Test your 'Survivor' IQ: Who will be the next to go?

By ERIC DEGGANS, Times Television Critic

© St. Petersburg Times, published June 14, 2000

The desperation of life marooned on a tropical island mixed with the excitement of a TV game show: no wonder CBS' Survivor is juicing a sleepy summer TV season.

Unless you've been trapped under something heavy for the past two weeks, you know the drill; split into two teams, 16 volunteer castaways compete in contrived contests -- last week, they ate beetle grubs! -- with the loser forced to vote a member off the island.

Halfway through the 13-week series (it airs at 8 tonight and every Wednesday on WTSP-Ch. 10), they'll put the two teams together and keep kicking people off. The last person standing wins $1-million.

And so, until someone at the National Enquirer forks out enough cash to get the full scoop, we'll keep watching for the series' biggest draw.

Who's going home this time?

My pick: Rudy Boesch, 72, a retired Navy Seal who was easily the most abrasive member of the Tagi Team. Nearly voted off in the first episode, he will fall victim to the generation gap that already claimed the two other senior citizens on this voyage.

Pagong Team's next casualty will be New Jersey biochemist Ramona Gray, 29, mostly shown lying around sick for the first two episodes. Also nearly voted off last week, she remains the least popular team member, now that no one over 40 is left in that group.

With all this hype flying around, we want to know: Who do you think will go next week?

You're already in the office pool. So why not send us your predictions (one for Pagong, one for Tagi) via e-mail, letter, or old-fashioned U.S. Mail? No calls, please.

E-mail: Floridian@sptimes.com; fax is (727) 892-2327. Or mail to Eric Deggans, St. Petersburg Times, P.O. Box 1121, St. Petersburg FL 33731.

Faxes and e-mails must be received by noon Friday; letters must be postmarked Thursday.

We'll tabulate the responses and show the most popular reject every week. Who knows, you just might have a future in CBS programming.