Russell Hantz was on Survivor Samoa and Hero’s vs Villains and he was a runner-up on both he currently holds the record for most immunity idols held at once.
Russell undoubtedly changed the game forever, and is easily one of the top 3 players of all time. But due to his lack of social graces and jury management, he never got the win. For that reason I can’t honestly say he was the best, but he is my all time favorite player because of his wit, humor, and ruthless tactics. Love you Russell.
A big help would've been him admitting he played a dishonest game. He always tried to tip toe around the issue to the jury when he should've owned it. But yeah the way he played it made the entire jury salty and his answers to the questions were not the correct ones. Still the best player in my opinions ignoring dealing with the jury.
I feel like he deserved to win Samoa. He won all those immunity idols and he’s a smart player. I wish he had managed the jury better. If he was more graceful and nicer he still could have won and been sneaky at the same time.
Russell's downfall in Samoa was taking Natalie to the final three instead of Jaison. It was easy for the jury of mostly sour grapes to go for the sweet country girl and I knew watching the season that if that happened, every female jury member with the exception of Shambo would vote for her. He kept her to help get Brett out in the challenges, but ironically Russell himself beat Brett. Mick got no jury votes because he was seen as a follower, but Jaison was much more so and was barely even playing the game at the end. With Natalie out of the final three Mick might have gotten a few votes but that was Russell's winning combination. I doubt Jaison would have gotten one. Taking Shambo along with one of those other guys might have also kept him in the running. He and shambo were suspicious of Natalie getting too close to Brett, that is the night they should have voted her out, even if that was just his excuse, Mick and Jaison were going along with anything he told them. For Heroes Vs. Villians I don't think it would have mattered if he had taken Jerri instead of Sandra though. The only difference that would have made would be that Parvatti likely wins.
Love him or hate him, Russell changed the metagame of Survivor. Idol play, eliminating threats, eliminating leaders, finding idols, and other aspects of the game today are very much influenced by what he did. A true Survivor legend. Only problem was he was such a jerk nobody wanted to give him the money lol
It’s really when people realized how bitter the jury can be, russel played an amazing game but they didn’t like him so they didn’t vote him. A jury is not a good way to pick a winner in my opinion.
@@crossroads2361 The jury was bitter in both Samoa and HvV. I'm more disappointed in HvV though because I didn't think returning players would be so bitter smh
And he would’ve, had he not been so cocky, arrogant, entitled, & treated everyone like trash. Russell being a Survivor fan, should’ve realized that getting to the end is only part of the game. He had a horrendous social game both times he got to the end, which the juries didn’t respect. He only got 2 votes to win out of 18, which us probably 2 more than he deserved.
@@__MjG__ Why are you constantly deleting your replies and replying back with something else? You’re basically rewriting the exact same reply over and over
i love Russell's beard and i hate it when he shaved it he looked away cooler with his beard comment if you like Russell beard like if you don't like Russell beard
Russell is definitely one of the best survivor player ever! He was in control of everyone in Samoa and HvV, every person he voted for in his first two seasons got voted out in that exact same tribal council. He’s social game is pretty bad, but he has still made some of the best social plays in he history of survivor. He not have the best Jury management but the juries were still bitter because they don’t show good sportsmanship. But he’s still the greatest strategist ever.
The best player will be someone who looks at all aspects, not one who leaves out the most important one. Oh look at me! I know all of the Japanese alphabet, vocabulary and 30 thousand kanjis, but I have 0 grammar knowledge, then I'm not exactly the best Japanese speaker am I. Oh look at me! I can run 90 meters in 1.3 seconds, but after 90 I fall on the ground...can't win any 100 meter sprints now can I?. Russell is not the best, never will be.
ElectrikkPaperClipxx, He did have ACTUAL allies, we took Mick and Natalie to the end like he promised and he did the same thing with Parvati. He took his allies as far as he could until he couldn’t trust them!
Russel Hantz was the reason I stopped watching Survivor (STAY WITH ME ON THIS) I just knew the game was never going to be as amazing/people would never top his plays.
With how survivor has changed in the last 10 years I believe Russell would have won. There aren't as many "bitter" juries now people respect big moves more now than ever.
Maybe I’m forgetting something because it’s been a while since the last time I watched Samoa but I only remember Russell backstabbing Ben, shambo, Jaison which IMO doesn’t really count, John. He basically always stayed true to his Alliance and was more honest then people think he was. That’s just my perspective
Come on, Russell non stop lied to everyone out there. I watched this season 3 times now. I just binge watched this season all in one day, today. He lied to everyone as he voted them off, saying he was voting for someone else. So no, it just wasn’t those 4 you mentioned.
Russel's gameplay is the reason survivor is such a terrible reality game. I watched total drama island before this and when it was final 3 I was surprised the jury gave them the win. That is uterrly pathetic for it to come down like that. Survivor winner does not mean you are the best. Russell is the best and we all know he should have won. Played the game to a T and people were like, nah, he beat us so I'm not voting for him. Salty losers voting for the winner is just dumb af
I remember being a kid and seeing all of Russell's seasons. I didn't fully understand his strategy but he was my favorite. Looking back, he was one of the best players ever. But I remember my grandma hated his attitude 😂
Russell didn't do any more backstabbing and dirty playing than Tony Vlachos yet Tony was able to win twice because he was considered a hard game player, doesn't make any sense. Russell deserves to have 2 wins under his belt
Well its a no brainer he deserved to win samoa, but Parvati deserved to win HvV. Russell's gameplay stepped down a lot after the merge, but Parvati's game only got better and her plan was to literally use Russell as a scapegoat to take the fall from the salty jury, but it didn't work because Russ screwed up and chose Sandra over Jerri.
Russell deserved to win back to back but the juries were so bitter. Like in samoa that dude eric first member of jury celebrated every move russel made and when he got to the end he almost cried for the jury not to let him win like wtf
Russell outwitted, outlasted and outplayed in his first game and close to in Hero’s Verses villains. Some people just get to but hurt. He’s played some of the best games of survivor! Easily in the top 3 best to ever play survivor!
Russell dominated the confessionals this season, and for good reason. He’s just fun to watch, sucks he couldn’t win, but it honestly makes him even more of a legend.
you can say whatever you want about russell but he is one of the best to ever play this game. he always knew what was going on always had everyone in the palm of his hand. his idol finds, winning challenges, hiding his tribes machete he changed the game in samoa
Russel is my favorite all time player. How he was able to strategically take out threats every time they appeared was incredible. Finding 2 Hidden immunity idols without a clue is just crazy too. Russel has a dark spirit and soul and anyone that couldn’t read that got what they deserved.
The whole heros v villians concept sort of promoted JT to give him the idol, JT wanted to live up to the "Hero" tag, plus this was Russells 2nd series running so no one had seen his first series televised.
Yeah but his tribe needs to be smart and not scared of him. If Russell has proven anything is If a few ppl are smart and work with him, he'll carry you to the end. Did it twice. He probably won't win, but YOU might. That's what I'd do. Buddy up and bring 2 or 3 people in and let russell do his thing.
I think if he played today, when all the players are superfans who vote in the final 3 based on gameplay rather than emotion, he would be tied with Sandra right now
Russel was the best player of this game, hands down. The only reason he never won was because everyone voting for him was mad about how smart he was, or didn’t think he deserved the win because he already had money. One of the smartest, slickest, most creative players in this stale ass game.
Russell was good, but not as good as Tony Vlachos. I know they both made amazing moves and it's fricking impossible to tell whose were smarter, but I can show you other reasons. Here are some of them: 1) Russell played against dumb people in Survivor Samoa which makes it look like he was an adult amongst kids, because of the great difference between him and the rest. You can tell just by watching the bitterness of the jury when they didn't vote for him. Tony played against people who love Survivor and make and appreciate good strategic moves. I. e. Tasha, Kass, Spencer. That's why he won. 2) I know Russell found a lot of immunity idols, sadly I don't remember how many Tony found, I just know he kept at least one of them to the final 4 making it look like he could still use it, which saved his ass. Anywho, what I don't understand is, what the hell were the castaways in Samoa thinking and doing when Russell was looking for the idols without a clue. Just to compare it with Cagayan, once there was a situation when Spencer went to the forrest by himself. He didn't have to disappear randomly every now and then for hours like Russell for them to know he was looking for an idol. Woo even followed him (not as bad as the 2 idiots in this montage, he went unnoticed), because he knew what's going on in the game. It really surprises me how ignorant the castaways in Samoa had to be that they realized Russell was looking for immunity idols only after he already found 2 of them. 3) Tony was way better as far as the "social game" is concerned. Russell hates that term, because he thinks it's not a part of Survivor. Well, that's one of the reasons he didn't win. In order to be good at this game, you undoubtably need to empower charisma. Russell lacked here a lot. Again, cost him 1 million dollars. 4) In terms of challenges, Tony was doing much better than Russell. Bonus points: Spy shack and llama talk.
Ondrej Hrdy Russell also played with the best of the best in HvV and made it to the end, but people were so bitter, they didn't vote for him. Tony played with some good players in second chance season, and was one of the first players voted out. You can't compare Tony to Russell, and Tony is for sure NOT on Russell's level 🤣🤣🤣
Tony very much played a similar game to Russell but if u watch the game changers season he played a horrible game, first he runs around like a goblin looking for the idol and telling everyone about it. Then he thinks his alliance betrayed him by excluding him for conversations at night. Then he built bunkers for himself to hide in at night. Wtf was he even doing. The only problem I think Russell encountered was in his third season he should have made friends with enough people so that he had the numbers instead of playing the game without enough people.
Without Russell there is no tony. In Tony's pre game interview, he says he wants to play like russell hantz. Russell inspired many people to apply for survivor including Malcolm, Spencer and Christian
Top 3 best players on this show. He never won because of them bitter azz juries, but he outplayed, outwitted and outlasted all of them when you really think about it.
Y’all see how dangerous this man is/was in this show ?!? A fucking Genius ...easily Changed Survivor Forever ... top 3 players of all time ... imagine him in reality ?! Owner of a Oil company ?!? Son don’t even need this million ... he did this for fun & get his name out there ... STRATEGICALLY 😭😭🔥
Russel outplayed everyone so bad twice the other competitors got so mad they did everything possible to make sure he didn’t win. Greatest player of all time.
@@hungcapitalll the guy who one on team MERICA everyone was gunning for him and he one like 7 challenges in a row to were he couldn’t get voted out and ended up wining
@@MountainMassOutDoorsomg i picked up where i left off in seasons and recalled you said mike so i fished through all the comments to make sure THIS mike is the one! Hes literally a russel with a bit more social skills...fucking love him!
Didn’t like his attitude. He may have played a good game but his attitude is what made me not care for him. Plus he didn’t need the money🤷♀️🤷♀️ he has a successful oil company. Let the money go to someone else who you know actually need it and don’t give it to the man who already makes a million or a billion dollars🙄🙄
I was curious to see what would happen if Russell found a immunity idol while Dave and Laura were following him. I wonder what they really would've done
Finding the idols without clues changed the game forever but he's easily the least socially intelligent player of all time. No one that has played with him has had a good thing to say
I agree but no one wants to play with him. They look to boot him first the last few times which I never understood. If he's proven anything it's that if you are loyal to him and pledge an alliance he'll carry you there, even at his own expense since the jury never wants him to win. I'd buddy up with him day 1 and convince 4 or 5 others and let him do his thing and rise the wave
When I hit the like button, there we 666 likes, mine would have made 667 so I am not clicking it because Russell is the devil of Survivor! Excellent player!
Russell was a good player, but did he remind anyone else of Charles Manson?? I don't know if its because I just watched a short documentary on Manson, but holy shit its uncanny!! sooo many resemblances!!
U cannot lie russel is the best player of all time. He made Jt give him his immunity idol. Its just the jury's are bitter Betty's. If I was on the jury I'll definitely vote him
Ilove how Russel looks at them at 19:46, throws that grin at them, he beat them right there, not like a surprised look on losers faces when they been owned- and didn't see it coming
He used to be my favourite player even when I didn't really watch the show much and referred to him as "the guy with the bandana" to my uncle who was a huge fan of the show, may he rest in peace
Russell got screwed over. So sad. Guy totally deserved to win! He is right that America should get part of the vote. The American public that watches the show supports it. Without them, your stupid little show(talking to Jeff now, he’s so annoying) wouldn’t make any money! Russell clearly is the best. Period.
greT PLAYER BEEN WATCHING SINCE 05 MIGHT BE BEST WHOSE NEVER WON. THOUGH HIS GAME WAS MORE IMPRESSIVE THAN SOME WHO HAVE WON THE JOKE NATALIE WHITE FABIO TODD RUSSEL WAS A BETTER PLAYER THAN BOTH OF THEM TODD THE WHNEY COCKY WUSS WAS A COATTAILRIDER AND AMANDAS SIDE KICK RUSSEL WAS A LEADER DENISE WASENT TO GREAT EITHER
ElectrikkPaperClipxx My favourite ElectrikkPaperClipxx moment is when he publicly humiliated himself for the 17th time because he made another dumb Russell comment that doesn’t make any sense and only judges him on results and not actual gameplay!
Here's Tommy! 1. I’m not a he 2. Lol the only one humiliating themself is this big bald baby who whines about survivor being flawed after 10 years of refusing to understand that this is a social game
ElectrikkPaperClipxx, it is a social game but the strategic and physical game matters WAY more. Russell played an incredible strategic game and performed well physicality! And he did play a good social game, he made many allies that liked and trusted him. Natalie, Mick, Shambo, Jaison, Ben, Ashley, Parvati, Danielle and Jerri. People like Jaison and Danielle need to grow up and realise that it’s just a game! Btw sorry about assuming your sex/gender!
Just watched Heroes vs Villains and honestly only person I'd put on the same table as this dude is Tony, also don't get why Parvati isn't the queen of this game, far better player than Sandra, just because you win don't mean you were the better player, bitter juries suck