Russell Hantz

Russell Hantz was born October 10, 1972. He lives in Dayton, Texas with his wife and four children. He owns an oil services company.

Russell is best known as a contestant on the reality TV show Survivor. He appeared in both Survivor Samoa and Survivor Heroes vs. Villains. Both times he was voted "Sprint Player of the Season" by viewers, solidifying him as one of the best Survivor players ever.

Russell Hantz competed in Survivor Samoa, the nineteenth edition of the show. After being assigned to the Foa Foa tribe, he quickly demonstrated his preference to play through lies and deceit. After making alliances with every person in his tribe, he also attempted to sow discontent by causing havoc whenever possible. In an early interview, he stated his belief that if he could control how his fellow survivor's felt, he'd be able to control how they thought.

Hi tactics, ultimately, were successful enough to get him to the final three, however, the resulting animosity towards him was his ultimate downfall. In his final speech, Russell documented each of the moves he made to get rid of the people sitting in front of him. His explanation, of how he eliminated John by first lying to him to get rid of Laura may have been a clever tactic, and perhaps the only way he was going to stay in the game, but clearly alienated some of the Jury. His belief that the jury would vote for the person who best played the game, and would ignore their personal feelings was clearly a mistake, as he lost the jury vote to Natalie White 5-4, and placed second in Survivor Samoa.

Although he didn't win the one million dollar prize, Russell Hantz did take home the Sprint “Player of the Game” award, and a cash prize of $100,000. http://ontheflix.com/2009/12/20/natalie-white-convincingly-wins-survivor-samoa-19/ "I feel like I played the best strategic game in history," Hantz told host Jeff Probst. "I can guarantee millions of people probably think that same thing."http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/entertainment_tv_tvblog/2009/12/survivor-and-the-winner-is.html

The day after the winner was revealed Hantz and White appeared together on the CBS Early Show. "I don't think she deserves it," said Hantz. "That's my opinion. I don't think the world thinks she deserves it, because she didn't even get in the top three for fan favorite. So ... ." Hantz continued his criticism of White, "You know, when you play a football game, and you're the quarterback to the football game, I'm throwing all the touchdown passes, right? She wasn't even on the field. She was my cheerleader."http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/12/21/earlyshow/series/survivor/main6004586.shtml

Russell Hantz was invited back for season 20 of Survivor, Survivor Heroes vs. Villains. Named a "Villain", Russell immediately found himself on the outside of his tribe. Allied with Parvati Shallow and Danielle DiLorenzo, the three found themselves facing a formidable alliance led by Rob Mariano, aka "Boston Rob". Through a series of clever and risky moves, Russell was able to keep the three in the game, and eventually eliminated each member of Boston Rob's alliance, except Jerri Manthey and Sandra Diaz-Twine, who switched allegiances to save themselves.

After the tribal merge, the Villains established firm control over the game when Russell was passed a Immunity Idol by the Heroes James Thomas, Jr. (JT). Believe Russell was the last man left on the Villains tribe due to a all-women alliance, JT attempted to sway the game in favor of the Heroes by recruiting Russell. The move backfired, and Russell quickly eliminated JT.

The game then progressed quickly with few surprises, except for the elimination of DiLorenzo, whom Russell eliminated out of a fear that her alliance with Parvati would be too strong for him to overcome. The few opportunities for the Heroes to re-establish a foothold were quickly dashed when they were unable to maintain an united front.

In front of the Jury, Russell argued that as veteran Survivor players, the jury must recognize his superior skills at playing the game. However, he again misread how the jury would feel about the way he lied to push ahead in the game. During the Jury Q&A, Danielle confronted Russell and told him "No one respects the way that you play the game". Candace Woodcock told him that "You have to tell lies in this game, but you can go too far. You told... lies you didn't need to tell, and you hurt people doing that." However, the most damning comments likely came for Rupert Boneham. "Russell... to be honest in this game is a very hard thing. To be a manipulative, deceiving, lying person is very easy. You took the easy way out, and if you think you should be proud of how you got here, you're sadly mistaken."

When the votes were counted, the veteran Survivor players gave Russell none. He finished the 20th season of Survivor in third. American, however, felt differently. For the second time, Russell won the Sprint “Player of the Game” award, and the cash prize of $100,000.