I MADE A MISTAKE myself in an item last week when I wrote that Sunday's "Survivor" finale would trim the field of hopefuls from four to three and then to two before the final vote. That, of course, didn't happen — the jury voted on three finalists.

I made the mistake of believing a CBS promo for the finale that promised "three tribal councils." Which was wrong. There were only two tribal councils — one to trim the field to three; one to decide a winner.

HERZOG PROVED AGAIN on CBS's "Early Show" that he can hold his own with anybody. When he appeared to receive his million-dollar check on Monday morning, host Russ Mitchell suggested that first-season winner Richard Hatch was Herzog's "role model."

Hatch is serving prison time because he didn't pay taxes on his "Survivor" winnings.

"I wouldn't call him my role model. I would call him somebody to be better than," Herzog replied, "because he's kind of a dirt bag, if you know what I mean."

I've met Richard Hatch. I probably wouldn't use the same term to describe him (at least not publicly), but I certainly wouldn't argue with Herzog's evaluation.

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E-mail: pierce@desnews.com