Sometimes when you have a good thing going, you shouldn’t let it go. Reality competition shows don’t have the same luxury of easily keeping around their best villains like other reality shows (ex: Real Housewives,) so what they do instead is come up with new twists and turns to bring back figures that their fans respond to.
The newest incarnation of Survivor, “Redemption Island” is a way to bring back two fan favorites, the strategically “evil” Russell Hantz (3rd time on Survivor) and “Boston” Rob Mariano (4th time Survivor.)
Russell, who is a winner in his own mind and currently battling allegations that he spoiled the two prior seasons he appeared on, has been very vocal to the press about his gameplan, and how he controls people. When he first appeared on Survivor Samoa in 2009 he even told the press that he “controls every aspect of his life,” including his friends, family, and job.
That’s interesting, since the self-described multi-millionaire from an oil tanker company has turned out to not be the owner of his own business, his dad is.
His game-play was extremely subversive, including creating elaborate sentimental back-stories for himself, sabotaging his own team, and suffering himself to weaken the others. He also claimed to have savvy social skills that allowed him to insult and manipulate other players while still keeping in their good graces. He was so good at doing extreme things like pouring out everyone’s water and burning someone’s socks that he gained quite a fan following. It was great entertainment to watch someone willing to go so far to play the game.
The only problem is that he’s been on the show twice before, but hasn’t won. If his techniques are so fool-proof, why hasn’t he taken home the real prize?
Maybe this time, with the Redemption twist, Russell might have a chance. When the first player gets voted off, they will moved to “Redemption Island,” where they wait for the next person voted off to square off in a duel of some sort. The winner gets to stay on Redemption Island, and this head-to-head squaring off continues until the remaining contestant on Redemption Island gets to come back into the game. The producers are revealing when that will happen, but they’ve claimed that this happens “smoothly.”
So, even if the other contestants are tired of Russell and his position as a known element, he still has a chance to fight his way back.
Here’s Russell talking about his latest foray into Survivor:
