Did the on-air engagement of Survivor: All-Stars finalists Amber Brkich and "Boston Rob" Mariano start a new reality TV trend?
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On CBS's The Early Show this morning, Colin Guinn, half of the "dating couple" that finished as runners-up on The Amazing Race 5, proposed to Christie Woods, his partner on the show, and Christie accepted.
In an interview with host Harry Smith, Colin said that the appearance of tension between the couple on the show -- including such scenes as Colin telling Christie on more than one tense occasion that he hated her -- was far removed from the reality of their relationship.
Because of a "rotten edit," said Colin, "I'm a raging lunatic psycho and Christie just puts up with it - which couldn't be farther from the truth. We actually have a wonderful relationship and I'd like to just state for the record that I am the luckiest man alive being with Christie."
We admit that Colin probably was the victim of a bad edit. After all, if Colin was really as bad as he appeared on The Amazing Race 5, Christie would have been more likely to run for the hills screaming in terror than to accept his proposal.
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On the finale, two dating couples (including Colin and Christie) finished close behind the $1 million winners, married parents Chip and Kim McAllister. The other dating couple, third-place finishers and full-time models Brandon Davidson and former Miss Texas Nicole O'Brian, who first met at a Texas bridal fair, chose not to follow Colin and Christie's example.
Both Brandon and Nicole noted that their failure to progess toward marriage didn't mean that there was trouble in their post-show relationship. Brandon said that he couldn't propose to Nicole on-air because he didn't "have a ring." Nicole noted that their travel schedules made "together time" difficult, but that they've "been dating for almost two years and we love each other."
Brandon and Nicole's statements were so upbeat about their relationship that they almost reminded us of the protestations of love in the "morning-after" interviews by the contestants on ABC's The Bachelor or NBC's Average Joe -- which are now 0-for-8 in producing married couples.