Castaways announced for ninth ‘Survivor’

One-legged cancer survivor among Vanuatu competitors

	They will survive. Or so the new "Survivor" contestants hope.
Monty Brinton / AP

updated 2:29 p.m. ET Aug. 17, 2004

NEW YORK - Reality TV is getting old.

“Survivor” will head into its ninth season on Sept. 16 with a two-hour premiere (8 p.m. ET), CBS announced Tuesday. The new edition, “Survivor: Vanuatu — Islands of Fire,” takes place in a nation of over 80 volcano-dotted islands in the southwest Pacific Ocean.

Eighteen castaways will compete in separate tribes of men versus women. The participants include an FBI agent, a drill sergeant named Sarge, a Pennsylvania sheep farmer, a man who lost is leg to cancer and a mechanical bull operator from Los Angeles. The oldest competitor is Scout Cloud Lee, a 59-year-old rancher from Oklahoma.

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The battle of the sexes also was the beginning structure of “Survivor: The Amazon,” but was altered in midseason. CBS publicist Chris Ender says nothing is set in stone this time around, either.

“In true Mark Burnett (the show’s producer) style, there will be some twists and turns throughout the season,” Ender told The Associated Press Tuesday.

Vanuatu is home to more than 100 languages, and a tribal and ritualistic culture is still in existence on many of its islands.