THE sky-high ratings for “Survivor: Australian Outback” have picked up right where “Survivor” left off – and are expected to get even better.

Since its debut in January after the Super Bowl, the popular reality show has been churning out huge ratings each week.

And with about 31.3 million viewers tuning in for last week’s heavily hyped episode – in which Kucha tribe-member Michael Skupin was badly burned and needed to be airlifted out of the Outback and the game – CBS officials say the show’s ratings will get even bigger.

“When you have some kind of important moment on any hit show, a particularly unique episode, viewers will actually go out of their way to see the episode, so there’s a spike,” says CBS ratings expert David Poltrack.

Poltrack believes that the episode’s high-drama and shocking end will add juice to future episodes of the show.

“It sort of reinforced the viewing experience for the viewers,” Poltrack says.

“The things that make ‘Survivor’ work, were all present at a very highly emotional and involving level.

“The positive viewing experience that ‘Survivor’ provides was amplified by what people saw,” Poltrack says. “Therefore I believe they’ll come back and [its ratings] will hit a higher plateau for the next several weeks.”

Not including the post-Super Bowl debut of “Survivor 2” – which was seen by about 45.3 million people – it is estimated that the latest season of “Survivor” has been watched by an average of 29.1 million viewers each week.

Last summer’s 13-episode run of the original “Survivor” averaged about 26.4 million viewers each week, but the audience grew larger with every episode – an almost-unheard of phenomenon for TV.

Typically a show will debut with its best ratings and shrink each week before leveling off.

The first season of “Survivor” bucked the trend and ultimately blew the roof off the ratings when about 51.6 million viewers tuned in for the series finale.

“With the first ‘Survivor’ people were discovering the show,” said Poltrack.

“There was a build up. With the second ‘Survivor,’ you have the big, hyped Super Bowl debut that was artificially inflated by the Super Bowl lead in – but if you look at just the Thursdays its been fairly consistent.”

The least-watched “Survivor” episode so far was on Feb. 15, when Skupin slaughtered a wild pig for food.

That episode averaged about 28.2 million viewers.