Associated Press
Place your bets: Will it be the Harvard Law School student, the Army intelligence officer or maybe a couple of bartenders?
They are among the 16 contestants in the Australian edition of CBS’ "Survivor" game. The network, banging the drumbeat of publicity for the show’s Jan. 28 debut, unveiled the new cast yesterday.
Time will tell if any make as indelible an impression as Richard Hatch, the fat naked guy who took home $1 million by winning the first game this summer, or his cranky co-conspirator, Rudy Boesch.
"I won’t be bringing my handcuffs," said one new contestant, Maralyn Hershey, a 51-year-old retired police officer from Wakefield, Va., on the CBS "Early Show" yesterday. "I think primarily it’s going to be mental skills."
Hershey already knows her fate. The series was filmed at a desolate location near the Herbert River in northeastern Australia. CBS, as it successfully did for "Survivor" last summer, is going to extraordinary lengths to keep the results a secret.
Other contestants are talking tough, like 40-year-old Keith Famie, a chef from West Bloomfield, Mich.
"All of us who are playing have some degree of confidence," he said. "This game is not for the meek and mild."
The first "Survivor" finale was the television event of 2000, drawing 51.7 million viewers in normally sleepy August.
After its debut immediately following the Super Bowl, the second "Survivor" will air mostly on Thursdays through April. Besides Hershey and Famie, the contestants are:
 Rodger Bingham, 53, a teacher and farmer from Crittenden, Ky.
Amber Brkich, 22, an administrative assistant from Beaver, Pa.
Nick Brown, 23, a Harvard law student originally from San Francisco.
Alicia Calaway, 32, a personal trainer from New York City.
Colby Donaldson, 26, an auto customizer living in Dallas.
Debb Eaton, 45, a corrections officer from Berlin, N.H.
Elisabeth Filarski, 23, a footwear designer from Providence, currently living in Newton, Mass.
Kel Gleason, 32, an Army intelligence officer from Murphysboro, Ill., now living in Ft. Hood, Texas.
Kimmi Kappenberg, 28, a bartender and freelance production assistant from Long Island, N.Y.
Jerri Manthey, 30, an aspiring actress and Los Angeles bartender.
Mitchell Olson, 23, a singer-songwriter from Vermillion, S.D., now living in Union City, N.J.
Michael Skupin, 38, a software publisher and distributor from Farmington Hills, Mich., now living in White Lake, Mich.
Jeff Varner, an Internet project manager from Greensboro, N.C., now living in New York City.
Tina Wesson, 40, a mother and part-time nurse from Knoxville, Tenn.
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