Survivor: All-Stars

Boston Rob's All-Stars betrayals: Lex, Big Tom, Kathy

On CBS's The Early Show on 8 April 2004, the day after his elimination, Lex van den Berghe was asked whether he and Rob Mariano were still friends. He said, "The short answer to that is no." Mariano said in 2011 that the bridge with Lex was never mended.

Confirmed The broken deal and the reactions to it are documented in primary interviews published within weeks of filming. The lasting Big Tom feud is not. No source establishes what any of these people think of Rob Mariano now.

Rob Mariano Rob Mariano Lex van den Berghe Lex van den Berghe Tom Buchanan Tom Buchanan Kathy Vavrick-O'Brien Kathy Vavrick-O'Brien

What the record shows

  • Confirmed Mariano did not keep an in-game agreement to protect Lex van den Berghe on Survivor: All-Stars. Lex was the eighth castaway voted out, on day 27.
  • Confirmed On CBS's The Early Show on 8 April 2004, Lex said of the broken deal, "I was more than anything else heartbroken that somebody would do that to me, a friend would do that to me." Asked whether they were still friends, he said, "The short answer to that is no."
  • Confirmed At the final tribal council Lex told Mariano, "You sold out your values, you sold out your character, you sold out your friends for a stack of greenbacks." CBS News published the line on 10 May 2004.
  • Confirmed In that same 10 May 2004 CBS News piece, Lex said he held no grudges and wished Mariano and Amber well. Both statements are his, five weeks apart.
  • Admitted In a winner interview published 16 May 2011, Mariano said, "The bridge with Lex was never mended. I reached out to Lex, I flew to California to have lunch with him, but it was something he wasn't able to get past." That account is now 15 years old.
  • Confirmed Mariano engineered Tom Buchanan's elimination at the final five, on day 36. In the CBS News post-finale piece of 10 May 2004, Buchanan described the blindside as "I buried it in his back" and indicated he would not hold a grudge.
  • Confirmed Kathy Vavrick-O'Brien, voted out ninth on day 28, told TV Guide on 20 April 2004, "It wasn't about getting stabbed in the back or getting voted off, it was about how I was treated," and said of any future friendship with Mariano, "I can't have that kind of energy in my world right now, unless something changes."
  • Unverified The commonly told mechanics of the Lex deal, that Lex kept Amber Brkich safe at Mariano's request before Mariano turned on him, are not established by any primary source retrieved for this record.
  • Unverified No primary source has been found in which Buchanan describes an ongoing rift with Mariano. The details repeated everywhere about the final tribal council, a withdrawn handshake and the line "Don't be stupid, stupid," appear only in fan-wiki summaries and are not asserted here.
  • Unverified Whether Vavrick-O'Brien voted for Mariano at the final tribal council could not be confirmed against a primary source. Neither could her present-day view of him.
  • Unverified Nothing establishes what Lex, Buchanan or Vavrick-O'Brien think of Mariano today. The most recent first-person statement located about any of these relationships is Mariano's own, from 2011.

What actually happened, stated carefully

Rob Mariano did not keep an in-game agreement to protect Lex van den Berghe. Lex went out eighth, on day 27 of Survivor: All-Stars. That is the whole of the established fact, and it is worth stating that plainly, because the version fans repeat carries a lot of freight the sources do not.

The exchange most retellings describe, Lex keeping Amber Brkich safe at Mariano's request and then being cut, is not something the primary reporting retrieved for this page establishes. It may well be right. It is not sourced here, so it is not asserted here. What is sourced is the broken deal, the elimination, and everything the people involved said into a microphone within weeks of it.

Lex said two different things, five weeks apart

CBS put Lex on The Early Show on 8 April 2004, the morning after his episode aired. He said the word that stuck: "I was more than anything else heartbroken that somebody would do that to me, a friend would do that to me." Asked directly whether the two were still friends, he answered, "I wish I could say we were still friends," then, "The short answer to that is no."

At the final tribal council he was sharper still: "You sold out your values, you sold out your character, you sold out your friends for a stack of greenbacks." CBS News printed that on 10 May 2004.

Here is the part almost every ranking of Survivor betrayals leaves out. The same 10 May CBS piece has Lex saying he held no grudges and wishing Mariano and Amber well. Both quotes are real, both are his, and they are five weeks apart. Anyone using the jury speech as proof of a permanent break is using half the record.

Mariano's own account: he flew out and it did not work

Seven years later, after winning Redemption Island, Mariano was asked about it in a winner interview published 16 May 2011. His answer was not a defence. "The bridge with Lex was never mended. I reached out to Lex, I flew to California to have lunch with him, but it was something he wasn't able to get past."

That is Mariano describing a friendship he could not repair, by his own telling, including the plane ticket. It is also the most recent first-person statement on this relationship anyone has produced, and it is 15 years old. It is his account of where things stood in 2011, not a report on where they stand now.

Big Tom: the blindside is real, the feud is not

Mariano engineered Tom Buchanan's elimination at the final five, on day 36. That much is a matter of record. The story that grew on top of it, a lasting Big Tom grudge, has no primary source behind it at all.

The one contemporaneous interview available says the opposite. In the CBS News post-finale piece of 10 May 2004, Buchanan joked about the betrayal, "I buried it in his back," and in the same breath indicated he would not hold it against Mariano. The final tribal council details that circulate, a withdrawn handshake and a parting "Don't be stupid, stupid," trace back to fan-wiki summaries with no primary source underneath, so this page does not assert them.

Kathy Vavrick-O'Brien set a condition, not a verdict

Vavrick-O'Brien was voted out ninth, on day 28. She spoke to TV Guide on 20 April 2004, and what she objected to was specific: "It wasn't about getting stabbed in the back or getting voted off, it was about how I was treated." She also said, "I guess [getting voted off] is what happens when you trust a friend."

Her line about a future friendship gets quoted as a door slam. Read it again: "I can't have that kind of energy in my world right now, unless something changes." The clause at the end is a condition. Whether anything changed in the 22 years since is not documented anywhere this record could find, and her account of how she was treated is her account, not a finding.

What no one can tell you

Three questions come up constantly and none of them have an answer on the record. Whether Lex and Mariano ever reconciled after 2011. Whether Vavrick-O'Brien voted for Mariano at the final tribal council. What any of the three think of him today.

The pattern here is worth naming, because it explains why this story keeps getting retold wrong. The 2004 quotes are vivid, quotable and easy to find. The follow-up is thin. So the internet freezes three people at the angriest sentence they said in April 2004 and treats it as a permanent state. It was a state in April 2004. That is all anyone can show.

People in this story

Questions people ask

Did Boston Rob and Lex ever make up?
Not by 2011. Mariano said that May that he flew to California to have lunch with Lex and that the bridge was never mended. No source since then establishes a reconciliation, and none establishes a continuing rift either.
What did Lex say to Boston Rob at the final tribal council?
"You sold out your values, you sold out your character, you sold out your friends for a stack of greenbacks." CBS News published the line on 10 May 2004. In that same piece Lex also said he held no grudges.
Are Big Tom and Boston Rob still feuding?
There is no evidence they ever were beyond the game. Days after the finale Buchanan described the blindside on CBS as "I buried it in his back" and said he would not hold a grudge. No primary source shows a lasting rift.
What did Kathy Vavrick-O'Brien say about Boston Rob?
She told TV Guide in 2004, "It wasn't about getting stabbed in the back or getting voted off, it was about how I was treated." On a future friendship she said, "I can't have that kind of energy in my world right now, unless something changes."
Did Boston Rob lie to Lex to get Amber safe?
The primary sources retrieved for this record establish that Mariano did not keep an in-game agreement to protect Lex. They do not establish the specific trade fans describe, so this page does not state it as fact.
How recent is any of this?
The quotes from Lex, Buchanan and Vavrick-O'Brien all date to April and May 2004. The newest first-person statement about any of these relationships is Mariano's, from May 2011. Nothing documents where things stand now.

Sources

Checked on 2026-07-26. If something here is wrong or out of date, we want to know: get in touch.