The Fittest May Not Survive

You'd have to be stranded on a desert island to have missed the network game show craze.

CBS will enter the fray with Survivor!, a program about 16 marooned strangers competing for $1 million. It doesn't air until the summer, but thousands of people have been clamoring for spot on the show. Mark Burnett, executive producer of Survivor!, talked to Early Show Co-Anchor Jane Clayson.

Based on a popular Swedish game show, Survivor! leaves 16 strangers marooned on a deserted island in the South China Sea. They must work together as a tribe to provide each other food and shelter. On their third day on the island, they form a tribal council and hold open discussion about their predicament.

Then, by secret ballot, each person casts a vote against one fellow castaway. That person is ejected from the game. This process repeats every third day until there are two remaining contestants.

Why would they want to get rid of a person?

"Well, maybe they don't like the person, or if they're threatened by the person," Burnett explains. "You know, it's the same as almost every office environment."

"Someone who is a great survivalist and contributes a lot to the island life but is a jerk will be kicked off," he says. "On the other hand, someone who is likable but useless contributing meaningfully to island life will also be kicked off. I think someone who is capable but extremely likable and moral will win."

When only two are left, the last seven people to be ejected from the game return to the island and select a single winner, who receives $1 million.

The contestants will be given basic supplies (as if they were shipwrecked) including a machete, rice and a fresh water supply. Burnett says the show will not allow anyone to starve; it's designed to highlight how people get along and behave under trying circumstances - not to test anyone's individual survival skills.

"It won't be dangerous, because we're not going to put them on a show and let them die," Burnett explains. "It will be very uncomfortable. No refrigerator. There's no sofa or bed. They'll make their own shelter and lay down in the leaves."

"But the most uncomfortable thing of all will be the team dynamics and the fear of not being liked and rejected. The real surviving is the politics of modern life," Burnett adds.

The contestants will be filmed 24/7 by hidden cameras and 10 rotating crews from March 14 through April 20. Contestants are expected to sign a contract, swearing them to secrecy about the events until the series airs in June.

The island is located in the Malaysian state of Sabah, off the coast of Borneo, but its name is being kept secret to discourage uninvited visitors during the taping.

Burnett hopes to come up with a diverse group of peope in terms of gender, race and background - something he calls a Gilligan's Island mix.

We'd "like to put a middle-aged steelworker up against a twentysomething actress from Hollywood," he says.

So is it possible that the ultimate survivor will be someone who puts on a good front?

"Not in the long term," Burnett says. "A leopard doesn't change its spots, and living on an island for seven weeks, the 'true you' will come out, and people will see."

It's too late to become a contestant on Survivor! Producers already have waded through more than 6,000 applications, which include a three-minute home video introduction. The field has been whittled down to 800 semifinalists. The next step for the producers is to select 48 people to be flown to Los Angeles for a week of more in-depth interviews.

The 16 contestants will be announced in early February.

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