Last night, the Canton native was declared the victor of CBS’ “Survivor: Redemption Island” during the live show from New York City. Host Jeff Probst said, “In 22 seasons, that’s as close to a perfect game as anybody has ever played.”
The 35-year-old did masterfully outwit, outlast and outplay his competitors. Mariano dominated his Ometepe tribe as they eliminated the Zapatera tribe. He held his initial alliance together until they had to start voting against each other. And when he needed to the most, he won the final immunity challenge and voted out Benton, Maine, native Ashley Underwood. That left him taking wacky Phillip Sheppard and naive 19-year-old Natalie Tenerelli to the final jury.
But Mariano, who is married to former “Survivor” winner Amber Brkich, was concerned before going to argue his case. “How am I going to convince the other people sitting on the jury to give me a million dollars after my wife’s already won one?”
In front of the jury, Sheppard and Tenerelli basically made arguments in favor of Mariano. Sheppard said that Mariano’s “true name is ‘the mastermind.’ ”
Tenerelli fully admitted to riding Mariano’s coattails all the way to the end. “Luckily, Rob and I had an alliance from the very beginning. I stuck with his alliance and that’s how I made it this far,” she said.
Mariano smartly was unapologetic about his duplicitous tactics. When asked by Matt Elrod where he draws the line, he replied, “The line is drawn as soon as I’m back in my real life. Inside the game of ‘Survivor,’ I feel like it’s necessary to play like this.”
In addition to the million-dollar prize, Mariano beat out Elrod, who spent the majority of the season on Redemption Island, for the $100,000 Sprint Player of the Season. Probst announced that two former players will return for the next season of “Survivor” in the fall. Fan favorite Elrod seems to be the logical choice to play the game again.
Before he won, Mariano said this would be his last season. “I need to stop playing games. It’s time to put it to rest. This is the last day I will ever play,” he said.
Too bad. Because Mariano made “Survivor: Redemption Island” the most entertaining season yet.
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