Russell Hantz

Russell Hantz was a contestant in Survivor: Samoa, Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains and Survivor: Redemption Island.

He is regarded as one of the series most notorious Villains, being able to locate several Hidden Immunity Idols and eliminating his competition as ruthless as possible. Despite making the Final Tribal Council on two separate occasions, he has never won.

Profile
Russell Hantz (38) Current Residence: Dayton, Texas Previous Seasons: "Survivor: Samoa" and "Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains"

Russell Hantz was a first time castaway only 2 years ago, but has quickly become one of the most notorious villains to every play Survivor. He returns to SURVIVOR: REDEMPTION ISLAND more prepared than ever before. "I'm ready for this. I'm more ready for this than I ever have been."

As a self-made millionaire who built his business by working hard, speaking his mind and stepping on anyone who got in his way, Russell will do anything to win the game of Survivor. He is known for back-stabbing his allies, lying and cheating, but he is proud of his title as a villain. "The image that I have as a villain, thatÂ’s fine with me because this is how I play the game." Only time will tell if this strategy will pay off or if once again he will come up short.

What does he think of SURVIVOR: REDEMPTION ISLAND? "It's gonna be history. Survivor history!"

Survivor: Samoa
Russell was placed on the Foa Foa tribe. In the first challenge, he was chosen for the leg of the race that required strength by tribal leader Mick. Foa Foa won the reward challenge. Right from the beginning, Russell demonstrated his preference to play through lies and deceit, creating conflicting alliances with every tribemate (mostly females) he came into contact with. He even lied about his personal life, claiming that he was a Hurricane Katrina victim. Still not content, he became fond of wreaking psychological havoc whenever possible, even sabotaging his own tribe, as seen on Foa Foa's first night, where Hantz dumped all the water containers and burned Jaison's socks. This plan took its toll on Foa Foa, whose subsequent failure in eight out of ten tribal challenges forced them to sacrifice six of their ten members. Marisa Calihan, Betsy Bolan and Ashley Trainer were systematically eliminated after they caught on to Russell's dirty tactics. After Galu lost Russell Swan before a supposed double-boot twist on Day 15 because of a severe medical condition (which Hantz claimed was a partial victory for Foa Foa, since the rival tribe still lost a member), another loss sent Foa Foa back to Tribal Council, where Liz Kim was voted out when Hantz felt she was no longer needed. With only twelve people remaining, this prompted an early merger, and the two rival tribes were merged together into a new tribe called Aiga. At the merge, the former Galu members outnumbered Foa Foa 2 to 1 (giving them an 8-4 supermajority) which created a grim outlook towards any chance of survival by the remaining (former) Foa Foa members.

His craftiness scaled new heights when he made an unthinkable Survivor first, finding several Hidden Immunity Idols without using the provided clues. With these Idols at his disposal, he became nearly invincible at Tribal Council.

With the tribes merged, Hantz gradually rallied the Foa Foa foursome (consisting of tribe leader Mick Trimming, Jaison Robinson, Natalie White and himself) to victory when they concocted a "divide and conquer" scheme, designed to make the former Galus tribe members turn on each other. This proved effective when White turned the Galu women against cocky Erik Cardona, who was blindsided at the first Aiga Tribal Council (unknown to everyone at the time, they effectively flushed Erik's own Hidden Immunity Idol in the process). Hantz on the other hand, used his Idol, though no votes were cast against him. Hantz again surprised everyone when he revealed another Idol at the following Tribal Council. This time, however, the effects devastated the former Galus, because it was revealed that they had voted for him. With all seven of the votes against Russell cancelled out by the idol, only the 4 remaining votes cast by the former Foa Foa Tribe were counted, sending an unsuspecting Kelly Sharbaugh to the Jury in a 4-0 vote.

After two subsequent blindsides by the former members of the Galu tribe, Russell convinced Shambo Waters to shift allegiances to the former Foa Foa tribe members, as she felt unhappy with her own tribe and had a fierce hatred towards Laura Morett. This gave the former Foa Foa tribe the edge they needed, resulted in the remaining Galu members (eventually including Waters herself) to be picked off one by one, starting with Laura. Just when they thought that their victory was imminent, the remaining Foa Foa member's aspirations of making it to the final four were thwarted, when the last remaining (loyal) Galu member Brett Clouser went on to win a crucial Immunity Challenge, forcing the former Foa Foa members to eliminate one of their own, a task they had not faced in eighteen days. After Clouser's win, Russell's closest ally Natalie became the next intended target, but Russell had plans of his own, and secretly plotted to take her to the end, assuming that he would get more Jury votes. He turned the tables on Jaison, who was eliminated instead.

After a close final Immunity Challenge, Russell won immunity over Brett. In a last ditch effort to stay alive, Brett tried to convince Russell to eliminate Mick instead himself. Though Russell considered Brett's idea, the remaining Foa Foas prevailed as the last Galu member took his fall in a 3-1 vote.

At the Final Tribal Council, Hantz was berated for being arrogant and overly two-faced. Despite garnering votes from Shambo and John Fincher for his aggessive game plan, he eventually lost when the other Jury members voted for Natalie instead. In the reunion show, Russell attempted to bribe Natalie into surrendering the Sole Survivor title to himself for $100,000, arguing that he was more deserving than she. Natalie declined. His antics, however, did earn him the Sprint Player of the Season title, which included a $100,000 award.

Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains
His actions in Samoa earned him a place in the show's 10 year anniversary season. Assigned to the Villains Tribe, Russell stated that he looked forward to playing the game with people who respect what it is. On the first day, he repeated his original strategy of aligning with the women, specifically Danielle DiLorenzo and Parvati Shallow.

Survivor: Redemption Island
Hantz returned to compete for a third time along with Heroes vs. Villains archrival Rob Mariano to settle their iconic rivalry in the said season. After a draw of buffs, Russell went to the purple Zapatera tribe. Immediately after the tribe reached camp, Russell stated that he would be playing differently than his previous seasons. He laid it out by saying that he would not sabotage anybody or do the things he was notorious for in the past. Despite his claims, the new contestants still became suspicious of him. Nonetheless, Russell led the tribe to two successive challenge wins. Knowing he had a big target on his back, he made a familiar move by again making alliances with the petite girls, Stephanie Valencia and Krista Klumpp. After winning the Day 5 Immunity Challenge, the three found the clue to the Hidden Immunity Idol and tried to look out for it, but eventually failed, because Ralph Kiser already found it (by accident). Russell was then called out in the open by Ralph for stealing the clue, which angered the former. With no Immunity Idol, Russell feigned possession, with Stephanie holding her bag the whole day, so it would look like she is "protecting" the idol.

In Day 8, hungry for Russell's downfall, the six other tribe members concocted a bold plan to get rid of Russell. First, they would tell Russell that Francesca Hogi won the first duel (which in truth, it was Matt Elrod who won, potentially throwing Russell off-guard once he steps in at Redemption Island) and second, they will purposefully throw the next challenge, to have an opportunity to go to Tribal Council and vote him out. The idea would go as planned at the Reward/Immunity challenge, as David acted as if he was unable to finish the puzzle, giving the victory-hungry Ometepe tribe their first challenge win.

While Ralph had not yet revealed his possession of the idol to his allies, the majority alliance assumed that decided to split the votes between Russell and one person from his alliance. At Zapatera's first Tribal Council, Russell continued to stress out that he was a changed man, while Stephanie was trying to protect him, saying that his past experience will propel them in future victories. But the sextet went to their plan, with the vote ended up a three-way tie between Russell, Stephanie and Ralph. With five of the six-person alliance eligible for the revote, all their votes went to Russell. As Jeff snuffed his torch, a furious Russell walked out from Tribal Council and headed to Redemption Island.

Angry of being doublecrossed by his tribe, Russell vowed to defeat Matt. But in a surprise turn of events, the villain finally fell from grace after being defeated in the Day 9 duel. Much to the spectators' surprise, Russell was reduced to tears seconds after losing, stating that he had really changed. During his final words statement, Russell stated that he would never play again, because he felt he had nothing else to prove to himself and his family.

Post-Survivor
After the Redemption Island Duel which he lost, Russell said that he will not be returning to play Survivor. However, there is still a chance he might return, since he said to Jeff during a Skype chat after the airing of the episode that he may consider returning for a future season. Russell told Jeff to "keep his number" for a future season during the Redemption Island Reunion Show.

Also at the Redemption Island Reunion Show, Russell praised his rival Rob Mariano's gameplay and also congratulated Rob and proceeded to shake his hand.

Russell also appeared during the South Pacific Reunion Show, where he gave his thoughts on his nephew Brandon Hantz's time on the show after Jeff Probst found him the audience. Russell was visibly appalled by his nephew's performance and lauched a tirade on him, receiving boos from the crowd. In response, Jeff jokingly suggested "Brandon vs. Russell" as a future season.

Trivia

 * Hantz is the first male contestant to make it to Day 39 more than once, followed by Rob Mariano.
 * On a similar note, like, Rob, Russell has never served on a Survivor Jury.
 * Russell was the only male player not to make the merge in Survivor: Redemption Island, and the only pre merge evictee to talk in that season's live reunion show.
 * Over his Survivor career, Russell possessed the most Hidden Immunity Idols with five.
 * His nephew Brandon was a contestant on Survivor: South Pacific.
 * Hantz was the first male player to lose a duel on Redemption Island.
 * Hantz is the second person to find a Hidden Immunity Idol without the help from clues.
 * He is the sixth contestant to not receive a jury vote in the Final 3 (Only during Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains) following Becky Lee, Dreamz Herd , Cassandra Franklin , Sugar Kiper , and Mick Trimming.
 * In He Has Demons, Coach Wade referred to Russell as his archnemesis, though the two never had any substantial interactions with each other during their time in Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains 
 * Was inducted into Xfinity's Survivor Hall of Fame in 2010.
 * Because Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains was filmed right after Survivor: Samoa none of the contestants knew about Russell's time on his first season.
 * Russell has found the most Hidden Immunity Idols with 5.
 * 3 Survivor: Samoa
 * 2 Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains
 * 0 Survivor: Redemption Island