Russell Dennis Hantz (born October 10, 1972)[2] is an American television personality, best known for his appearances on the U.S. reality show, Survivor.
[5] He is one of only eight contestants to ever make it to the finals in more than one season (the others are Rob Mariano, Amanda Kimmel, Parvati Shallow, Sandra Diaz-Twine, Tony Vlachos, Natalie Anderson, and Michele Fitzgerald).
[17] After applying to compete on Pirate Master,[18] Hantz was called by casting two years later to appear on Survivor: Samoa.
[20] In an interview with Andy Dehnart, Hantz explained that the idea behind this strategy was to psychologically weaken the other players in order to manipulate them.
[28] Ultimately, Hantz beat out fellow finalist Mick Trimming, but lost the title of Sole Survivor to his close ally, Natalie White, by a jury vote of 7–2–0, despite being "heavily favored" to win.
[29][30] Host Jeff Probst believed his loss resulted from bitter feelings towards him by the jurors, rather than a positive attitude towards White.
[5] Nine days prior to the Samoa live finale, Hantz registered russellgotscrewed.com where he thanked his supporters and asked them to purchase T-shirts and/or donate money to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.
[37] Later on, Jerri Manthey joined Hantz's alliance with Shallow and Danielle DiLorenzo and aided in Mariano's elimination.
[44] Despite his shutout loss, Hantz's Reunion experience was similar to his last one in that he won the “Sprint Player of the Season” award and $100,000 for the second time.
[5] Hantz returned for Survivor: Redemption Island, the show's 22nd season, to face off with his old rival, Rob Mariano.
[45] By a random draw, Hantz joined the Zapatera tribe,[46] which later threw the third immunity challenge and immediately targeted him and his ally, Stephanie Valencia.
[49] In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Hantz threatened legal action against his tribemates for forfeiting the immunity challenge, claiming that they had breached their Survivor contracts by doing so.
Enjoying initial success in the first few days, Hantz grew frustrated of the laid-back mentality from his fellow tribe-mates and began actively searching for, and locating, a Hidden Immunity Idol.
Wanting to cause paranoia, Hantz announced his intention to play the hidden immunity idol at their first Tribal Council.
The charges were dropped on January 13, 2011, after Early provided to an attorney an email, which allegedly confirmed Hantz as source of the spoilers.
Thus far, no legal action has been taken against Hantz, although contestants who reveal information regarding a season's results may face liquidated damages of $5 million.
I am the villain, and it's unfair that people perceive me that way, and they throw out things that's not fair to me or my family, and I guess I got to deal with it.
[52] As a promotion for Redemption Island, Hantz appeared on the cover of TV Guide Magazine for the week of February 14, 2011, alongside Rob Mariano.
The series followed Hantz and his older brother, Shawn, as they worked with a local real estate agent to flip houses in the Houston area in pursuit of profit.
A woman was involved in a verbal argument with Hantz, during which he allegedly shoved her to the ground, causing her minor injuries.