Infamous Survivor villain Russell Hantz has been arrested for Battery according to gossip website TMZ.

And no he was not having a rumble with Boston Rob to find out who really is the alpha male.

TMZ said:
Law enforcement sources tell TMZ Russell Hantz - the runner-up from “Survivor Samoa”– was partying at the Festival International de Louisiane, when he allegedly “shoved” somebody to the pavement.

Cops say Hantz was immediately arrested by Lafayette City Police — and taken to a nearby jail.

Hantz was eventually released.

He is currently one of the contestants on  Survivor – Heroes V Villains which is shown on Channel 9 on Tuesday nights.

Tweet This Post

Russell Hantz was the most notorious player of Survivor Samoa, both with his aggressive tactics, and his knack for finding hidden immunity idols. He was rewarded by being cast in the 20th season of Survivor Heroes V Villains, however Russell still is miffed he was not victorious in Samoa.

TV Week have an interview with him where he gives his thoughts on being “robbed” of the sole survivor title.

Russell you looked so disappointed when you didn’t win!

I had a feeling I wouldn’t win, but when I actually heard [it], it shook me up. Natalie would just do whatever I wanted her to do, and she won, because of a “social game”that they keep telling me about. I was probably the best strategic player that ever played! But when I won fan favourite that took the edge off.

After the reunion show, did any of the other Survivors refuse to speak to you?

Oh, yeah. They’re a bunch of babies: Jaison, Laura, Dave, Kelly….

Did you always plan to throw the socks in the fire at the reunion?

When Jaison started talking his mess about me… Just because you are a Stanford grad, you think you can outwit me, fool? You try that, I’m going to make you look stupid.

Would you really want Brett to marry your daughters?

Well, at that point I did, but now I’ve seen him out in the clubs. I’ve changed my mind.

Did you get any flack for pretending you were a victim of Hurricane Katrina?

That story happened to one of my best friends, and I asked his permission to say it. When I go to the Louisiana football games,they love me. One guy came up and said, “I’m glad you brought that up because we need people to remember.”

Would you really have given Natalie $100,000 for the title of Sole Survivor?

I would have written her a cheque. She’s like, “You gotta go through the process…” I’m talking about just getting Jeff (Probst) to say it. I guess she really is dumb, because she didn’t take it.

Still, you’ll be the one who’s remembered.

[Former Survivor winner] Jenna Morasca said one time, “Nobody remembers second place.” But you know what? Nobody’s going to remember first place in my season.

Tweet This Post

“I should be playing with superstars,” said Russell to camera when he was talking about the top five Survivor contestants. Little did he know that he was going to get the opportunity to play against some hardcore, grade A players in the upcoming Heroes V Villains, which Channel Nine is promising will be coming soon.

I was a bit disappointed for Russell not winning, but I did think Natalie did deserve the prize, particularly ahead of Mick and Jaison.

Christ those two were absolutely useless. The Doctor and the Fulbright Scholar never appeared to strategise nor win challenges. In the final five immunity challenge there  was another puzzle challenge where they all started off fairly even and yet again Mick nor Jaison were able to complete it first, they were beaten by Brett, the 21 year old t-shirt designer. This was not unexpected at the time I turned to my TV viewing partner and said “Mick and Jaison will fuck this up.”

Also it might have been smart for Jaison and Mick to confer prior to the top five elimination challenge. They both knew that he had done over a heap of people, but did they have a conversation on what is Russell telling you? Then they may have realised what was going on.

Russell would have won if he had taken Mick and Jaison to the top three. The one strategic mistake he made all series was picking the wrong person to take with him to the top three.

Natalie was a major part of getting Erik voted out of the merged tribe and this was what started the demise of Galu.

Russell looked like he was near tears most of the reunion episode, but he did get some consolation by being voted by the public the most popular Survivor this season.

Here is an exit interview with both Natalie and Russel on Social entertainment

Tweet This Post

Seriously the only one playing the game is Russell – the rest are just like lemmings falling in behind him. Jaison and Mike needed to make a play on tonight’s episodes and attempt to get rid of Russell in the one of the tribal councils.

Points to Monica for stirring the pot once she realised her head was on the chopping block, but two supposedly intelligent men Jaison, and Mick have done no strategising and just relying on Russell to take them to the final two. What I don’t get with all the yapping why Jaison and Mick have not compared what Russell is telling each of them. Also wouldn’t you want to take the control of the game out of his hands?

Also can’t any of them count once Monica and Brett are voted out and it is final five, then they would have to start voting each other out. Brett put a spanner in the plan by winning two immunity challenges in a row, so the alliance of four plus Shambo had to decide who to flick sooner than expected. 

Jaison and Russell decided to vote out Shambo, Mick was looking a bit wary, but was not going around talking to people to ensure that this was what was really was going on. He even said in the episode “I know he is playing the game hard”.

I suspect now they are thinking that if they take Russell with them into the top two the jury won’t vote for him. However recent juries have shown they are more likely to vote for the person “playing the game”.

Anyway Mick is a complete dud as one of the supposed Alpha males out there. He is not strategising, he is not winning reward challenges, and yet again he could not complete a puzzle challenge.

I think Russell is going to have a hard time winning with any of the four that are left, as none of them have ruffled any feathers, whereas Shambo had pissed off all her old tribe mates. I thought it ironic in her exit interview she said that it “was great the Foa Foa tribe stuck together, as that is how it should be”. What was THAT all about considering her tribe was decimated because of her disloyalty.

Natalie is very sweet but I was not getting the prayer warrior chat particularly in the reward challenge where the prize was a village feast and sleepover. Now I know that people have different concepts of what God is, but is it right that a God is looking out for someone deliberately starving themselves for one million dollars? Though being a complete hypocrite I can neither confirm nor deny whether I may have said today “Dear God let me win the $30 million tonight in Oz Lotto”! To be honest I think there are worthier things to wish for in the world.

Survivor quote of the night goes to Jeff Probst when after Shambo had revealed she had had her mullet hair do since 1986 he said “Now that is dedication to a hair style.”

Here are exit interviews with Dave (Absolutely hilarious I wish we had seen more of him), Monica, and Shambo.

There appear to be no spoilers on these sites.

If you are reading this blog post throught TV.com come and check out Australia’s Leading Reality TV Blog on www.realityravings.com

Tweet This Post

For a mid-season recap episode it was not as boring as it sounded, and it did reveal some gems.

For instance Russell’s strategy about snuggling up to the girls at night. He said this would mean that they thought he liked them so they would not vote him out as they would think he would not vote them out because he liked them. It was a very sound theory. Also when Dave and Russell had woken up early and they were standing their chatting and he did not notice the Idol around Russell’s neck, that was hilarious it was the size of a coconut.

Oh and Russell must have quote of the series with his “I didn’t come here to work, I came here to play the game.”

I thought Erik’s obsession with capturing the chicken Shambo lost was quite amusing. They all must go semi-insane out there. One thing I still have not got a handle on was why Galu all turned on Erik. It never was explained that well. Did they think he was untrustworthy? Or was it because he had the potential to win a lot of the individual  immunity challenges?

Since I did not have to concentrate too hard on the recap episode I did have time to ponder two issues:

1. That Jeff Probst is probably ageing better then The Amazing Race host Phil Keoghan. Ok Jeff could be dabbling in a bit of botox and ritalin, but Phil did himself no favours with his lady fans when he was shot at the Dubai pitstop on the beach sweating profusely wearing a floppy hat. I am sure regular commenter Wurstsemmel will be able to write a thesis on this issue, and

2. Whether southern belle Natalie has had implants. Any regular viewers of Survivor will know that when most of the females start dropping weight there is no shrinkage from one part of their bodies. Natalie I am unsure about, there does appear to be minimal shrinkage but it is not as noticeable as some eg Laura. Anyway I am sure another regular commenter Sourkraut will have some insightful comments on this topic.

By the way I am really starting to like Natalie, how fucking cool was she clutching onto that rope outlasting most of the competitors, and lets not forget those planks are all the same weight. And that is a nice little segue into talking about the second episode.

Now a tip for future Survivor contestants when you are given the money for the food bidding challenge treat it like a game of Monopoly. It has no value. Yes there were gasps when Natalie paid $200 for a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, but she was also savvy enough to get a shower as well for her $500. She got great value. Whereas others went home with nothing. After the challenge is over the money has no value. So yes it is worth bidding $500 for a burger, chips and beer.

And it was definitely worth $500 for Jaison to buy an advantage in the challenge, even though I thought he was going to blow it, and Dave would win immunity.

After that it all got a little crazy Shambo had a dream that Dave was the next one voted out and since she was “psychic” that was now what she wanted to occur. Because this would just confirm she had the gift.

Russell agreed to this strategy at first, but after John had worked out that he had another immunity idol, he knew he had to take him out like a Russian double agent who knew just that bit to much. And Russell cleverly made it look like it was Dr Mike’s idea.

Jaison was a bit dubious, as he realised that Shambo was a loose cannon and once she realised she had been left out on the plan she could then align with what was left of the Galua tribe which would mean a four/four vote the next tribal council. Russell was meant to sell her on the switching votes.

Clearly he did not talk to her as she had no idea what occurred, so it is definitely going to be interesting next week. But I have to give props to Shambo for getting so far in the game with absolutely no strategy at all, and not being anything but herself.

Oh and with Channel 9 screening an ad for Survivors Heroes V Villains it looks like we won’t have to wait long for that series to appear on our screens. Fabulous.

Tweet This Post

Over the last view Survivor season’s the show has had a revival with all sorts of shenanigans going. None more so then Russell from the current season Survivor Samoa.

The good news is we have not seen the last of him, as he will be part of the cast of the next series Survivor – Hero’s V Villains. Russell is obviously going to be on the villains team. I hope the producers hide the immunity idol’s well.

The “unofficial” cast looks top knotch, the people on the teams include(please note there are 23 names so three will not go):

Ace Gordon (Survivor: Gabon)

Amanda Kimmel (Survivor: China)

Benjamin “Coach” Wade (Survivor: Tocantins)

Cirie Fields (Survivor: Panama)

James Clement (Survivor: China)

Jean-Robert Bellande (Survivor: China)

Jenna Morasca (Survivor: Amazon)

Jerri Manthey (Survivor: Australia)

Jessica “Sugar” Kiper (Survivor: Gabon)

Johnny Fairplay (Survivor: Pearl Islands)

Ozzy Lusth (Survivor: Cook Islands)

Natalie Bolton (Survivor: Micronesia)

Parvati Shallow (Survivor: Cook Islands)

Randy Bailey (Survivor: Gabon)

Rupert Boneham (Survivor: Pearl Islands)

Sandra Diaz-Twine (Survivor: Pearl Islands)

Sierra Reed (Survivor: Tocantins)

Shane Powers (Survivor: Panama)

Stephenie LaGrossa (Survivor: Palau)

Tina Wesson (Survivor: Australia)

Tom Buchanan (Survivor: Africa)

Tom Westman (Survivor: Palau)

Twila Tanner (Survivor: Vanuatu)

 Also here is an article which gives some names,  which may or may not be accurate, and also says  how Richard Hatch was asked to be on the show however he was unable to as he is serving time because of not paying his taxes.

NB: Article with spoiler in it now removed.

Tweet This Post

Oh my God what is happening to me I was barracking for Laura NOT to win the immunity challenge in episode one tonight, so Russell’s plan to eliminate her would occur. Also I was laughing so hard when I saw Russell found the immunity idol for a second time without reading a clue.

Seriously are the other players so lazy or dumb that they just don’t wonder where Russell is or what he is up to? The camp cannot be that big as he was searching most of it.

Also there is no way I would go to Mick the doctor for a diagnosis. He has shown he is absolutely incapable of doing puzzles. He fumbled around on the first episode’s immunity challenge when it was his for the taking. I am not seeing much signs of intelligence from him or law student Jaison.

So it was game on in the tribal council, Russell’s side was now voting for Kelly, and the Galu tribe were gunning for Russell and weren’t they floored when he pulled out the immunity idol out of his pocket again and said “I ain’t finished playing just yet”. And there I was cheering him on.

I must say I thought the editing of the pulling out of the votes was a bit suss. We all know they place them in the bucket  in the order they want Jeff Probst to pull them out to create suspense. But the bucket was bought across, Russell pulled out the Idol, and then there were seven straight votes for him. So either Russell had worded up the producers he was going to use it, or they took the bucket away to rearrange the votes.

The looks on the Galu tribe faces were priceless, and Laura the Christian looked psychopathic. She said, “He just stirred up a whole lot of hell, that is what he did”.

It was one of the best tribal councils ever.  Russell was gloating saying ”this must be my best piece of work ever”.

Episode two saw Galu being extremely peeved and bitter. Also I am starting to like Natalie a lot, she is definitely pulling her weight what with killing a rat, and swinging around in the reward challenge picking up those flags like she was from Cirque De Soleil.

The immunity idol was AGAIN coming back into play, and Russell thought if he could get the clue that he could fine it for a third time. Oh and yes he did. He saw the size of the rock of the mobile they were plugging endlessly on the show, and he went back and told his mates the size and shape and they all started looking.

Jaison started picking up rocks the size of golf balls (RR rolls eyes at him again), hello he told you it was at least 20 cm long.

Anyway Dave was tailing Russell to see if he was going to find it, however Russell shook him off and ran back to a place he had previously been, and there it was Russell had found his third immunity idol. I must confess at this point I was laughing my head off.

So then there were all sorts of wheeling and dealings prior to tribal council, with the Galu members deciding to vote Natalie out, and the Foa Foa tribe plus Shambo were going to vote for Laura. This was going to make it a five all draw.

At this stage Galu started to strategise, and as John implied this is always a negative thing. Monica was trying to throw John under a bus, and then they told John they were going to throw him under a bus. Which he was not happy with and said he was “not going to take a punch for Laura”, and this basically signed her death warrant.

The deal was in the event of a tied tribal council, there is another vote, and if the deadlock is not broken, there is a random draw of rocks to see who is eliminated. But it did not get that far, as Russell had sealed a deal with John that if it was tied he would switch his vote to Laura.

The look on Laura’s face was shock when she realised what had happened. And Dave and Monica looked like they had seen a ghost. Laura’s fire was snuffed out and Shambo and Russell were still in the game.

Here is an exit interview with Laura on Reality Wanted, and also here is one with Kelly also on Reality Wanted..

Tweet This Post

One little niggle I have with this very good season of Survivor is the editing in tonight’s two episodes. I thought the way the beginning of the the episode’s were cut indicated who was going to be going to tribal council.

If all you see all episode is Foa Foa, it is a fair indication they will be having to vote, and same again for the Gula tribe in the other episode.

Tonight was the usual scenes of Russel saying how he was the controlling the tribe, and the only one playing the game.  Now Ben as meant to be an evil prick but we barely got to see anything of his behaviour. Another thing I have noticed this season is the combining of the reward and the immunity challenges, instead of having two challenges per episode.

Anyway Foa Foa lost the first immunity challenge  which involved swimming and wrestling. I loved the way each tribe was delivered swim suits, is this a new sponsor for the show?

Foa Foa lost  their third challenge in a row, and Jaison was wanting Ben out because of his racial comments, whereas Russell wanted to keep him in, and vote out Ashley the Spa Sales person.

Russell who is forming alliances with everyone was trying to convince the doctor to vote out Ashley before Ben. In the end Russell decided to go with the pack and not stick his neck out and Ben was turfed.

The following episode it was a refreshing change to see the Gula tribe. What did we learn? That they have not formed any alliances yet, and that Shambo lost a chicken. This chick is likeable but cursed, she broke the snorkel last week. When they lost the immunity challenge they had to decide whether to vote for the lazy around camp (Yasmine) or not fabulous at challenges.

They voted out Yasmine who was surprised she was a target.

Here is an exit interview with Ben.

And here is an exit interview with Yasmin.

And finally Russell picking a few cushions over a tarp, that decision is going to  come back and bit him on the proverbial.

Tweet This Post

Jeff Probst was making a big deal about Ben being the first Survivor contestant ever to be kicked out of a challenge, but has there been any other episode on Survivor where the whole episode was based on showing just one tribe?

If the whole episode was based in Foa Foa (yellow team) camp, the person who captured most of the air time was the psychotic Russell.

Russell who I wish I could say was deluded in bragging about controlling the whole tribe, but unfortunately he does. Yes he is more evil then Johnny Fairplay, who was at least amusing. Russell is a psychopathic bully, whose teammates are falling in behind him, and are not rocking the vote as they are seeing that they are the ones that are being voted out. It just reminds me  a bit of real life where sometimes those bully boys or girls are the ones to prosper, because people are too scared to speak up.

What was even more galling was he found the immunity idol. I will give him props for looking everywhere for it.

Tonight there was a combined immunity and reward challenge, and it was a rough one. Three members of each tribe were put in the centre of the ring with the aim of getting the “balls” to their teamates up on platforms to try and shoot goals. Personally I thought the wrestling was far too physical, particularly when they combined the men and women in the ring.

It was like Rollerball without the rules, and in the end host Jeff Probst had to give a warning, Ben did not heed this and tripped someone and he was eliminated. This meant the purple team won easily.

The 30 seconds we did get of the purple team was Shambo using the newly acquired fishing gear to not catch any fish, and breaking the snorkel. To say she was not popular around her camp would be an understatement.

Betsey the police officer was a sitting duck, once Mike was eliminated because of dodgy low blood pressure. For the record he recovered within the hour back at Survivor base camp.

Betsey tried to whip up some coup against Ben, but even though he woke up everyone at camp with his hammering he was still safe and she was eliminated.

Here is an interview did with Betsey on  Digital Spy

Tweet This Post

There are two things you can guarantee about Survivor, that some contestants normally girls turn up inappropriately dressed, and there will be one team who decide to swim, lie in the sun and not build the shelter. Don’t they realise that in just about every series it rains on the first night. It is like the producers get people to stand above the camps with fire hoses.

Also this is season 19 and you know by now you are stuck with the clothes you arrive in so why would you wear heels or an itsy bitsy dress?

In tonight’s episode the teams had already been decided Galu, and Foa Foa or purple and yellow ( see a list of the cast in this previous blog post), and the first challenge was for each team to pick their leader. The catch they were not able to speak to their team mates so had to vote on what they thought the person looked like.

Mick a doctor was voted chief for the yellow team, and Russel S an attorney was chief for the other team.

Their first role as chiefs were to pick a team on who they thought was the fastest swimmer, the strongest, the most agile, and the most intelligent.

I thought it was interesting that Mick picked the tall black guy, as in previous season’s they have not been the strongest swimmers. Does anyone remember from a previous season the gym junkie from New York that was all brawn but had to be rescued from the ocean because he thought he was drowning?

Anyway it ended up being a very good choice as he played water polo in college and gave them a good lead, and they won fire.

Then for most of the rest of the episode it was all about the other Russell the oil company owner with the crazy eyes. He made alliances with all the “dumb” girls, and also the female cop. So then Russell who at this stage of the game appears to have misogynist tendencies thinks he is “controlling the tribe”. Very much looking foward to his come uppance. Though he would be the one I would want to take into the final two with me.

Anyway the yellow team ended up losing the immunity challenge, and the vote was between Ashley (for being weak) and Marissa (because she insulted Russell), Marissa looked shocked when she realised she was the one to be voted out.

Here is an indepth interview with Marisa from Reality Bites Back she talks about stuff that was not shown on this episode, that must have been shown over in the US, which is a pity.

And another interview with Marisa on Fan Cast which gives some interesting insight on how you get on the show.

Tweet This Post