TV
If this interview with Rob Antonson is any indication, we are in for a ride as he tries to win the $1 million this season.
Yes, Rob works in Boston. And yes, Rob is on “Survivor.”
But Rob Antonson wants to make one thing clear: He is not out to become the new “Boston Rob.”
“Huge Bawston Rob guy. He had the accent, so I could relate,” says Antonson, 40, in a Rhode Island-meets-Bawston accent thicker than a coffee frappe.
While he’s seen every “Boston Rob” Mariano “Survivor” episode, he says, “I want people in Bawston to know: listen, I’m not Bawston Rob — I’m from Rhode Island. I’m not tryin’ to be anybody else. Even though I love Bawston. As you can tell, I got the accent. I already had the Rhode Island accent — now I got the Boston accent, too,” says the gate agent at Logan Airport with a laugh.
And the “chaos” of Logan, he says in our recent Zoom, “prepares you for any kind of reality show.”
So no, Rob from Rhode Island is not Boston Rob. But he’s got that same boy-next-door, how-do-you-like-them-apples chaahm. Dude is all Personality, capital P.
In a bright turquoise tee that shows off his tattooed arms, and wearing a thick gold chain around his neck, Antonson spoke from the Cumberland, R.I. basement nook he hopes will one day serve as a sports podcast studio — and which currently serves as the backdrop for his Instagram reels and video shorts for his YouTube channel, “Rob Show” (or @realrobshow). Here, he’s parodied Backstreet Boys, reviewed burgers, and discussed “Love Island.”
“This is my basement. My wife let me have this little studio. I can’t touch anything upstairs, but downstairs, she said, do whatever you want,” he says with a laugh. His wife Nichole, a NICU nurse who travels often to California for work, he says, “completed my life.”
In our recent Zoom from his “little studio,” the dad of three essentially held court, regaling me with story after story: Driving a Mario Kart (“Mario Kaht”) dressed as Yoshi in Tokyo. Meeting his wife while singing karaoke on a bar top on an Orlando cruise.
This Logan Airport gate agent was built for reality TV. On Instagram, he’s lip-synced to the “Aladdin” soundtrack, reviewed an “Ace crunch” hot dog at a Toronto Blue Jays game, and yes, filmed himself lip-syncing to Destiny’s Child’s “I’m a Survivor” at Logan. #OnBrand
Rob from Rhode Island clearly has that certain colorful New England je ne sais quoi that shot Boston Rob and “Real Housewives of Rhode Island” cracker-obsessed Alicia Carmody straight into viewers’ hearts — and onto the radar screen of reality show producers.
Antonson is one of three contestants with New England ties on the upcoming Season 51 of “Survivor.” Aaliyah Puglia, a New Jersey native, is now a chef in Providence, R.I. Eric Macksoud is a Lincoln, R.I., native now living in Windsor Locks, Connecticut, per the show’s promo material.
Season 51, hosted by Emmy winner Jeff Probst, premieres Wednesday, Sept. 23, at 8 p.m. The new season, set in Fiji, ushers in the “Open Era,” a “bold new chapter … in which every twist, every idol, every advantage in the series’ history may come into play, in any order and without warning.” It will see 21 castaways vie for the $1 million prize.
Ahead of the premiere Antonson talked Logan chaos, Mario Kart, karaoke, reality TV, and more. Read this in the drawped-ah (and dropped “g”) New England accent. Watch him try to survive in Fiji staahtin’ Wednesday.
Boston.com: So have you always wanted to be on “Survivor”?
Rob Antonson: I’m a big reality TV show guy. I’ve been watchin’ “Survivor” since the OGs, the beginnin’. MTV’s “The Challenge,” I’ve been watchin’ from the get-go. I watch “Real Housewives!”
[laughs] Right.
[laughs] I just like reality TV. I like seein’ people’s lives on camera — I don’t know what it is. I mean, when I was in my early 20s, I put in for “Survivor” and “Big Brother,” and didn’t get it. But when I was young, I was just a cocky kid. So now, havin’ three kids, bein’ 40 years old — one random day, I’m like, “Hey, let me put in for it.” And I got it! So it’s like winnin’ the lottery for me.
That’s awesome. And you’ve worked at Logan since 2015, you said.
I’m a gate agent. So I deal with all the bulls—t.
[laughs]
Every day is another issue. It’s craziness. That prepared me to get on this show.
You must have some wild stories.
The biggest one — and I mentioned it to “Survivor” [producers] — so one time I’m working a gate. A lot of people call me when they have issues because I’ve been there for 11 years; I know how to deal with people. So there was a guy, piss-drunk, has his thing out of his pants, peein’ against the wall, arms up against the glass, looking at the runway. They’re like, “Rob, you gotta come over here. We gotta get state police!”
[laughs] Oh my God.
I’ve never seen anything like it. But that’s Logan Airport. Crazy stuff happens. State police pulled this guy out so quick, it was ridiculous. But that’s working at the airport. The chaos there prepares you for any kind of reality show.
I bet. How else did you prepare?
I work out a lot. I have kids. I want to be able to, when I’m older, run around, throw the football. [Strategy]-wise, I’ve been watching forever, so I kind of know what happens. I had to pick up with the [newer seasons] because I was more of an OG guy. I had to catch up. I felt like I prepared myself well.
So you grew up in Johnston, R.I., and moved to Cumberland a little before COVID, you told me. Your kids are now 2, 4, and 7.
And my wife is a per diem nurse. I work for the airline, so we fly for free. My wife goes to California, works her per diem shifts. So a lot of the time, I’m a full-time daddy. I’m traveling to California with the three kids, or I’m just doing every day here with the three kids. Again, the 20-year-old me [who first tried out for “Survivor”] had no kids, no responsibility. I was living with my parents. I would’a got booted off the island so quick, it’s ridiculous.
[laughs] You must love traveling.
We’ve traveled everywhere. My wife, I met her on a cruise in Orlando. She’s from California. I went on the cruise by myself. She went with her family. I was going crazy, I was a big dancer. I’m doing karaoke. Her dad saw me dancing on the bar top and was like, “Listen, have fun, Nichole. You’re never gonna meet these people again.” We get married, and three kids later, you know?
[laughs] That’s awesome. It sounds like you’ve traveled a lot.
Thailand, China. Recently, Bali for our anniversary. Egypt’s unbelievable — going down in the tombs and seein’ the pyramids. Japan’s unbelievable.
So this is before I met my wife: I went to Japan, me and my buddies, and they had Mario Kaht. You pick your charactah — I picked Yoshi — you get in the little Mario Kaht, drive around the highway [in Tokyo]. You’re on the highway and no one’s running you ovah! You drive on the highway in Bawston in a go-kart? You’re dead.
[laughs] That’s awesome. So tell me a bit more about you.
I graduated high school in Johnston [in ‘04 and] ended up going to Rhode Island College, class of 2009. The only problem was I lived five minutes away, so I didn’t get that full college experience. I almost went to URI, which, I don’t know if I would’ve passed because they say URI is this big pahty school. So that’s probably good I didn’t go there.
RIC, I graduated with a broadcast journalism degree. As you can tell [motions around his desk] this is my podcast area. So that’s another thing: I always wanted to be a host, and now I see Jeff [Probst], one of the biggest icons in the world. It’s surreal. To be on “Survivor” — then seein’ Jeff? It’s like, oh my God.
Right. And you have a podcast?
I do little shorts now. I want to do a live [sports] podcast, and have my buddies over. So that’s in production now. I got the whole little room around here. I kicked down that door for reality TV. Now I got the itch. I want to be on more shows.
What would you try out for next?
Definitely, I want “Big Brother.” Maybe “Amazing Race.” We’ll see. My wife, after everything, she’s like, “We should do ‘Amazing Race.’ We travel everywhere.” I said, “You want me and you arguin’ with each other on national television? OK, that would be good ratings.”
[laughs] And your wife, Nichole, you told me, is a NICU nurse in California.
She completed my life. I was a hard-nosed guy, then she came along — someone that saves babies’ lives. I got very lucky goin’ on that cruise; I almost didn’t go on it.
I love that. Anything else you want our readers to know?
I’ve been at Logan a long time. When I was younger, I was this kid always burning bridges, but I realized when you get older, it’s all about relationships. That’s another thing with a game of “Survivor” — it’s a big relationship game, so that kind of prepares you, too. Because you wanna build that relationship, so you don’t get voted off.
I got lucky. It’s been 20 years [since I first tried out], so I feel like I hit the lottery. Everyone out there, if they’re older and want someone to root for, root for me: Rob from Rhode Island. Even though I love Boston.
Interview has been edited and condensed. Lauren Daley is a freelance culture writer. She can be reached at [email protected]. She tweets @laurendaley1, and Instagrams at @laurendaley1.
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