As the dean of the current reality craze, CBS’ “Survivor” has made it through nine installments with only minimal viewer attrition. CBS is assuming that fans will stick around for several more seasons of backstabbing, alliances and scruffy castaways.

CBS announced Wednesday that the network has picked up two future installments of “Survivor” to air during the 2005-06 season.

The Mark Burnett-produced series’ latest season, “Survivor: Vanuatu,” ended on Sunday with Chris Daugherty winning the million dollar prize. Although it was dismissed by many critics and fans of the series, the “Vanuatu” season averaged 19.65 million viewers, regularly beating NBC’s Must-See comedies in total viewers and most critical demographic groups.

Eager to mix up the show’s formula, the 10th season of “Survivor” will take place on the island of Palau in the Pacific and will feature 20 contestants rather than the standard 16 or 18. “Survivor: Palau” will premiere in the spring of 2005.

“Survivor” won the Emmy in 2001 for outstanding non-fiction programming and was also nominated in the revamped reality category in 2003.

Electra enters TV love triangle

Somebody’s about to come between Kelly Ripa and her husband and who could it possibly be besides television’s uber-guest star Carmen Electra?

Electra, attempting to earn a level of ubiquity known only to Ripa’s daytime co-host Regis Philbin, will appear on a 2005 episode of ABC’s “Hope & Faith.” That episode will air in January, which comes well after recent guest appearances on “Eve,” “Monk,” “Method & Red” and “The Mountain” and her hosting duties on Bravo’s “Manhunt,” but before her multi-episode arc on “Summerland.” The model and actress has also signed a talent deal with Fox to appear in a comedy pilot.

On “Hope & Faith,” Electra will complicate the budding romance between Ripa’s Faith and the former baseball star Gary Gucharez, played by Ripa’s real-life husband Mark Consuelos. Electra will play the baseball player’s rich ex, who shows up just as sparks begin to fly between Faith and “The Gooch.”

Other credits for Electra have included “Baywatch,” “Hyperion Bay” and “Singled Out,” as well as the features “My Boss’s Daughter” and “Starsky & Hutch.”