Sunday Morning News

`Survivor II' Cast Faces Challenges of Australian Outback

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: After finding out who survives Super Bowl XXXV, there are some other players to cheer for. Last season's hit TV show "Survivor" has a new installment airing after the big game tonight.

CNN's Lauren Hunter (ph) has a preview.

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LAUREN HUNTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They're younger, fitter, and ready to do battle for position of top rat.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm not going out there to make friends; I don't care about any of these people.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is a game; I didn't come onto this show to lose.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let the friction begin.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sure, it's going to get ugly.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's going to be such a game of maneuvering and outwitting.

HUNTER: The game is "Survivor II," the setting is the Australian Outback. The prize: a cool million bucks.

MARK BURNETT, CREATOR/EXECUTIVE PRODUCER, "SURVIVOR": The "Survivor II" cast are equally compelling as the "Survivor" one cast. They're absolutely just as vindictive, just as motivated to win as in "Survivor" one.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The winner of the first "Survivor" competition is Rich.

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HUNTER: 72 million people tuned in to watch strategist Richard Hatch collect on the original "Survivor." The show's creator and producer says viewers won't be disappointed with round two. BURNETT: I'm astounded how great the drama is in the first few episodes; and there are some things that happen that are quite shocking.

HUNTER: Fifty thousand people applied for the new series; but it seems only the buff made the final cut.

LYNETTE RICE, "ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY": There's been a lot of attention about how beautiful these people are, and that may not be so good. It may be like a "Baywatch" "Survivor."

You want more everyman participating. That was so great about Rudy and Richard Hatch; I mean, they look like, you know, the shmoes down the street, and it's not going to be that way as much.

HUNTER: But the new contestants all seem schooled in the Richard Hatch theory of survival.

BURNETT: All the contestants came to "Survivor II" with preplanned strategies. The question is: How could that work, when everybody had a strategy?

HUNTER: There will still be two teams. This time Kucha and Ogakor, Aboriginal names for "kangaroo" and "crocodile." There will be the familiar immunity challenges and tribal councils. The big change is the venue.

BURNETT: The heat and the harshness of that land was harder than the Pulau Tiga in Borneo. There were crocodiles to deal with; there was many, many more snakes, spiders and even bushes that can sting you and poison you. It was a harsh, harsh environment.

HUNTER: So "Survivor II" may be a case of Darwin's survival of the fittest.

Lauren Hunter, CNN entertainment news, Hollywood.

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