Amber wins Survivor

In one of the most surprising reality finales ever, 25-year-old Pennsylvania native Amber Brkich won a 4-3 vote to take the "ultimate Survivor" crown over boyfriend and runner-up "Boston" Rob Mariano.

But the million-dollar victory proved somewhat anticlimactic.

Minutes before host Jeff Probst tallied the votes live from Madison Square Garden and anointed Brkich, the 28-year-old Mariano dropped to one knee and proved that his Survivor showmance was real by asking Brkich, who was sporting an "I Love Rob" T-shirt, to marry him.

"Amber, we came a long way in this crazy game...we worked together as a team to accomplish so much...I ended up falling in love with you," Mariano said. "You're the most amazing person I've met in my entire life, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you."

She said yes. To him, the huge rock he slipped on her finger and then to the million bucks. All that's left to seal the deal on the first Survivor engagement: The first Survivor prenup.

And Brkich is not the only All Star who'll be taking home a $1 million check. But more on that surprise in a minute...

The season finale began with a final four comprising Brkich and the seemingly indestructible Mariano, along with popular Indianapolis troubled teen mentor Rupert Boneham, 40, and wannabe actress from California Jenna Lewis, 26.

Brkich won a maze contest to nab the first finale immunity, which led to Lewis's decision to vote off Boneham and take her chances in a final three set-up with the lovebirds. Bad decision.

In the ever-popular endurance test for final immunity, Lewis lifted her foot off a log, Brkich moved her hand and Boston Rob once again won immunity and insured that he and the contestant of his choosing--duh, his girlfriend--would be in the final two.

As always in CBS' perpetually high-rated reality adventure, though, the final decision came down to the jury--made up of Boneham, "Big Tom" Buchanan, Alicia Calaway, Shii-Ann Huang, Lewis, Lex van den Berghe and Kathy Vavrick-O'Brien--which came to the final tribal council with a big bag of chips on their shoulders.

And in Sunday night's finale, nearly all the jury members had taken their bitter pills beforehand, and were ready to let "The Robfather" know that reality TV payback is a bee-otch.

Van den Berghe, sporting a mohawk, kicked things off with a windy diatribe about Boston Rob selling out friendship for "greenbacks," Vavrick-O'Brien told Rob she felt betrayed by him, who she considered a son. And a particularly sour Buchanan rambled on about Mariano's misdeeds before sticking out his hand for a congratulatory handshake and then pulling it away at the last second. So fourth grade.

But the jury members weren't the only ones who weren't so fond of Boston Rob. At least initially...

"Coming into this game, I actually couldn't stand him," Brkich said of her new fiancé. "And I don't think he really liked me much either. But I thought, when he approached me for an alliance, 'Why not?' I thought, 'Rob has a big mouth and a temper, and if I stand beside him, he can take all the bullets, and people will forget about me.'"

For his efforts, Mariano will pocket $250,000 as the runner-up.

The two-hour episode and one-hour live reunion, watched by an estimated 25 million viewers, wrapped an eighth season that was full of the high drama fans expected from the all-star round-up of past Survivor competitors.

Notable moments included Survivor: Amazon winner Jenna Morasca's gut-wrenching decision to drop out of the game to be with her dying mother, followed by Susan Hawk's teary rant when she quit the game after a nekkid Richard Hatch got too up close and personal with her during a challenge. And then there were Mariano's broken promises to just about everyone.

But the one-hour live Survivor reunion special featured as much excitement as a whole season of tribal councils, including:

- Probst's annual cheesy entrance via helicopter.
- The Brkich/Mariano engagement.
- Hawk's sassy extreme makeover.
- Confirmation that Lewis, who constantly mentioned her single-mom status as her motivation for taking a second shot at the million dollars, got married last weekend (and denied any extreme makeover of her own when questioned by Probst about her new look).
- Confirmation of a romance between Morasca and Survivor: Africa winner Ethan Zohn.
- Fan un-favorite Jerri Manthey's anti-Survivor outburst and her hasty exit from the live show during a commercial break.
- Brkich, who won a car on the show, was given another car to give away to one fellow castaway. She picked Huang, saying Shii-Ann was the deciding vote in awarding the $1 million prize.
- CBS is looking for a new batch of Survivors for show's 10th installment. -Applications being accepted at CBS.com through June 22.

And finally, with just a few minutes left in the reunion special, Probst also announced the much-ballyhooed Survivor "twist" that CBS had been promoting all week: For the first time ever, viewers have the chance to vote for their favorite Survivor All-Star, who will be awarded a $1 million check.

Posted by Ron at May 10, 2004 06:25 AM