know what a 45 is, ask your mom.)

aka Andrea, Ashley and Natalie (aaka Rob's Angels) How appropriate!

Edited March 29, 2020 by tracyscott76

[tvgoddess]

On 3/28/2020 at 5:31 PM, Jextella said:

So, I'm spending WAAAYYY too much time on Twitter today, but this is so fun I thought I'd share. 

This is the greatest thing I've ever seen, and I can't thank you enough for bringing it here. (As much time as I spend on Twitter, I'm surprised I didn't see it.) But it's fantastic.

[Porkchop]

I searched for the Boston Rob thread because I was really touched by his Facebook posts in the past few days. And found the video posted above, about the Rob/Ethan friendship. So touching. Scroll back to see it. 

[Miss Scarlet]

Quote

Now for what I initially came in here to say, I was watching Rob's talking head from the tribe swap episode of season four and oh boy would that not fly today.  I personally found it hilarious but with the cancel culture thought police today that would have not gone down well.  I am actually shocked they have not come after him for the comments.  I mean they have done it other more famous people.  Maybe Rob is not famous enough to be on their radar.

People also seem to forget that he forced a gay man to out himself on national TV. I've never understood it being swept under the rug and him being a fan favourite with all of this. I've heard people say that this was okay back then, but most people knew it wasn't, or that Rob has changed since then, which I don't really see.

[peachmangosteen]

Yea, I mean that was a long time ago and I hate when people get raked over the coals for things they said years and years ago because it pretty much says people can't change and that's just sad. But I am surprised it really has never seemed to come up at all with Rob, especially nowadays with people being more cognizant of that kind of shit.

I would say he has changed though. At the very least, he's smart enough to not say shit in public/on tv anymore lol.

[Guest]

8 minutes ago, peachmangosteen said:

Yea, I mean that was a long time ago and I hate when people get raked over the coals for things they said years and years ago because it pretty much says people can't change and that's just sad. But I am surprised it really has never seemed to come up at all with Rob, especially nowadays with people being more cognizant of that kind of shit.

I would say he has changed though. At the very least, he's smart enough to not say shit in public/on tv anymore lol.

I believe John did resurface recently during last season, bringing it up again. But supposedly he and Rob had worked it out long ago. Similar to how Lex and Rob had somewhat made peace over All-Stars long ago (there was a photo of them smiling together).

And then lo and behold, Rob pops up on Survivor again after years away, and suddenly John and Lex are there rehashing their old issues (Lex's, of course, being more ridiculous). Seemed a little odd to me, but I'm not in their heads to know why they did it. I give John more of a pass than Lex.

Rob seems like a decent enough guy as far as his family goes, and in his general interactions with people in his everyday life (yeah, yeah, he's a bully because he said everyone should empty their bags and they obeyed of their own free will), and I don't know that there's really any evidence either way about his current views on homosexuality and the right to privacy. So I'll give him the benefit of the doubt.