Sapphic survivors.

WHEN WORD first hit that CBS's smash reality series Survivor was entering its ninth season with two openly gay women in the cast, many queer viewers asked, "Where have all the lesbians been hiding?" Indeed, the photos of Ami Cusack, 31, a barista from Colorado, and Scout Cloud Lee, 59, a rancher-entrepreneur from Oklahoma, show them looking like any of the other female castaways from seasons past. Could it be that while living in the wild, scavenging for food, and forging alliances, some participants were simultaneously keeping themselves both in the game and the closet?

"There were certainly lesbians on the show that haven't come out. Without question," says Richard Hatch, the openly gay winner of Survivor's first season. And as for what percentage of players in the past were gay, Hatch will say only, "Far higher than in the general population."