By Christopher Rocchio, 03/12/2007

After easily winning the first three legs, Rob and Amber Mariano were
surprisingly the fourth team eliminated from CBS' The Amazing Race:
All-Stars. On Monday, the 30-year-old Rob and 28-year-old Amber talked to
Reality TV World about the abrupt end to their All-Stars journey; how they
align and lie to their advantage; as well as what's next in their careers as
professional reality television stars.

Reality TV World: You guys won the first three legs. What happened during
the fourth leg?

Rob: It was horrendous. We had some bad luck to start out with and it kind
of snowballed. There wasn't much we could do about it.
Amber: Every chance we got to make-up for it, something else kept
happening. And we kept trying to make-up the time and something else would
happen. After we made-up for [losing time while trying the "Sign It" Detour
challenge], we got on the second [charter flight], got to the airport and we
get outside and there aren't any taxis, so everything kept snowballing. It
was a bad leg.

Rob: Then to top it all off, at the end at the final Roadblock, it was a
challenge that was a needle in the haystack, [a] lucky thing [of] who could
find their letter first. There was no real skill to it.

Reality TV World: Rob, you appeared a little more fatigued during the
fourth leg of the race than you looked during previous legs. Was that the
case?

Rob: It was frustrating to deal with not being in the beginning of the
pack, but a lot of times people don't see the actual sleep deprivation that
the racers go through. And at this point I think we were up for two or
three days straight. So it was definitely taking a toll, but it's not an
excuse. We were still gung-ho and ready to go and win that leg of the race
when we started out, and we gave it 100%% effort all the way through. At the
very end, [the producers] showed it being very close. [But] it wasn't too
close in actuality, it was about 10-15 minutes [between when Charla Baklayan
Faddoul and Mirna Hindoyan checked in at the Pit Stop amd we did].

Reality TV World: Rob, during the first leg of the race, you guys switched
Detour challenges midway through and it worked. Why didn't you listen to
Amber and switch to "Navigate It" from "Sign It" during the fourth leg?

Rob: You know hindsight is 20/20. We had spent so much time trying to get
it right, and in the actual rules and instructions -- even though [The
Amazing Race host Phil Keoghan] said it in a voiceover last night that
spelling was important -- it was actually not conveyed to us that spelling
was an issue. So I knew Magellan's route, and I knew that he left from
Seville, Spain from history class, but I couldn't figure it out what was
wrong.
Amber: And to give Rob credit, this [Detour], I had no idea where Magellan
went or where he started or finished or anything, so I felt bad because
there was so much pressure on [Rob] but the thing is he knew it right from
the start and we just couldn't figure out what we had wrong.
Rob: To answer your question, I think the fact that we invested so much
time is what kept me to try to want to figure it out. And in actuality
because it was a spelling mistake, it's a good thing that we did switch,
because I don't think I would have ever figured it out. Even though I
actually verbally said, "Is it spelling?" That was just kind of going
through my mind. But I never thought that it would be an issue because when
I looked at the other teams' boards, I mean half of their cities that they
wrote down were completely illegible.
Amber: It's hard because when you're trying to work at something for so
long, it's almost the purpose of getting finished quickly almost left our
minds, and we just wanted to know... we just couldn't figure it out. It was
like for our own good we just wanted to know what it was.

Reality TV World: How much time did you waste on "Sign It" before finally
giving up and switching to "Navigate It?"

Rob: Over an hour and a half.
Amber: A long time.

Reality TV World: During "Navigate It," Rob do you think you further hurt
your chances when you led Amber and the team of Dustin Seltzer and Kandice
Pelletier to the wrong location to find your next clue?

Rob: No, at that point it didn't matter because [Ozwald Mendez and Danilo
Jimenez, Teri and Ian Pollack, and Eric Sanchez and Danielle Turner] had
already signed-up for the first [charter flight]. Everybody else was on the
second plane, which didn't leave until the next day. We could have taken 15
hours to do that challenge and it wouldn't have mattered.
Amber: I mean we didn't know that at the time, but when we showed up at the
airport it didn't matter.

Reality TV World: Did the facts that the wait for those charter flights to
Argentina were so long and your second flight left three hours after the
first give you some time to catch up on your sleep? Did you still like your
chances of finishing the leg without being eliminated?

Rob: I mean we didn't think we were out of it at all because we were on the
second plane. We had four other teams with us. So I figured if anything
all we had to do was beat one of them. You know, we ran into some bad luck
when we came out of the airport. We didn't have a cab. The reason we
didn't have a cab was because our camera guy got held up and had to go
through customs -- which is a completely random thing that all the teams
have to deal with -- so that was just bad luck...
Amber: It was just bad timing.
Rob: ...that our guy got pulled for customs and had to get checked, where
the other teams didn't. What it came down to, we got to the final Roadblock
and we still had a chance. What's frustrating is that that final Roadblock
was a needle in the haystack type Roadblock that was just based on luck.
There wasn't any skill involved with it...
Amber: It wasn't strength. It wasn't skill.
Rob: ...it didn't work out for us.
Amber: It's kind of frustrating when you go out on something that's just
about luck. You can't really say, "The reason why we didn't win is because
I failed at this challenge." It was just because he couldn't find a stupid
letter in a bag. It's kind of frustrating.

Reality TV World: Do you think that Roadblock was a fair challenge?

Rob: I mean it's fair in the fact that it's fair for everybody. Everybody
had to do it, you know? So it's 100%% fair.

Reality TV World: Amber, were you surprised when Charla and Mirna believed
you had found the next clue when you lied to them along the Beagle Channel?

Amber: No, I wasn't [surprised] because they're very stupid (laughing). I
think there are some teams that wouldn't have fell for it, but I knew that
[Charla and Mirna] would fall for it because they're so frantic and the way
they race is just so crazy and all over the place that any information they
get they just suck right in and don't even think about it.
Rob: It's funny because afterwards watching the show last night, you see
Mirna saying that she didn't fall for it. But that was clearly in the
interview she did after the leg was over.
Amber: And they went down and searched for the clue for 20 minutes.

Reality TV World: Rob at the post office, how long were you looking for the
letter before Charla and Mirna arrived? It didn't appear like you had the
long lead that you should have had given Charla and Mirna's shuttle boat was
supposed to leave 20 minutes after yours.

Rob: It was a lot quicker than it should have been. What happened was -- I
don't want to sit here and play "poor me" -- but we were on the boat and the
boats were supposed to be 20 minutes apart. We had the second to the last
boat [along with Uchenna and Joyce Agu]. All the other boats went, and
they're going very fast to the island and it takes a certain amount of time
to get there. Well our boat had additional cameramen with additional
equipment on it, which wasn't really fair. Our boat was literally chugging
along, to the point where one of the security guards actually pulled up in a
boat next to us and said, "What are you guys doing?"
Amber: [He said] "Why are you going so slow?"
Rob: And we're saying, "This is as fast as it will go." So instead of
actually having a 20 minute lead over Charla and Mirna...
Amber: I think we had about five minutes.
Rob: Not even five minutes.
Amber: And when we were blown away by that. When [Charla and Mirna] showed
up, we were shocked because we thought, "At least we have 20 minutes before
the other team gets here." And here, because our boat took so long... It's
just one of those things where we had a really bad leg. Nothing was going
our way.

Reality TV World: Considering the tone of the letter they penned for
Uchenna and Joyce, did you think Susan and Patrick's letter to you was mean
spirited and inappropriate?

Rob: Funniest thing about it is, when we read the letter, Amber and I had
no idea who Susan and Patrick were. We actually had to come home and look
it up on the Internet because it just blew our minds. We got this letter,
and it was a mean-spirited letter...
Amber: We were like, "Who?"
Rob: We went back and were like, "Oh yeah, they're very bitter from [The
Amazing Race 7 when they finished eighth to Rob and Amber's second]." It
didn't really surprise me. It was rude.

Reality TV World: How far behind Charla and Mirna were you?

Rob: About 10 or 15 minutes.
Amber: It wasn't a foot race at all. They finished before we even started
reading our letter.

Reality TV World: Amber, what did you think of the third leg's Roadblock at
the fishery? Why do you think you did so much better than some of the other
teams?

Amber: Honestly, I think just the fact that I wasn't being a girly-girl in
a way, the fact that everybody else was getting really grossed out, and
they're scared and everything that goes on with it. I was just in a zone
where I knew that we were a little bit behind and when I saw Danielle was
doing it I was like, "Rob I can do this. I want to do it." Honestly I
thought it was kind of fun. I was laughing the entire time. It was
difficult. It was very hard, they said there were 80 fish or something like
that in there. Some of them weighed 15 pounds, but it's just something I'll
never do ever again. I think the fact that I had a good attitude about it
and I was just having fun with it, I think that's what really helped me. It
kept me focused and I ended up doing pretty well at it. I impressed myself
(laughing).

Reality TV World: During that leg of the race, you also worked together
with Eric and Danielle. Where did that relationship come from?

Rob: It was just a spur of the moment thing. In actuality what happened
was Amber and I -- it didn't show this -- but Amber and I left a lot earlier
than Eric and Danielle from the challenge. We stopped and asked for
directions, and the guy told us it was four hours away. Well a four-hour
drive can either make you or break you in the race, so what we did was we
actually turned around and went back to the fishery and I had Amber read the
clue again. Not that I didn't trust her, but I wanted to make it 100%% sure
she had it right.
Amber: Before we drove four hours in the wrong direction.
Rob: As we're pulling out, Eric and Danielle were behind us and [Amber and
I] were looking on the map and we couldn't find Petrohue. So I stopped to
see if [Eric] knew where it was, and he did know where it was. And we were
able to find it on our map, so it worked to our advantage in that situation.

Reality TV World: It seemed like you guys always had another team around.
Was having another team around part of your All-Stars survival plan?

Rob: We always said that an alliance really doesn't have any place in this
race. You know it's you against the course and everything. But at the same
time you have to beat at least one other team at the end of the day... at
the end of the leg. So if you have one team with you, it's kind of like an
insurance policy. As long as you can outrun whoever you're with at the end,
then you'll be alright. You know that you're never alone unless you're way
out in front. But if you're alone in the back, it's not good.

Reality TV World: During the first leg, you held the shuttle for Ozzy and
Danny at the airport. Rob you joked that it was "the first kind gesture
I've made." Were there any other "acts of kindness" you performed during
All-Stars that went unaired.

Rob (laughing with Amber): No. When I get into these situations on these
shows, my competitive nature takes over, and I think that's what it is.
Like last night, Mirna crying, "I can't believe Amber lied to me." It's like
are you kidding me? Have you watched any of the shows we've been on in the
last five years? You can't believe it? We're gonna do what it takes to
win.

Reality TV World: During the second leg of the race Rob you called Eric out
when he went ahead of the other teams in-line at the ticket counter. When
Amber defended Eric, a little squabble between you two ensued. Rob, do you
still think Amber was wrong and she should have stuck up for you?

Amber (laughing): Yes he still does [think I was wrong].
Rob (laughing): Life will never be the same I tell you. No, you know it's
just one of those situations where she's speaking on impulse and I was
trying to do something to rile [Eric] up. After the fact [Amber and I]
talked about it and we both realized what the other was trying to do.
Amber: Sometimes it's hard for me to separate competition from real life.
You know what I mean? And when you're out there, people don't realize it's
not just a competition but that some of it's real life. You're natural
feelings come out and natural things come out, and since we were in a
competition, I probably shouldn't have said what I did. I kind of lost
track of what we were doing...
Rob: We're working on it... she'll be tougher on the next show (laughing).

Reality TV World: Do you recognize that part of your Race success might
have come from the fact that your fame seemed to make it more likely that
strangers would buy you maps or drop everything they were doing to help you
or do you really think that had nothing to do with your success?

Rob: Well initially the first time around it definitely helped. As far as
strangers buying us maps, we asked. Other teams didn't ask. We had to
asked literally 20 people before we actually got somebody to do it.
Amber: The people that bought them for us didn't know who we were. I think
the first race it definitely helped us. We'll totally admit to that. But
the second race, I don't think we had any help as far as our fame goes.
Rob: I think the reason why Amber and I were so successful the first time
we ran the race and all the reality shows and in everything we do really is
because we're not afraid to take chances and take risks. Because we do
that, we put ourselves out there and there's a possibility we could fail --
like we did last night -- but at the same time, that's what will help us to
get to the end in a lot of these things. More often than not we're going to
succeed, rather than fail, by taking the chance. We make our own fate,
basically, instead of just standing back and letting it come to us.

Reality TV World: Was there anybody you were surprised to see or not see
participating in All-Stars?

Rob: Christie should have been there [The Amazing Race 5 runner-ups Colin
Guinn and Christie Woods]. I remember watching their season and thinking
that they were great, great racers.
Amber: When we were talking -- before we actually got to the starting city
[for All-Stars] -- Rob and I were predicting what teams we thought should be
there. And we were saying if [Christie and Colin] were there, they'd
definitely be tough to beat.
Rob: As far as all the people [on All-Stars], they all deserve to be there.
Clearly Mirna's there for the drama, which she, you know, delivers.
Amber: Oh so well...
Rob: Charla's a sweetheart... she's just [too] abrasive even for me.

Reality TV World: How was returning to The Amazing Race different than
returning to Survivor?

Rob: There was definitely some apprehension going back to The Amazing Race
again, because of circumstances...
Amber: What happened the first time.
Rob: ...the first time around. But at the end of the day, we considered it
a real honor that CBS asked us to compete on the All-Stars. Being on the
All-Stars of Survivor...
Amber: We're the two luckiest people. I mean, honestly, there are so many
people who would die to be on one of the shows that we've been on. The fact
that we've got to do Survivor and The Amazing Race -- both twice -- it's a
pretty spectacular thing we've been able to do.

Reality TV World: Most of the other teams considered you guys as their
major competition. Who did you consider your biggest competition and why?

Rob: It's tough to say because we never really considered that until we got
all of these questions today in all these interviews. At the time, we were
just really concerned with ourselves. We were running our own race against
the course.
Amber: A lot of times it's not the other teams in the competition that get
you knocked out of the race, it's you yourself messing up in the course.
Rob: Bad luck.
Amber: Or bad luck. I think some of the teams realize that, but I think
some of the teams don't. And the teams that don't realize that kind of help
you advance in the race because they get distracted by the other teams, and
that's what makes them do badly.
Rob: I mean look at [John Vito Pietanza and Jill Aquilino]. What I thought
would be a very, very strong team made one wrong turn and they're the first
team eliminated. So as far as a pure competition show, the race doesn't
have what I think Survivor has. But it's still a great show...
Amber: The competition is the course. It's not the other teams.

Reality TV World: Who would you like to see win?

Rob (laughing with Amber): No one. Honestly, we know who won because we
were at the finish line. But you know what, everybody else who's left in
the race, we wish them all good luck. They beat us, and you know what, we
can't really say anything that.
Amber: Right, they beat us, so...
Rob: We were humbled by it.

Reality TV World: Are you living out in Vegas or back in Pensacola now?

Rob: We're all over the place. We're going back to Pensacola tonight
actually to hang-out for a little bit, and then we have a new project coming
up starting pretty soon, which you will be hearing about soon.

Reality TV World: You can't elaborate on that a little bit more?

Rob: I'm sorry I can't. We're still in contract negotiations and what not,
but it will definitely be huge.

Reality TV World: Any plans on doing another season of your Fox Reality Rob
and Amber: Against the Odds show?

Rob: That's a possibility...
Amber: It's something we just need to wait a little bit longer to figure
out what's going to go on with that but it's a possibility.

Reality TV World: Rob, how about Sci Fi Investigates, is that coming back
for a second season?

Rob: No, that was a one-track pony (laughing). That was actually a fun
experience.

Reality TV World: A couple of months ago, you told OK! Weekly you were
starting to think about starting a family, any new news on that front?

Rob: No. We're still thinking about it.

Reality TV World: So Rob, what do you think about the Red Sox chances this
year?

Rob: I think they spent a lot of money on [Japanese import Daisuke
Matsuzaka], I hope he can throw.
Amber: He better be worth it.
Rob: But they're making some moves. And you know what? I was happy the
[New England Patriots] made a couple of moves over there too. I think the
Sox will do well this year. I think they'll do real well.
Amber: He says that every year though.
Rob: Yeah but I think if they actually get their cards lined up correctly
they have a real shot at repeating [their 2004 World Series Championship].
I'll definitely be up in Boston for some games this summer.
Amber: Hopefully we'll get to make it to more games this year.

Reality TV World: We just learned that you guys will be throwing out the
first pitch at a game for The Trenton Thunder -- a minor-league team of the
New York Yankees -- on May 3. What the heck is a Sox fan doing throwing out
a pitch at a game in the heart of Yankees country?

Rob: Let me tell you something, I'll be sporting my Sox cap... no doubt
about it.

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