CBS WILD FOR GAME OF SURVIVAL.

Byline: David Kronke TV Writer

It'll make ``Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?'' look like ``Who Wants to Be a Wimp?'' It's ``The Lord of the Flies'' crossed with ``ED-tv,'' MTV's ``The Real World'' transformed into ``The Real Jungle.'' The man who'll run the program calls it a serious version of ``Gilligan's Island.''

``Survivor,'' a reality-action game show set to air on CBS in the summer of 2000, will pit 16 Americans of diverse backgrounds against one another on a deserted island in a competition and quest for survival that will net the winner $1 million.

Contestants will spend up to six weeks on Pulau Tiga, an island 10 square miles wide - covered predominantly with rain forest - off Borneo's coast in the South China Sea. There, the newly introduced wild men and women of Borneo will engage in an unusual blend of teamwork and competition, says Mark Burnett, who has run the ``Eco-Challenge'' on the Discovery Channel for the past six years and will oversee production of ``Survivor.'' And every step of the way, they'll be followed by one of 10 camera crews ordered to act as flies on the wall - if there were walls, that is. A host, not yet announced, will be the only outside individual interacting with the contestants.

``It's a beautiful island,'' Burnett says. ``It's uninhabited - there is a small (Malaysian) national park outpost. It's mainly a dense rain forest. It's populated by large monitor lizards, flying foxes, large pythons and wild pigs. There are no poisonous land snakes; there's nothing dangerous on the island itself. But psychologically, this is the lost world.'' A similar series in Sweden has opted for more scenic, less foreboding locales.

While Burnett didn't want to sound alarmist, a CBS press release noted that one of the world's most venomous snakes, the dangerous sea krait water snake, swims in waters near the equatorial island. It is also, CBS says, home to giant sea turtles and ``tribes of mischievous long-tailed macaque monkeys, which swim into the sea to hunt crabs but are also prone to swiping food supplies'' - as if they expect the contestants to have food supplies.

There are fresh water sources on the island, but the trick is to find them. On the island there are nuts and berries, and fish and crabs are plentiful in waters. And should a contestant run into problems, there is a medical team on hand.

``Anyone who signs up must be adventurous at heart,'' Burnett continues. ``We're giving away a million dollars, but we're giving people a multimillion-dollar experience. It'll be like living in a National Geographic special.

Contestants sign waivers

Contestants will sign waivers to participate, but the language hasn't been worked out yet.

``It'll feature a group dynamic - it'll be a little bit like Biosphere,'' he adds. ``They won't see if plants will grow, but they'll be working with each other and against each other. In `Survivor,' winning will be a matter of combination of being capable - being able help out in a lot of situations - and very likable. The winner will likely be a special individual in real life. People who are both capable and liked tend to be successful. This competition is really a microcosm of life.''

When the show was first announced on Thursday, ``Survivor'' immediately received more hits at the CBS Web site than any other series. There, potential contestants can find an application, which asks such questions as ``Which character on `Gilligan's Island' do you most relate to?'' and ``Why do you believe you could be the final survivor?''

``Before anyone goes to Malaysia, they'll undergo an extensive medical, physical and psychological check-up,'' says Michael Naidus of CBS. ``There will be a complete background check. We want good TV, but we're not going to put anyone's health or life at risk.''

The selection process will cull three individuals from 16 different geographical regions across the country, including Los Angeles. Diversity will be an important facet for considering contestants, Naidus says: ``We don't want 16 23-year-old Navy SEALs.''

Burnett adds, ``We'd like to get a 60-year-old Catholic priest competing with a 20-year-old gorgeous model, a cop from New York, maybe a guy with a silly little misdemeanor on his rap sheet and a vegan activist from Northern California and a thirty or fortysomething mother. That's the kind of variety we're looking for.'' The 48 semifinalists will convene in Los Angeles in late December, finalists will be announced in January and taping of the actual competition will be done in March and April of 2000.

Three-day episodes

Roughly every three days on the island will serve as the basis of a one-hour episode. In addition to simply foraging for food and finding shelter, contestants will while away the hours in competitions ranging from building rafts to prowess with blowguns. Each episode will culminate in a tribal council, in which contestants gather to vote to kick one or more contestants off the island. ``There are no rules to the voting,'' Naidus says. ``You can vote someone out on the basis you don't like their looks, or if you don't like the way they fish.''

Losers will not be eaten by survivors but whisked away to a facility for at least three days of medical and psychological evaluation. ``Being kicked out can be quite traumatic,'' Naidus observes. The final winner will be voted on by the last few contestants who leave the island.

Burnett says that physically, ``Survivor'' is safer than his ``Eco-Challenge,'' which has produced but one broken ankle in six years of competition. ``Eco-Challenge'' teams typically encounter challenges like rappelling down a gorge, crossing a raging river and climbing back up the other side.

`` `Survivor' is more psychological,'' he says. ``I do this for a living and have assembled a really very capable risk-management crew. The new thing for me is the psychologists. The mental element is a new factor - being voted out can be embarrassing - and nobody goes home without counseling, both individually and in groups.''

``Survivor'' comes on the heels of the wild success of the ABC game show ``Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?'' a game show in which contestants fretted over their fates on live TV, and ``The Blair Witch Project,'' a pseudo-documentary that depicted seemingly real-life characters imperiled in a forest. The popularity of both was attributed to watching the psychological torment the participants endured.

`Ultimate Weight-loss'

``A big question I've been hearing is people wondering how they themselves would do in this situation,'' Burnett says. ``I wouldn't have taken this on if I didn't think it'd create a lot of interest. It's definitely an interesting thing to ponder, and the fly-on-the-wall aspect is very important to creating interest for this.''

If all else fails, Burnett - who answers the ``Gilligan's Island'' question by saying, ``Other people tell me I'm Mr. Howell'' - jokes, ``We could market this as the Ultimate Weight-Loss Plan.''