Rob Mariano Talks More About Tontine

Reality TV Magazine recently caught up with the one and only Rob Mariano, host of the upcoming show Tontine. Here are excerpts from the interview:

Reality TV Magazine:  What exactly will you be doing in your role as host?  Will you be more like Phil Keoghan or Jeff Probst?
Boston Rob: A similar role, I play a similar role to that.  I will travel with the contestants.  They're going to all seven continents for over a hundred days.  I pretty much try to keep some order to the chaos, you know how these things get.  I think the cool thing about me being a host is because I've competed before, I kind of know the ins and the outs and the tricks that the contestants try to play on the host, you know, trying to get away with every little thing, and they're not going to get much past me, that's for sure.

Reality TV Magazine:  Are you going to be kind of like Jeff Probst is at times in pointing out stuff that happened and maybe even altering the outcome of the game?
Boston Rob: You know, there's definitely, without giving away too much, there is going to be physical and mental challenges.  There's going to be obviously a travel element.  And without a doubt, there's going to be a strategic element.  So you know, we try not to interfere too much, and even Jeff doesn't, but there are some questions that are probing that you have to ask, and when the times right for that, I'll do my job, and I'll do it well.

Reality TV Magazine:  Do you see the hosting as being something with a potential career path for you?  Would you host Survivor or Amazing Race down the road?
Boston Rob:  It's been truly amazing, just everything that I've gotten to do and what this has turned into.  If you look at the history of reality television contestants, I don't think any of them have been as successful as Amber and I in terms of turning this into something.

I could have never planned seven years ago when I went on Survivor for the first time that I would still be working in TV.  Obviously, being asked to host a job on a new TV show on a major network is a pretty big deal, so I hope it does lead to big things.

Reality TV Magazine:  So should Jeff Probst be looking over his shoulder?
Boston Rob:  No, Jeff's a good friend of mine.  I don't think he has anything to worry about.

Reality TV Magazine:  What type of contestants are you looking to cast on Tontine?
Boston Rob:  First and foremost, I think that the people that come out need to be themselves.  And I've said this in other interviews, it's just a well-known fact in reality TV, you may be able to fake who you are for an interview or even for a couple interviews, but over the course of the game, over a hundred days, your true self is going to come out, so being who you are is the most important thing.

Obviously, we're looking for Type A personality, outgoing, you know, big personality type people, people who have a sense of adventure, and the ability to think outside the box, and probably most importantly that realize that this is a game, and that will do whatever it takes to win.  You know, we're looking for the best of the best for this show.

Reality TV Magazine:  On a lot of recent reality shows, the casts have consisted predominantly of twenty something actors/waiters and actresses/waitresses.  One thing, I was kind of impressed with is that y'all are hitting cities all over the U.S.  Can we expect to have a lot of diversity in the cast?
Boston Rob:  We're going to eight cities in eight weeks.  Everywhere from like Dallas and New York and Boston and LA, the big cities, but we're also hitting St. Louis, Nashville, Minneapolis, so we are looking for a cross section of America.  The more competitive people, that's what's going to win out, the competitive people.

Tontine is a show that is essentially derived out of combining everything that people love about their favorite reality shows.  There's a Survivor element.  There's an Amazing Race element.  You know, all the big ones, we've brought them together and created a sort of super reality show.  The most important thing I haven't mentioned is first prize for this show is ten million dollars.  It's the largest single prize ever offered in the history of television, and I'm not talking about one person might win ten million dollars or has the opportunity.  One person is going to win ten million dollars.

To read the entire article, click here.

Matt Richenthal is the Editor in Chief of TV Fanatic. Follow him on Twitter and on Google+.