Exclusive Interview
‘Survivor’: Boston Rob Recalls Proposing to Wife Amber During Live Finale
What To Know
- “Boston” Rob Mariano proposed to wife Amber Mariano during the live finale of Survivor Season 8.
- In an interview with Swooon, he looked back on the proposal and what he was focused on during that time.
- He also revealed what his family is up to this summer and how he and Amber like to spend their date nights.
More than two decades before Jeff Probst‘s blunder at the live finale of Survivor Season 50, there was another live finale moment that had everyone buzzing: “Boston Rob” Mariano proposing to now-wife Amber Mariano as they waited to find out which one of them was going to be named the winner of Season 8 in 2004.
The proposal went down at Madison Square Garden in front of a live audience and millions of viewers watching at home. After Rob and Amber were accused of using each other for game purposes on the show, it was the perfect full-circle ending to their story, and 22 years later, Rob is reflecting on the special moment.
“It was epic,” he told Swooon at the ATX TV Festival. “There were 5,000 people in the audience. Madison Square Garden. It was huge. I was just singularly focused on [wanting] to ask her before the vote. Because we didn’t know who was going to win. I was like … I can’t ask her to marry me if she wins [afterward]. That would be horrible.”
Matt Sayles
After developing an alliance that turned into a showmance on the All-Star season of Survivor, Rob and Amber made it all the way to the final two, leaving the decision of who would win in the hands of the jury. Although many accused Amber of riding Rob’s coattails to the end, the jury voted in her favor, and she won the $1 million in a 4-3 vote. At that point, she already had an engagement ring, too.
Rob also reflected on the criticism of how fast things moved in his relationship with Amber, whom he’s now been married to for more than 20 years.
“A lot of people think we were on the show, we got engaged, and then they watched us get married. They don’t realize we filmed the show in October/November [2003], and we dated for, like, six months before we were engaged,” he pointed out. “The live finale was in May [2004]. Then it was almost a whole year before we were married.” The two tied the knot on April 16, 2005.
“In TV time, it was really quick, but in actual time, it was, like, a year and a half,” he explained.
Now, Rob and Amber are parents to four daughters, and with the oldest in her junior year of high school, they’ll be spending the summer taking her to look at colleges. “My wife is really emotional [about it], but I’m like, OK, of course, after high school, she’s going to college. Be a kid, be a student,” he laughed. “I’m more logical about it. But it’ll be weird. The four sisters are always together. But it’s not for another year.”
When the reality TV supercouple is able to get some alone time, they like to “go to bed early” he joked, adding, “We try to do things, but really, our lives are so busy every single day. We just spend time together, have dinner together. Once in a while, we get out and have dinner, just the two of us, or we go away somewhere.”
But the real secret to their happy marriage, he said: “Just always say you’re sorry. I’m always wrong about everything. Even when I’m right.”
