Survivor since 2000: Reliving the game’s greatest moments year by year

Survivor 2011: The Fall of Russell Hantz

There’s never been a player as balls-to-the-wall as Russell Hantz. Even when Tony Vlachos returned to his lunacy in Survivor Game Changers, he still tried to respect the gameplay of others and ease back just a little bit on his manipulative ways.

Russell Hantz never stopped playing his “who needs a jury” approach, even when facing off against Boston Rob in Redemption Island. This setup was destined for either him or Rob to win, with groups of players quite foolish in their approach to gameplay. Zapatera, despite winning the first two tribal Immunity Challenges, feared Russell’s supremacy with idols and craziness would ruin them in the long run.

This group of green players decided that, in their attempt to take down the seasoned Boston Rob, they should throw a challenge in order to vote Russell Hantz out. That’s just how much his gameplay style was abrasive to others, with a group of grown adults willing to throw their shame aside to take out a hated player.

And so ended the narrative of Russell Hantz: Survivor player, two-time runner-up and 17th-place lamb sent to slaughter.