‘Survivor’-Type Show Hits Bottom, so to Speak

Just when you thought reality shows couldn’t get any raunchier, a quintet of randy thirtysomething entrepreneurs took the “Big Brother”/”Survivor” concept where no network has dared to go: into a house full of porn stars.

Steve Fine, Joey D’Amore and three buddies were sitting around watching “Survivor” last summer when they realized they were bored. The show could be so much better, they thought, if instead of having a few people trapped on an island, you had a bunch of guys trapped in a Malibu mansion with porn stars.

“What would be really fun and interesting and really cater to our demographic of young, college-graduated, thrill-seeking, irreverent guys, is a racier version,” explained Fine.

So they got a bunch of friends to throw in some money, brought in a few leading film porn stars, grabbed some Malibu digs and started filming scenes for their Web site, PornstarSurvivor.com.

The concept is this: Four men, who must apply and undergo background checks and submit to tests for sexually transmitted diseases, live for a week in a house with four porn stars.

(The first episode features women well-known to porn connoisseurs: Houston, Inari Vachs, Keisha and Cherry Mirage. Creators say they have more than 100 of their favorite porn stars under contract for future episodes, including Howard Stern favorite Kendra Jade.)

The contestants compete in a series of risque games with the porn stars that fall short of sex (contestants are allowed to have sex, but it is not required). Each day the starlets vote out one contestant, based on his performance and the “genuineness” of his efforts. The winner gets $1,000 and a chance to be treated like a king for a day by the stars. Each weekly winner will be invited back to compete for a $50,000 cash prize in a tournament of champions--dubbed “The Ultimate Survivor”--this fall.

The show is set to begin streaming over the Internet this SuperBowl Sunday. It costs $29.95 to register on the Web site for a year. There already have been more than 600,000 hits to the site since it was launched in November, Fine said.

When CBS got wind of the show that was trying to adapt its “Survivor” concept, the network wanted to throw the saucy copycat show off its lucrative island. Network officials sent a cease-and-desist letter to PornstarSurvivor.com and threatened legal action.

“Your actions . . . constitute, among other things, trademark infringement, dilution, copyright infringement and unfair competition. Your actions will cause CBS and SPL [Survivor Productions LLC] substantial and irreparable harm,” charged the three-page missive.

CBS refused to comment.

PornstarSurvivor attorneys shot back that CBS has no monopoly on the word “survivor,” and there is no way a viewer could confuse the two shows.

” . . . The games, events and contests of the two respective shows bear no similarity,” attorneys wrote. “Naked Twister, Topless Football, Pornstar Obstacle Course and others are in no way similar to the games and contests on your series.”

PornstarSurvivor creators said they have yet to hear back from CBS but plan to proceed with their show.