How Does Survivor's Kathy Vavrick-O'Brien Feel About "Boston" Rob Mariano Today?

Summary

• "Boston" Rob Mariano is a celebrated Survivor player, but not everyone loves him, as shown by Kathy Vavrick-O'Brien's initial anger.
• Despite past tensions, Kathy and Rob have since made peace, although they don't have regular contact like they do with other players.
• Kathy's lingering feelings of betrayal by Rob on Survivor: All-Stars serves as a cautionary tale for future players in the game.

"Boston" Rob Mariano arguably is the most memorable Survivor player ever, even though other players have done remarkable things like being medically evacuated. After all, Jeff Probst and many Survivor fans love Rob since he has made several seasons great. During Survivor: All-Stars, Rob helped that season become one of the best ever, even though new fans should watch other seasons first.

Unfortunately for Rob, however, some of his Survivor: All-Stars tribemates grew to hate him, including Kathy Vavrick-O'Brien. Now that it has been years since Survivor: All-Stars aired, that begs an obvious question. Is Kathy still furious with Rob?

Survivor's Kathy Vavrick-O'Brien No Longer Hates "Boston" Rob Mariano

Throughout Survivor history, there have been very few players who've been as celebrated as "Boston" Rob Mariano has been. After all, "Boston" Rob was inducted into the Survivor Hall of Fame, and he was one of two people chosen to coach new players during Survivor: Island of the Idols.

However, that doesn't mean that everyone loves "Boston" Rob. On top of fans who dislike Rob, two Survivor players notably were very angry with "Boston" Rob. After Survivor: All-Stars, Lex van den Berghe and Kathy Vavrick-O'Brien were outspoken about their anger at "Boston" Rob.

Since Survivor: All-Stars aired in 2004, it has been more than two decades since the season aired. With that in mind, it is fascinating to look at whether Kathy still can't stand "Boston" Rob after all those years have passed.

In August 2021, Kathy was interviewed by Survivor Buffs. A clip of that interview that was uploaded to YouTube revolved around Kathy's feelings about "Boston" Rob at that time. During that clip, one of the two interviewers asked Kathy about the state of her relationship with Rob at that time.

How successful was "Boston" Rob Mariano during Survivor?

In response to the question about their relationship, Kathy confirmed that she and Rob had gotten on good terms despite how bitter things once seemed between them.

"So now we get along fine. I think we just had a Marquesa reunion Zoom. I thought it was on on some sort of survival channel, and we were all yucking it up. Everything's fine."

How successful was Kathy Vavrick-O'Brien during Survivor?

During the same conversation, Kathy spoke about what it was like to reunite with "Boston" Rob during the zoom call. According to Kathy, it seemed like she, Rob, and their tribemates had a lot of fun together.

"So we had a great time... Everybody was on, and we got to catch up with what was happening with each other. It was great."

At that point, it may have seemed like Kathy and "Boston" Rob had become close after their previous bad feelings. However, while talking to the Survivor Buffs pair, Kathy clarified that wasn't the case.

As Kathy explained during the aforementioned interview, she was on good terms with "Boston" Rob, but they didn't have regular contact. More than that, Kathy stated that she had more contact with the other players who felt like Rob did them dirty.

"So, yeah, I'm talking to Rob. I mean, we don't connect that much. I really say, in communication with Pascal and Lex, you know, all the people that you, you know, you love and you kinda got screwed over together."

Looking back at when Rob and Kathy's relationship initially fell apart, the events that led to that took place during Survivor: All-Stars. During that season, Rob asked Lex to keep Amber safe when their tribes were swapped.

Kathy convinced Lex to fulfill the request, only for Rob to turn his back on both of them. At the time, Lex argued that Rob's betrayal crossed the line. Lex's reasoning for that was that he believed that Rob asked for help based on their real life relationship. However, many fans and other players argued that Lex betrayed some of his friends earlier in the season.

Survivor's Kathy Vavrick-O'Brien Was Furious With "Boston" Rob Mariano Before They Made Peace

After each Survivor episode, the player who gets voted out does a round of interviews. In April 2004, Kathy Vavrick-O'Brien was making those rounds when she spoke to TV Guide about her relationship with "Boston" Rob Mariano at that time.

In 2004, Kathy expressed her frustrations about how she was eliminated several times. Most interestingly, partway through the interview, Kathy was asked if she could ever be friends with Rob again. Based on her 2004 comments, Kathy never thought she'd be on good terms with Rob again at that time.

"I think the show is over and the experience is over in my mind. But I can't have that kind of energy in my world. It really hurts. I'm not going to say it was just a game, because these feelings are real. It wasn't about getting stabbed in the back or getting voted off, it was about how I was treated. It is not right. I'm just not going to have him in my world right now, unless something changes."

While it is great that Kathy and Rob got to a better place, she hasn't forgotten how betrayed she felt. When she was asked about him during her aforementioned Survivor Buffs interview, the first thing Kathy did was bring up how hurtful Rob's actions were.

"I mean, for a while there, I couldn't stand it. You know? It's just bothered me. It just bothered me. It just bothered me how poorly we got treated on All-Stars by Rob. It just didn't make sense to me. Like I said, I think in, you know, in my little speech, I said you could've done it differently and you still would've won. And you wouldn't have us all ripped up and pissed off."

Based on how raw Kathy's feelings still were about All-Stars all those years later, that should be a lesson for future Survivor players.