During the weeks leading up to last week's Survivor: All-Stars premiere, executive producer Mark Burnett touted the series as his "blockbuster" -- and if the early ratings are any indication anything, it appears as though he was right.

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The final Nielsen ratings for the Thursday, February 5 broadcast of the first Thursday episode of Survivor: All-Stars are in, and as expected, the All-Star edition of the program, featuring only contestants from the seven previous editions of the program, seems to be experiencing a significant ratings boost versus other recent editions of the series.

Airing versus a new supersized episode of NBC's Friends, Survivor: All-Stars second episode drew an average of 23.07 million viewers, a 13.1/19 households rating/share. a 10/4/23 Adults 25-54 rating/share, and a 8.9/22 rating/share. The episode was the most watched and highest rated regularly scheduled Survivor in key demographics since the March 6, 2003 broadcast of Survivor: The Amazon, delayed by President Bush's national address, drew 23.33 million viewers to rank as the week's #1 most watched program.

At 8:30PM, Survivor: All-Stars increased 11% in households (13.8/20 from 12.4/19), 17% in adults 25-54 (11.2/24 from 9.6/22), 19% in adults 18-49 (9.6/23 from 8.1/21) and added 2.82 million viewers (24.48 million from 21.66 million). CBS won the 8:30-9:00PM time period in viewers and adults 25-54.

Survivor All-Stars second episode performance was up significantly compared to the second episode broadcasts of both last edition's Survivor: Pearl Islands and Spring 2003's Survivor: The Amazon. Airing against a supersized Friends season premiere, the second episode of Survivor: Pearl Islands drew 19.3 million viewers -- nearly 4 million viewers fewer than the All-Stars broadcast -- while February 2003's Survivor: The Amazon second episode drew 20.34 million -- nearly 3 million fewer viewers.