In Thursday night's TV battle of the giants -- CBS's "Survivor: The Australian Outback" vs. NBC's "Friends" - the reality series managed to pull off a slight victory over the so-called "super size" (40 minute) version of the sitcom, according to overnight rating figures released by Nielsen on Friday. Between 8 and 8:30 p.m., "Outback" earned a 17.1 rating and a 25 audience share, while "Friends" scored a 16.6 rating and 24 audience share (which basically are its usual numbers). During the second half hour, "Outback" had a rating of 19.8 and a 28 share. The final 10 minutes of "Friends" increased to a 17.4 rating and 24 share, and a 20-minute "Saturday Night Live" special had a 13.7 rating and 19 share. As for what occurred on the air, starting with those trying to survive: The Ogakor tribe's fisherman, Kel Gleason, 33, an Army Captain and Bosnian war veteran currently stationed in Fort Hood, Texas, was booted out of the Outback. He was accused of hoarding a personal stash of beef jerky. Fellow tribesman Colby also accused him of not knowing how to fish, saying, "(Kel) couldn't fish a rubber ducky out of a bathtub." Meanwhile, in the Geller household, younger sister Monica (Courteney Cox Arquette) got the keys to the Porsche so beloved by her dad (Elliot Gould) so she would no longer think she was second rate to her brother Ross (David Schwimmer). Dad also felt guilty over using boxes of her now-ruined childhood memorabilia to stop floodwaters from damaging the car in the garage. Ross got jealous. Also, Phoebe (Lisa Kudrow) saved a suicidal office worker (Jason Alexander), whom she met over the phone while making a telemarketing call. (She needed a new job.) As for other business Down Under, starving contestants dined on raw mangrove worm and mudwell, a slimy fish native to the setting. Kucha tribe member Michael Skupin, 39, the born-again, twice-married father of three (his mother had told PEOPLE that he's "like the Energizer bunny"), made rice for the group without its consent, and it tasted something awful. This did not endear the software executive to the others, but strangely it did seem to empower him. His fellow Kuchas appear to let him get away with being the most Richard Hatch-ish of this year's contestants, though, so far at least, Skupkin, who wears war paint, has kept his clothes on.
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