The Redemption Island champ teases a brand-new secret strategy.
Perhaps the only thing Rob Mariano is better at thanSurvivoris giving interviews before playingSurvivor.
Read on for what can only be considered aSurvivorclinic, and a must-read for any fan.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Well, this is a surprise.
I had finally won the game.
That’s all I wanted to do, and I was content.
I get a chance to give back, kind of show people what I know.
Then, at the same time, it’s been almost nine years at the time.
Let me see if I can go out there and still do it.
And the good news is, I can still do it.
But then of course, one caveat comes with the other, and he asked me about 40.
So that’s why I decided to come back, and to kick everybody’s ass one more time.
Did anything about your season 39 mentoring experience change your thinking heading into playing again on 40?No.
She’s a smart player.
She knows what she’s doing, and I’m aware.
People could see it as it’s going make my target even bigger and harder.
I can’t really help her if we’re on different teams, and she can’t help me.
But Amber is a pretty tough customer, and I think she can handle herself.
I mean, that’s what it came down to.
She wasn’t too happy about it.
But sometimes you have to do things for the betterment of the group.
But I wanted it and I kind of thought back to theAmazing Race All Stars.
I did not want to do that.
Yeah, you guys were clearly robbed in the firstAmazing Race no pun intended.
It has to sting a little bit.
But I mean, it doesn’t matter who wins in the broad scheme of things…
It doesn’t matter toyou?In the house maybe, a little bit of bragging rights.
I’m under no false illusions.
I have an uphill climb ahead of me, and it’s going to be monumental.
It’s going to be a lot of work to get it done.
But if anybody can do it, it’s me.
It’s crazy, I know!
I love to gamble.
So I’m going to work tirelessly like I did inRedemption.
I mean,Redemptionwas different.
I had a bunch of people that never played the game.
It was a lot easier.
Everybody here not only has played the game, they’vewonthe game.
They know what they’re doing.
They’re not gonna fall for the one-two.
You’re going to need the three, four, five, six.
Maybe even the seven, eight, nine, 10, too.
But there’s ways to figure things out.
I’m not the only target out here.
I know there’s other people that are feeling the heat right now too.
But not all those people with targets can set their ego aside.
Tell me about the pregame meetings back home.
You guys all know each other.
We know that you’re friends with Tyson and some of these other people.
So how do you handle that?I don’t play that.
I don’t play it at all.
I hope it doesn’t, but it might.
I’ve been friends with Tyson a while.
There’s a lot of these guys I don’t know.
Really, I’ve only met maybe three of those people out here.
So there’s a lot of relationships that I don’t have.
“Hey, buddy, how’s it going?
Look it, I’m just really looking forward to working with you out there.”
It’s not genuine.
People pick up on that, and I don’t want that.
I want to get out there in the moment and see what I can do.
The game’s evolved.
It’s changed over the years.
I’m curious about that.
Do you think there’s a learning curve for you?
Because it is a different game than even from when you last played.Yeah, it is a different game.
Some of them play fast, some of them play slow.
There might be something beyond what everybody else is seeing.
Something that I’m thinking about that if it happens, it could make things go a lot differently.
Something that nobody’s ever seen.
What’s that thing you’re thinking about?I don’t want to say.
Why can’t you say it?Because I don’t want to.
Say it!No.
It’s always been played from the beginning.
We’ll go."
Somewhere along the way, that got taken away and it was like, “You know what?
We can switch whenever we want.
you’re able to’t tell me what to do.
I’m not the boss of you.”
Well, maybe there’s a combination of that along with… People don’t act logically in this game.
Behind each person is emotions, and that’s what drives them.
If you did them dirty, then that’s what’s going to be resonating inside of them.
So you have to look at each person individually and figure out what’s in their best interest.
But you have to go beyond that.
Is there something collectively as a group that would benefit everybody?
I mean, look it, we don’t know who else is here.
We don’t know how the tribes are divided.
We don’t know anything, but there is common ground for everybody.
It’s going to be done so fast, it’s going to be so quick.
It’s like how they say it’s just like seconds into the game.
Now, I mean, maybe this works.
Maybe it doesn’t.
That’s never been done.
Imagine controlling the game from the outset, from both sides.
What do you mean from both sides?You’re going to have to wait and find out.
What do you mean by this?I’m not telling you.
Imagine if you had the dominant alliance on both tribes from the outset.
I think that might involve you and might involve your wife.
Would you do that?I’m here to win, brother.
You’re here to win, and I love it.
How do you think the others see you?
You’re evaluating all of them.
What was the criteria for voting people out then?
It was they came after the most popular players.
The winners.Yeah, and the most popular, the big names, and who was left?
It was like, “Who were those people?”
And they were able to just go along under the sunset and nobody really saw them.
But that mentality has kind of existed through the years whenever there’s been a returning season.
Are you going to be a bigger character than me?
Which is kind of sad.
But that’s what it is.
Look it, they’ve given me more than anybody else in the history of this game.
This is the sixth time I’ve been out here.
My wife and I have both won.
We got married on TV.
We have a beautiful family.
We did theAmazing Racetwo times.
I’m literally looking at it right now.
But man, they make it tough.
It becomes that, are you a big character?
Are you someone that’s going to take up everything?
And I get it that I’m public enemy number one in that capacity.
But I can also be helpful to your alliance.
I do have a relationship with Tyson.
Look at the guys here.
I’m 43 years old now.
I’m not 25.
I’m the old guy in the club.
These guys, look at Jeremy and Tyson and Wendell.
These guys are fit.
They’re ready to go.
I look like some guy that plays football in Boston that’s too old and slow.
There’s no way he could win.
So that’s what you’re going to try and do, is underplay yourself?
Good luck with that, dude.No, I’m not going to underplay myself.
I drive, bro.
I don’t ride.
I’m not going to play who I’m not.
It’s all written down.
They’ve all read the Boston Rob rulebook.
They should know by now.
I’m not going to have a go at be somebody that I’m not.
And I think Parvati and Kim are smart enough to do that.
That’s why I voted Sandra off first when you asked.
Because Sandra is too stuck in her own head.
Why?Because of jealousy.
I mean, I love Sandra.
Don’t get me wrong.
I think she’s awesome, but I know how dangerous she is.
I have no idea.
I have no idea how many days I playedSurvivor.
“Because I want to beat your record.”
Are you that dumb?
I mean, it’s unbelievable.
It’s unbelievable just what I heard come out of her mouth.
It’s like, “How did you win twice?”
And I figured out how she won twice.
It’s pretty genius.
How?You just sabotage your own alliance from the get-go.
It’s pretty smart.
She’s always going to sit out of any challenge to eat food and I never can.
I’m always fighting for my life.
Someone like her, if they make it through the first three Tribal Councils, she’s good.
It’s tough for an athletic dude to go deep in this game.
They make it hard.
So that mentality, you have to understand what each person is coming from.
That’s where Sandra is coming from.
Parvati might not be coming from that spot.
Kim’s not coming from that spot.
Yeah, everybody wants to win.
I know that same motivation, but really, what drives them?
What’s going to make them feel safe?
He’s like, “Man, who can I grab onto?”
He needs a friend.
That dude needs a friend.
Meanwhile, he was in the time machine.
He looks like he just got off season 16 or whatever it was he was on.
That dude hasn’t aged a day.
It’s been 27 seasons.
Unbelievable.Yeah, but each person has a different motivation.
I stick with my plan and I go with it.
Unless I find out you’re coming against me, I don’t really deviate from it.
Now granted, I might have many plans with different people.
Yeah, but everyone thinks that they’re your number one.Well, they should know better than that.
Is that something that plays at all?No, they don’t care about that.
Nobody cares about keeping Rob around for an epic season.
What they care about is what gets them further in this game.
And that’s it.
Are you destined to be a pre-jury boot or make it all the way to the end?
Is that your style?
I get it, I’m polarizing.
People either like me or they don’t like me, but I don’t really care.
That’s how I am, and I play this game to win.
Whether you believe it or not, there is a correct way to play this game.
And playing perfectly doesn’t mean always winning everything.
And then, now you play your odds.
If we do this, what are the repercussions going to be?
Who’s going to get mad here and how is all of this going to end up benefiting me?
And is it good in the long term or the short term?
There’s a lot that goes into this, bro.
Really, there is.
There’s a lot.
I mean, in my mind there’s a lot.
Does it frustrate you then that the game has become even more about that luck?
Or when there’s a tribe switch, or what happens there?
That stuff is not fair for everybody.
Just because if you get lucky or don’t get lucky, that doesn’t matter.
At the end of the day, this game is the purest adventure game that’s ever been invented.
They can play it.
This is season 40.
We’ve been doing this for 20 years.
And every time the result’s different.
