Rob Mariano and Amber Brkich, who have shown a competitive streak on "The Amazing Race 7."
Posted on 04/28/2005 4:20:02 AM PDT by MississippiMasterpiece
At the beginning of an episode of this season's "Amazing Race," Rob Mariano, one of the contestants, spoke to the camera: "You know that thing, the American dream? Amber and I are living it." As the episode progressed, viewers saw Mr. Mariano, along with Amber Brkich, his fiancée and racing partner, steal a cab from another team, get a police car to escort them through Santiago, Chile, and successfully talk other teams into also quitting a challenge he couldn't complete, thereby ensuring that he and Ms. Brkich would stay in the game.
It appears the definition of the American dream has changed. Ms. Brkich, 26, was the winner of "Survivor: All-Stars" less than a year ago. Since then, Mr. Mariano, 29, another "Survivor" alumnus who was once a construction worker from Boston, and Ms. Brkich, a former secretary from Beaver, Pa., have shed their old lives to form a new one together: they are reality television's premiere villains.
CBS announced last week that it will broadcast their wedding, which took place on April 16 in the Bahamas, as a two-hour special called "Rob and Amber Get Married" on May 24. In between "Survivor: All-Stars" and the wedding show, they took part in the seventh season of CBS's "Amazing Race," which is broadcast Tuesday nights at 9. With three episodes left, Mr. Mariano and Ms. Brkich have schemed and backstabbed their way to being one of the four couples remaining in the race.
"What they've brought more than anything is a real sense of competitiveness and controversy - they're planning the game in a new way," Kelly Kahl, CBS's senior executive vice president for scheduling, said in a recent telephone interview from Los Angeles. "Some in the audience like it and some don't."
From the Nielsen rankings, it appears that those who like it are in the majority - the ratings for this season of "The Amazing Race" are poised to be its highest ever. Defying the pattern of most aging television shows, particularly reality series, the average number of viewers has climbed steadily over the past three editions of "The Amazing Race," from 10.3 million to 11.5 million to 12.4 million for this current season, according to Nielsen Media Research.
The show, a two-time Emmy winner in the reality program category, was once one of the more kindly of television's reality offerings, but the growth in viewership coincides with a ramping up of its portrayals of villainy.
"I think that the prevalence of more confrontational characters has certainly drawn attention to the series, and that helps bring viewers in," said Andy Dehnart, the editor of realityblurred.com, a Web site about reality television.
In its fifth season, broadcast last summer, a Texan named Colin Guinn continuously sniped at his girlfriend, Christie Woods. During its sixth season, which ended in February, Jonathan Baker and his wife, Victoria Fuller, berated and belittled each other, and Mr. Baker shoved her on camera.
With the stunt-casting of Mr. Mariano and Ms. Brkich, the shift in the show's tone from a benign racing competition to a more confrontational, character-driven reality drama has evolved even further.
Both Mr. Guinn and Mr. Baker blamed the producers of "The Amazing Race," which was created by Bertram van Munster and Elise Doganieri, for editing them into evil, one-dimensional characters. But they also both admitted that they provided more than enough unflattering material for the producers to use. Speaking on the telephone from Corpus Christi, Tex., Mr. Guinn said: "I can let my temper get the best of me sometimes. I wasn't thinking as much about the cameras as I should have."
According to Mr. Baker, he played the villain on purpose because those are the characters from reality television that he has loved watching. But, he said, he lost control of his own portrayal. "I was out there trying to be larger than life," he said from Los Angeles. "Sometimes that comes back and bites you. I didn't know what it was going to look like."
As reality veterans, Mr. Mariano and Ms. Brkich are different kinds of antiheroes than Mr. Guinn and Mr. Baker: more lovable scamps than potential rage-a-holics. (Since they are still on "The Amazing Race," they are not allowed to talk to reporters.) Ms. Brkich's unscripted debut was on the second season of "Survivor" in January 2001; Mr. Mariano was on the fourth edition of the series in 2002. Both were chosen to play "Survivor: All-Stars," broadcast last year. During the show, the gleefully manipulative Mr. Mariano (also called "Boston Rob" and "The Robfather" by fellow contestants) and the quietly calculating Ms. Brkich began seeing each other. They were the final two players in the game, and before it was announced on the show's finale in May 2004 that Ms. Brkich had won, Mr. Mariano asked her to marry him on live television, and she accepted his proposal.
CBS immediately began talking to the couple about broadcasting their wedding. The network will not disclose how much it paid Mr. Mariano and Ms. Brkich, but in 2003, ABC paid Trista Rehn and Ryan Sutter from "The Bachelorette" $1 million to broadcast their nuptials.
The wedding aside, the couple actively lobbied to be on "The Amazing Race." Phil Keoghan, the show's host, recalled recently that he first met them at a CBS press function where they approached him with their request. But, he admitted, "I actually didn't even know who Rob and Amber were."
The producers did, and they were cast. According to Mr. Keoghan, who sent the teams on their way from the starting point in Long Beach, Calif., the other teams recognized them immediately and were visibly furious. "There was never as much tension at the starting line as there was when they came on the scene," he said.
On the show, the couple have consistently plotted against the other teams, trying to prevent them from getting the fastest bus or plane, as Mr. Mariano literally winks at the camera.
When Mr. Keoghan described what Mr. Mariano and Ms. Brkich have done for "The Amazing Race," he sounded as if he were talking about a scripted villain, someone like J. R. Ewing. "I think they've been incredibly tenacious, smart, engaging, charismatic," he said. "That doesn't mean that people have to necessarily agree with all the choices they've made, but there's no denying that they've made for some entertaining moments. They are good TV."
Rob Mariano and Amber Brkich, who have shown a competitive streak on "The Amazing Race 7."
Yikes ! Who ran off with Amber's chest ?
Do people really waste their time watching this garbage?
I have a theory that I developed after the first "Survivor" on why the most-hated people seem to win. The theory goes thusly: when someone is hated the most, everyone assumes someone else will eventually knock that person out of the game. Thus, everyone concentrates on another, closer rival, and wears themselves out fighting that rival. In the meantime, the 'most hated' guy gets off scot-free (although there is no end to the number of people who 'hate' him, and no end to the quotes saying so) until the very end.
It's happened in every reality show I've watched. It even happens at your own office or workplace. Just take a look around. This theory summarizes why it's always the jerks that rise to the top.
I guessed it would be less than five posts before the anti-TV crowd joined in. As someone who's traveled to 53 countries, yes, I do watch this "garbage." In my opinion, "The Amazing Race" is one of the best programs on television, along with "Survivor," which is a weekly demonstration on John Nash's non-cooperative game theory.
Just like Rasslin, you need a heel. Except Rasslin is real, this stuff is fake.
Yes!
TAR article.
yep, we do.
My wife and I do too. Actually, I hate scripted TV and these are the only few shows I watch (Survivor, Apprentice, Idol and Amazing Race).
Guess that makes me a loser.
My wife also likes the makeover and dating shows, but that is just too much for me.
No, those ratings are a figment of your imagination.
I am proud to say TAR is the only reality show I watch. I am even more proud to say I have never seen Survivor (and I only saw 1 episode each of Seinfeld and Friends and hated them both).
I liked the older seasons of the Amazing Race better. It seemed that the "clues" were just that, clues. Now they are merely instructions on what "trick" to do next with very little to figure out.
I read "The Most Dangerous Game" years ago. I guess I can understand the fascination. Maybe if Nash's theories were brought into our phys ed programs, we'd have fewer teen couch potatoes.
Thanks for the mention of Nash's theory, of which I was ignorant.
http://www.pnas.org/misc/classics5.shtml
My enjoyment [of some] of the reality shows is more because I enjoy watching small group dynamics. Humans are ever entertaining, much more so on reality shows than in sit coms.
I watch news and I read books. That's about it.
My wife watches this and "American Idol" religiously. And "Survivor", too.
I'm with you 100%! The first season, clues were clues, they weren't spoonfed directions or transportation and slept in tents. They were REAL people. Now Amazing Race seems to have devolved into nothing but aspiring actors and models, with contestants from other reality shows thrown in. This used to be my favorite show, but after the first episode with Mariano mugging constantly for the camera turned me off. I haven't watched a single episode this season, even with a former Iraq POW to root for. And this is saying a lot, considering I put up with boorish Jonathan and Victoria last season.
Hopefully, the first season DVD will come out and people will see what a really, really, great show this can be. It was like a mini geography lesson every week.
That's the best thing about the show ... showing different countries and pieces of their culture each week.
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