She is a graduate of Westminster College in New Wilmington, Pennsylvania, north of Pittsburgh, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in public relations, with a minor in speech communications, in 2000.
[5] They became engaged on May 9, 2004, during the show's live finale at Madison Square Garden in New York City,[6] and married on April 16, 2005, at Atlantis Paradise Island in The Bahamas.
She was a member of the green Ogakor tribe, and she was quick to fortify a strong friendship with fellow contestant Jerri Manthey, who helped construct an alliance with Colby Donaldson and Mitchell Olson.
Upon the merge, Ogakor managed to use the knowledge that one of Kucha's members, Jeff Varner, had received votes beforehand, and eliminated him, thus gaining a numeric advantage over the other group.
Later in the game however, it was decided by a majority of the remaining players that Brkich had played "under-the-radar", and she was sent home, ultimately landing in sixth place.
[14] Brkich was a member of the Chapera tribe, a group including Rob Mariano, Sue Hawk, and fellow The Australian Outback player Alicia Calaway.
They faced their first Tribal Council in the fourth episode, and their relationship was a matter of discussion; but ultimately, it was Rob Cesternino who was sent home.
Mariano and Brkich also managed to maintain several "alliances," including their agreement with Boneham and Lewis, one with "Big Tom" Buchanan, and one with Calaway.
After a 16-year and 32-season hiatus, Brkich, now using her married name of Mariano, returned to compete on the show's first all-winners season alongside her husband, Rob.
In Botswana, during the sixth leg of the race, the couple was criticized by fellow racers, as well as host Phil Keoghan, when they drove by the car accident of another team, brothers Brian and Greg, without stopping.
It has been argued that the production crew had intervened with the airport authorities and aided Uchenna and Joyce onto the same earlier plane as Mariano and Brkich.
Keoghan cites the fact that the decision to re-open the door rested solely with the pilot, and that intervention by the production crew would have resulted in someone leaking such information out.