May 12, 2004

By ANDY SMITH
The Providence Journal

It took an extra dose of riches and romance, but reality mastermind Mark Burnett finally generated a bit of buzz for Survivor: All-Stars.

CBS has also managed to wring one more hour out of the show, providing some counter-programming against the first hour of the Frasier farewell on NBC.

The winner of Survivor: All-Stars, Amber Brkich, received $1 million on Sunday.

On Thursday's show, called Survivor: America's Tribal Council, one of the contestants from the All-Star crew will get another $1 million, awarded by an American Idol-style vote.

According to CBS, there have been more than 8 million votes cast to determine the new winner, as of yesterday afternoon. (A Survivor spokesman admitted there is nothing to prevent someone from voting multiple times.)

The opportunity to award an extra $1 million, plus the surprise marriage proposal from runner-up Rob Mariano to winner Brkich, has given Survivor fans something to talk about.

Mariano and Brkich appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno Wednesday night, which is not only invaluable publicity for Survivor, but publicity supplied by a rival network.

Up until now, Survivor: All-Stars has been a bit of a dud. Oh, it still did well enough in the ratings, but in terms of excitement it was eclipsed by another Burnett offering, The Apprentice, not to mention the Friends finale and Fox juggernaut American Idol.

On paper, All-Stars seemed like a great idea -- bring back some memorable characters from the past seasons of Survivor and let them duke it out.

On the screen, it didn't work so well. One problem was that all the past winners, including Newport's Richard Hatch, were instant targets, and got voted off the game early.

No one was about to give someone the $1 million grand prize twice.

A few other contenders just didn't have their hearts in the game. Susan Hawk, for example, imploded after a brief encounter with a naked Hatch during one of the show's challenges, and quit.

Once Mariano had finished betraying former friend Lex van den Berge, he and girlfriend/partner Brkich controlled the action the rest of the way. Mariano was smart and ruthless, but it didn't make for much of a competition.

Which leads to an interesting question. Was Mariano still playing the game when he asked Brkich to marry him?

He proposed before host Jeff Probst had read out the final vote of the Survivor jury.

But Mariano had effectively rendered the vote irrelevant. He and Brkich were going to split $1.25 million -- the first and second prize -- no matter what.

And Mariano must have realized that even though he was the stronger player, his take-no-prisoners style had angered a significant part of the jury.

But was it love?

Survivor spokesman Colleen Sullivan says yes: "This is genuine. In real life he [Mariano] is a tender heart. He knows that out there he was playing the game. But he's head-over-heels for Amber."

Maybe so. Brkich is an attractive woman. And a million bucks no doubt makes her even more attractive.

Then there's the question of who will get that extra million. (Voting, on the Web and by cell phone, ended Wednesday at midnight). Smart money seems to be on burly, bearded Rupert Boneham, a fan favorite since he was on Survivor: Pearl Islands last year.

Each Survivor contestant got to plead his or her case for the $1 million on the Survivor Web site at www.cbs.com. Some, like former winners Ethan Zohn and Jenna Morasca, pledged to give the money to charity.

Rob Cesternino, recognizing Boneham's popularity, pledged to split the million with the big guy. Jenna Lewis said she could use the money to support her twins, but urged people to vote for Boneham anyway, because she had betrayed him during the All-Star game.

"All of us are good folks. We really are," said Newport's Richard Hatch, who won the very first Survivor. "Give it to the guy who played the game best, and that's me."

Hatch must have been referring to his first season, because his All-Star strategy seemed to consist of little more than taking his clothes off whenever possible. Again.