“Timber” Tina Scheer may get a chance to put some of her lumberjill skills to the test when she’s surviving in the rainforests of Panama on the new season of “Survivor,” which premieres at 8 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 2, on CBS.

Scheer, the owner and emcee of the Great Maine Lumberjack Show in Trenton, which operates every night during the summer, was selected to be one of 16 “castaways” on “Survivor: Panama.” The 45-year-old world champion lumberjill can’t personally comment on her experience on the show, since CBS doesn’t want to give anything away regarding the ending, but friends and family seem to think she has an excellent shot at winning it all and taking home the big prize – a million bucks. That’ll buy her a lot of wood to chop.

Allison Melton, a lumberjill who worked at the Great Maine Lumberjack Show and who has traveled to various logging sports competitions with Scheer, received the news that Timber Tina was going to be on “Survivor” just a few days ago.

“She disappeared for a while,” said the University of Maine senior, who had not heard from her fellow lumberjill for a short period toward the end of 2005. “But we had absolutely no idea she was going to be on ‘Survivor.’ ”

Scheer, who splits her time between Maine and her hometown of Hayward, Wis., had told everyone she was going to British Columbia on lumberjill business, when she was actually roughing it in Central America. Her sister Judy Hoeschler, who lives in Wisconsin and is herself a world champion log roller, had no clue at all.

“I picked her up at the airport in Milwaukee,” Hoeschler said. “And I said ‘God, you’re really tan. Is it that sunny in British Columbia?’ She’s very clever about keeping it a secret. All she ever says is ‘I was awesome.’ ”

Scheer has won world titles for logging sports in both North America and Australia. She’s a champion log roller, and is also one of few women who competes in underhand chopping and crosscut sawing.

Another thing people didn’t know was that she had originally planned to be on the show the previous season, “Survivor: Guatemala.” She had applied to be on the show last year, confiding only in her 16-year-old son, Charlie, and when she was selected as a contestant, she didn’t tell a soul.

When Charlie was killed in a car crash last spring, those plans were put on hold.

Hoeschler said it’s more than just a game show for Tina. It’s been a long year of grieving and coping, and the choice to appear on “Survivor” was a difficult one.

“I think all the emotions surrounding the circumstances has made this a really hard journey for her,” said Hoeschler. “She misses Charlie so much, and this has been such an ordeal for her, that she just needed to do this. It was something they’d started together.”

Come Feb. 2, we’ll see just what Scheer managed to pull off while she was surviving down in Panama. Melton thinks it’s her dynamic personality that will see her through to success.

“I bet she’s going to do really well, just knowing her personality,” said Melton. “She’s probably got some tricks up her sleeves. She’s a sneaky one.”

“She’s pretty tough in both the physical and mental departments,” said Hoeschler. “She’s an extrovert and an entertainer. Any girl that can log roll and swing axes has a pretty good chance, I’d say.” (Emily Burnham, BDN staff)