The Boston Herald reports that Survivor: All-Stars winner Amber Brkich and her fiance, runner-up "Boston Rob" Mariano, who became engaged during the show's live finale, have continued to negotiate with a couple of TV networks to have their wedding televised "sometime next year."
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Although Rob didn't name the networks, the Boston Globe had previously reported that Survivor executive producer Mark Burnett was among the interested. Said Burnett, "Obviously, the wolves are circling around them, trying to profit from young love.... If the wedding reveals them to be the funny, vulnerable, and interesting people that I know them to be, away from the Machiavellian game, then people will come to like the at-home Rob and Amber. I don't want [the wedding] to be some reality television farce. I would like to work with them and protect them." While we generally agree with Burnett, we doubt that his motives are entirely altruistic either.
The Amber-"Robfather" wedding will apparently become the second televised wedding ceremony from a romance ignited on a reality-TV show, following only the drenched-in-pink nuptials of Bachelorette Trista Rehn and her chosen husband, Vail, Colorado firefighter Ryan Sutter. Considering the abysmal failure rate of dating-show romances (for example, ABC's The Bachelor is now 0-for-5, and NBC's Average Joe is 0-for-3), there may not be too many more reality-TV weddings coming down the pike.
Meanwhile, according to the Associated Press, Amber created a stir at the Beaver Area Historical Museum, in her home region of rural west-central Pennsylvania, by donating her bikinis and other paraphernalia from Survivor. A crowd of about 200 showed up for the opening of an exhibit celebrating firefighters, which also happened to be the day that the Amber exhibit went on display. We daresay that most of the people weren't there to see the museum's 1836 hand-operated pumper.
Since their appearances on Survivor: All-Stars, Rob and Amber have been cashing in on their 15 minutes of fame by doing appearances for casinos and golf tournaments as well as a few TV ads. "Boston Rob," for example, filmed a spot for the Boston Red Sox (whose cap he wore constantly on the show). However, the Boston Herald reports that the couple was heading for some "downtime" in a rented house in Florida. Perhaps Amber wants to try out some replacement bikinis.
We think it's nice that at least some of the participants on Survivor: All-Stars have been able to keep themselves in the limelight without having to engage in lascivious behavior.