The Australian Outback isn’t the only place contestants will be trying to “Outwit, Outplay and Outlast” each other this quarter. Dance Marathon is launching its own version of “Survivor” on campus, where Northwestern students will try to “Out Sing, Out Dance and Outlast.”

DM will begin selling 2,000 candy bars around campus today to select contestants. Taking a page from “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” organizers have hidden about 200 golden tickets inside the wrappers. People who find golden tickets will be eligible to enter a talent audition to become Survivor contestants.

At a series of DM events leading up to and including the climactic March 2 weekend, eight lucky contestants will be whittled down to a single survivor. As in the wildly popular CBS television program, the contestants first will be divided into two teams, which will then perform at a coffeehouse Jan. 31 at the Unicorn Cafe and a date auction Feb. 7 at The Keg, with each audience picking the winning teams. Each losing team then must vote off one of its members.

The competition will continue in February with an Evanston scavenger hunt and a bowling tournament. The teams will be consolidated into one group after three contestants are voted off, at which time individual immunity will be introduced.

Michael Baratz, DM special events co-chairman and a McCormick senior, said the group plans to record the entire process and put together a promotional video by mid-February.

The game will culminate in a dance contest at Dance Marathon, which will be judged by the 500 DM dancers. Each participant will receive a prize, but organizers are still debating the special prize to be bestowed on the final survivor. Baratz promised the grand prize would be “nice,” but probably not equal to the $1 million that CBS gave to winner Richard Hatch.

“The longer you stay in the game the better your prize will be,” Baratz said.

DM Survivor is the brainchild of Baratz’s mother, who suggested the golden tickets as well as a DM “Who Wants to be a Millionaire.”

“I don’t even think she watched the show,” Baratz said. But he said DM executive board members embraced the idea and the game was born.

“I think it’s a really great idea,” said Meghan Hooper, a Speech junior, DM dancer and avowed “Survivor” fan. “I think it will be hilarious.”

“The golden ticket idea is excellent,” agreed Jana Davidoff, also a Speech junior. “I’d buy five candy bars.”

That’s the kind of excitement organizers say they hope the game will inspire.

“Our point is not really to raise money, but to raise interest,” said Kerri Schneider, a Weinberg senior and DM special events co-chairwoman.

She said she hopes “Survivor” will draw people to DM events and involve more non-dancers in the charity.

Money is the eventual goal, however, and DM officials hope to top last year’s total of more than $500,000. This year DM will benefit The Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, based in Santa Monica, Calif., and the Evanston Community Foundation, an umbrella group for local charities.

Schneider emphasized the importance of the cause. Pediatric AIDS has “kind of fallen to the background, but it’s still a huge issue,” she said.

“It’s a good time to bring it back to the foreground,” she said.

For more information about the game, e-mail”[email protected]”.