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Michael Skupin suffered second-degree burns.

Last week's Survivor: The Australian Outback ended with a prayer. And that's exactly what the five remaining Ogakor tribe members don't seem to have going into the "merge" with the stronger, better-fed Kuchas in the seventh episode of TV's top-rated unscripted series, which airs at 8 p.m. tomorrow, on WTOL-TV, Channel 11.

One advantage for the Ogakors: Kucha's pig-killing alpha-male, Michael Skupin, is out of the game. As 31.2 million viewers saw last Thursday, Skupin fell onto hot coals and suffered second-degree burns to his palms, wrists, and cheek. Within minutes of the accident, he was choppered out of the Kucha camp and subsequently airlifted to a burn center in Brisbane. Facing weeks of recovery time, he couldn't return to vie for the million-dollar prize. A symbolic Kucha tribal council was held, with the tribe snuffing out Skupin's torch to mark his departure, but producer Mark Burnett edited it out of the episode, saying "it was meaningless for TV and would have belittled the event."

Actually, viewers saw only the aftermath of what happened when Skupin inhaled smoke and passed out over the fire. On the show, there was a scream, then the camera picked up Skupin, burned flesh dangling from his hands, hurling himself into the river to quell the pain.

In a conference call with the press to discuss the incident, neither Skupin nor Survivor executive producer Mark Burnett would say whether the camera trained on Skupin caught the accident itself.

"I won't say if the event was caught on film," said Burnett. "I will say there is much more graphic footage of agony, blood, <$eb>blisters, and pus. But it has no place [on TV] in the 8 o'clock hour." (Last week's episode did include an onscreen advisory warning of scenes unsuitable for children.)

One thing is certain, however, said Burnett. If a cameraman had been next to Skupin at the time of the accident, he would not have stopped filming to pull the player off the fire.

"If the cameraman had dropped the camera to help him, I would have fired him on the spot," said Burnett. "He's there to film. The camera has to be on the shoulder and operating at all times. There are 10 production people in the area and five other tribe members. The cameraman's job is to keep shooting."

Burnett said when and if mishaps occur among Survivor players, he prefers that other tribe members look after their injured teammate "because it makes for better drama." If real first aid is needed, a medical team and an emergency tent are within 500 yards of each tribe's camp.

Skupin said he never worried about getting emergency help. "Even in the most extreme pain <$eb>and agony I was suffering, I never thought anything was out of control medically. From the instant those doctors arrived with medication and thick, heavy, iced bandages, they were so on top of it. There isn't anything a camera person could have done."

Players are well aware of potential physical hazards and sign liability waivers "as thick as the yellow pages," said Burnett.

Skupin, a software publisher who lives in White Lake, Mich., kept the accident a secret from his wife and three children, who learned about it for the first time while watching the show last week. Skupin had remained in Australia, traveling to a Club Med and the Great Barrier Reef (on CBS's dime) after his two-week stay in the hospital. By the time he returned home, his wife was convinced he had won the game.

Skupin said he's not sorry he kept the secret from his family. "We had a two-hour pow wow after watching the show together. They said, `So that's why you don't work the hours you used to work and spend so much time with us now.' Even before the burns, this experience changed me completely."

Keeping secrets is something Mark Burnett also does well. The media found out about Skupin's ordeal along with those 31 million viewers.

"There's never a case I could envisage where I would tell the press ahead of time that something like this happened on Survivor," said the producer.

Not even if a player died during filming?

"If a death occurred and it was my fault, I'd talk about it immediately. If it were an act of God, that's different. CBS and Viacom (which owns the network) might make the determination to tell the press. I would not."

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