In CBS’s latest sneak peek video for Wednesday’s fifth episode of “Survivor: Winners at War,” Rob Mariano sounds off on the impending tribe swap. “This is the part of the game that I really don’t like too much,” he declares soon after host Jeff Probst tells the 15 remaining players to “drop [their] buffs.” As Boston Rob reminds viewers, he’s been on the wrong side of a tribe switch before that ended up costing him the game. It all worked out in the end, though, as he’s a winner thanks to “Survivor: Redemption Island” and is now competing for the record-high prize of $2 million.
SEE ‘Survivor 40’ advantages: Who currently has immunity idols, fire tokens in ‘Winners at War’?
“The first time this happened to me was back in ‘Survivor: Marquesas,'” Rob says about his very first season on the show, which aired in 2002. “I had complete control of my tribe and they did a tribe swap. The next thing you know, I’m on the bottom and that was the end.”
To recap, Rob’s Maraamu tribe went to tribal council in six of the first seven episodes of “Survivor: Marquesas,” resulting in his team being decimated. At the tribe switch he swapped over to Rotu, where he lost footing and power with his new group of players. When the tribes eventually merged into one, he was the first person to get the boot.
Rob concludes, “Hopefully this time, the cards fall in my favor.” For that to happen, Rob will need to switch to a tribe of people who respect his game enough to want to play with him, as opposed to finding himself in a group that fears him and wants him gone.
Truthfully, we’re not sure what Rob is complaining about, since last we checked he and Parvati Shallow were on the bottom of their Sele tribe. The camp had found itself in an “old school” vs. “new school” mentality, with Rob and Parvati being the last of the group that once included Danni Boatwright and Ethan Zohn. So the tribe swap could end up being his saving grace.
At the start of the fifth episode, titled “The Buddy System on Steroids,” Jeff welcomes the players back to the same location in which they began Season 40. “The last time we were here, we divided into tribes. Seems like a good enough reason to do it again. Everybody, drop your buffs. We are switching tribes.”
As the 15 castaways grumble and/or laugh uncomfortable, Rob’s teammate Ben Driebergen gives the following word of advice to his fellow Sele players — or is it a warning? “Stay blue, guys. Stay true.” Find out how the tribe swap mixes up the game when “Survivor” airs Wednesday, March 11 on CBS.
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