Rob Mariano was at the ATX TV Festival today and pulled off a bandage on a wound I thought would have healed years ago, but it turns out it’s still oozing goo and he likes to poke at it in public.
Rob was on a panel sponsored by NBCUniversal alongside Bravo, NBC, and Peacock’s senior vice president of talent and casting, Christine Cowan. It focused on “how recognizable talent is strategically deployed across series to spark fan devotion.”
But it was something he said about CBS’s The Amazing Race that had my head spinning.
Moderator Dan Fienberg told Rob, “I’ve always said that you were one of the best Amazing Race contestants not to win. Have you decided which of your four daughters you want to go on The Amazing Race with at some point?”
Rob’s answer:
“The Amazing Race still owes me a check. Just throwing it out there. Never the wrong time to do the right thing. Bertram, I’m talking to you. And then we’ll talk about me and my daughter going on.”
The audience laughed—they also awwed when he mentioned meeting Amber on Survivor—but I genuinely didn’t know what he’s referring to.
Of course, there was the infamous The Amazing Race season 7 final leg, which immediately led to conspiracy theories. Could it be that? 21 years later?!
Background: During TAR 7’s final leg, Rob and Amber boarded a flight in Puerto Rico, the airplane’s door closed, and, after the commercial break, we learned that the pilot opened the door for Uchenna and Joyce. They were allowed to board and went on to win.
A pilot decides to let Uchenna and Joyce race for $1 million in Miami and beat Rob and Amber
At the time, Joyce pointed out that the same thing happened earlier in the season, just with Rob and Amber being let on to a plane. She also explained why the gate agent radioed the pilot, who made the call to open the door for them. (Once a commercial airplane’s door closes, only the pilot, not reality TV producers, can make the decision to let someone else on.)
Have Rob and Amber been the only team racing for the finish line in Miami, they probably would have won, because there were just a few Route Markers and on to the finish line. So I can understand the frustration. Then again, Rob and Amber still lost to Uchenna and Joyce despite starting on an equal playing field in Miami, so it was their own failures there that caused their loss.
But to think you’re owed $1 million—still, in 2026? Rob and Amber went on Amazing Race All-Stars two years later, so if Rob thought the race owed him money over season seven, wouldn’t that be the time to make that argument.
Apparently not! I found a 2020 interview on The Player’s Experience, during which Rob said something similar—but elaborated:
So at the end of that show, when production intervened and put the other team on the plane, that was, you know, really, really irritating.
We ended up losing. They never did send me the rest of my money—my million dollars for that season. Uchenna and Joyce still have it, and it definitely does leave a big, bad taste in my mouth.
I never wanted to go back. Amber was the one—they asked us to do the All-Stars, and I was like, Man, they did it to us once; why wouldn’t they do it to us again?
But Amber wanted to go back, and, you know, sometimes you do things for your wife, and I agreed. We went and it still didn’t work out.
But I have nothing but love for Bert and those guys who run the Race. It’s just a different show. It’s not Survivor. And I’m happy to have been able to compete on it. I have lots of great memories from it.
Nothing but love—and a grudge worthy of calling out on a stage in front of TV fans at ATX!
Because Rob directly mentioned Amazing Race executive producer, director, and co-creator Bertram Van Munster, I’ve asked Bert if he’d like to respond, and I’ll update if he does.
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