It’s a jungle out there in the land of ratings

As the Lakers can tell you (and the Tampa Bay Bucs and Anaheim Angels will soon find out), getting to the top is nothing compared with the struggle to stay there.

It’s no different for TV shows. Wasn’t it just the other day that “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” ruled the airwaves? The show seemingly had a foolproof formula for success, but of course it was only a matter of weeks before producers began fooling with the formula. The result? When was the last time “Millionaire” came up in conversation?

And now the venerable “Survivor” franchise, in its sixth edition since debuting in May 2000, has gone in for a nip and tuck. Tonight’s show at 8 on CBS marks the third week since producers decided to separate their 16 campers not by luck of the draw but by gender. A bold stroke of inspiration or a desperate bid to freshen things up? Well, it’s worked nicely so far, with the male-female interplay and sexual tension replaced by some intense power struggles within the Tambaqui (guys) and Jaburu (gals) camps. Yet the Jaburus still won the first two challenges against the wildly overconfident Tambaquis, proving “Survivor: Amazon” prophetic, at least to that point.

But new formula or not, “Survivor” isn’t about to keep that sexual tension on the back burner for long, and tonight’s bathing/strategy session begins turning up the heat.