By David Bauder
The Associated Press

Survivor may have a security problem.

Before this season's first episode was even televised, more than 15 people from the Vancouver area placed bets with an offshore bookie on contestant Sandra Diaz-Twine.

On Sunday night, Diaz-Twine was revealed as the winner

Suspicious that people were trying to profit from inside information, the Antigua-based bookmaker, BetWWTS.com, shut down Survivor betting in September. The company paid out $40,000 on Monday - from less than $5,000 in wagers - to people who had gotten their bets in before it was stopped, said CEO Simon Noble.

Noble's company may now join other offshore bookmakers that he said shun Survivor because of fears of insider betting.

"It's either one of two things," Noble said. "It's either an insider from CBS or a friend or neighbor of Sandra's. I would lean toward the former because it seems to be a regular pattern with Survivor."

Vancouver is several hours away from Fort Lewis, Wash., where Diaz-Twine lives, so Noble believes that also makes it unlikely that the bettors knew her.

"I wanted the money, whatever little bit I was getting," Diaz-Twine said. "I didn't want to screw that up. I suffered too much out there."

A CBS spokesman, Chris Ender, would not comment on any specific security steps the network or the show's executive producer, Mark Burnett, had taken.

"We take security very seriously on Survivor," Ender said. "But, obviously, you're never going to ensure that something is not leak-proof. I think Mr. Burnett has done a great job changing the game, teasing the viewers and making the chase aspect so confusing that the viewers never know which information is true out there."

Ender said CBS learned during that first game to give the same nonanswer whenever confronted by someone who claims to know the show's winner in advance: "We won't confirm or deny any speculation and we will allow the media to run inaccurate information."