'SURVIVOR' WANNA-BES PUT IT ON THE LINE.

Byline: Fred Shuster Staff Writer

``Outwit, outplay, outlast'' is the mantra of CBS' smash-hit ``Survivor.'' What should've been added Saturday at an open casting call at KCBS studios for the next series of the popular reality show was ``wait in line.''

More than 750 people, some of whom began queuing the night before, got three minutes in front of a video camera to convince ``Survivor'' talent scouts why they should be allowed to starve, hunt and play the game of wits that rewards the winner with a cool million.

The Hollywood casting call was originally scheduled to run six hours, but the station extended it by an additional 3 1/2 hours to accommodate the crowd, estimated at nearly 2,000. Channel 2 officials said Monday more than 900 people were turned away due to time constraints.

``The money is the motivating factor,'' admitted Heather Mickelson, 30, a youth facility director from Culver City who waited in line in the hot sun Saturday. ``But I also like doing things that challenge me.''

Another ``Survivor'' hopeful, Hollywood resident Elisha Hall, 21, arrived at 5 a.m. to tell the camera, ``I'm hard-core. I've been going camping since I was little. I'm outgoing, I like to be in groups, and I like to play games. Throw me out in the wilderness and I'll do fine.''

Lynne Spillman, the series' casting director, said she was looking for contestants from all walks of life brimming with ``personality, energy, camera presence and a sense of adventure.''

The third ``Survivor'' series will be shot in an undisclosed remote location over seven weeks in July and August. The show will air in the fall.

Open casting will take place across the country at the 16 owned-and-operated CBS stations. The videotaped auditions will be forwarded to ``Survivor'' casting staff. Finalists will be named in early June. Russ Whittington, 28, a Mission Viejo carpenter and inventor, waited six hours before getting his three minutes before the blinking red light.

``I told 'em what I was about, where I've camped, my pets, the places I lived,'' he said after the audition. ``I told them I get along with everybody. I'm a hunter-gatherer. I'm always out in the bush, catching stuff with my bare hands. I'm very nature-oriented. It's the adventure that attracts me above all. It's like a camping trip with a bunch of strangers.''

Most would-be ``Survivors'' waited in small clusters with pals, clutching water bottles, coffee cups and cell phones. Rival network late-night host Jay Leno wandered the crowd with camera crew in tow.

``I've got one mission if chosen,'' volunteered sales rep Duncan Bravo, 36, of Woodland Hills. ``I want to set a meaningful example for my kids that as human beings we all have the power to overcome challenges and achieve amazing things if we just put our minds to it.''

Bravo was certain he could deal with the lack of food on the show because ``that's the whole point - to overcome these huge obstacles. ... I've always been outgoing - it comes with my nature. But I want to be a better team-builder.''

San Dimas motivational speaker Angela Gustafsson, 29, who described herself as ``the reigning Mrs. United Nations'' and wore a sash and tiara perched on her head to prove it, declared she had the ``beauty, brawn and brains'' to make the final call.

``One thing I'm hoping is they switch to long-grain rice when we start filming,'' she said. ``It has a lot more nutritional value.''

Gustafsson, who waited on Sunset Boulevard outside the KCBS gates, added that as a former soldier-medic in the U.S. Army, she's well-versed in goal-oriented work.

``I went in the Army for a heck of a lot less than $1 million and survived that,'' she said.

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4 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) Thousands of hopeful Southern Californians descended upon the studios of KCBS in Hollywood on Saturday for auditions for CBS' ``Survivor 3.''

(2 -- color) Heather Mickelson

(3 -- color) Duncan Bravo

(4 -- color) Angela Gustafsson, the reigning Mrs. United Nations

Eric Grigorian/Staff Photographer