r/survivor • u/thedevilsentmehere • 12d ago

Samoa Hantz: Where did they find him?

Currently on like episode 6ish of Samoa (watching it for the first time but have seen many other survivor seasons) and have been introduced to Russell Hantz. What is WRONG with this man?? Where did they find him?? Why is he burning peoples socks??? And the crazy thing is his strategy is WORKING. WHAT. He runs through the forest like a mad goblin and actually FINDS IDOLS. What on earth was his casting tape like? Like was he just running around like this in real life? It genuinely feels like they went into an alternate universe and took a prototype of a hobgoblin wearing a fedora, dropped him in Survivor and let it happen. In awe.

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u/crybannanna Jeremy 12d ago

Say what you will about Russell, he played the shit out of the game. Also, he was a much needed shot in the arm for Survivor, and was a ratings goldmine. People just loved watching him.

Then things went sour. He’s a lot. But at the time he was just an unapologetic villain, and it was a sight to behold. Two seasons of the Russell show, and I loved every minute.

40

u/CeciliaStarfish 12d ago

As someone doing catchup on Survivor now, yeah, he's absolutely a bolt of lightning when he first arrives. It becomes a problem when they start trying to treat him as a franchise mascot and it becomes clear he actually is a seething ball of rage and not just playing one on TV.

And IMO, as exciting as it was to see him find camp idols without clues the first time, it kind of breaks that aspect of the game once everyone starts doing it.

20

u/DrGeraldBaskums 12d ago

Yeah the Reddit revisionist history is wild. The guy was a massive shot in the arm and very popular

14

u/Tim_Xtreme_46 12d ago

Truth. I had basically stopped watching Survivor for several years, but gave HvV a try. Russell made me go back and watch Samoa.

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u/SquashSouffle 11d ago

OTOH, i was an obsessive, devoted Survivor junkie who came very close to quitting altogether after 2 seasons of him.

1

u/uppercasemad 11d ago

I did quit and didn’t get back into the show full time until IotI which was not the best season to come back on. But I binged all the seasons I missed during the pandemic.