Are You Ready for an Online Gold Rush?

Survivor exec producer Mark Burnett has finally found a way to give away more than a million dollars without the mandatory starvation diet. This time, instead of making people sweat and backstab on a tropical island, he's partnered with AOL in a new online competition called Gold Rush. For seven straight weeks starting Sept. 13, you can head over to aol.com/goldrush to compete in pop-culture challenges, some which lead to clues found in various commercials, magazines and CBS shows.

"It's like The Da Vinci Code," explains Entertainment Tonight's Mark Steines, who will be hosting, "in the sense that one clue may be two clues.... [But] no, I'm not going to grow my hair out like [Tom Hanks]."
 
Twice each week, three participants will be momentarily pulled away from their computers and flown to a special locale in America to battle for $100,000 (your choice of cash or handy gold bars). But don't worry, Steines says "there's no bug-eating involved, particularly by the host of the show. Nor will we have to comb our hair like Donald Trump. [The challenges] will all be based in your pop-culture knowledge." And the "Grand Gold Finale" will feature one lucky savant walking away with a million bucks. Emotional reunion show and Jeff Probst not included.

Send in your comments about this article to letters@tvguide.com.