Player Profile: Russell Hantz

*Disclaimer: These are my opinions and I encourage you to contact me to discuss your views*
I promised a Player Profile for Russell Hantz and here it is.
I'll try not to sound too much like I'm praising the guy because I know a lot of people hate him.
As I said in my blog, My Survivor Story: A Fan is Born, that Russell Hantz is the reason I got hooked on Survivor so he does have a special place in my nostalgic heart. But that doesn't mean that I don't see any flaws in him. So without further ado, here is the Player Profile of Russell Hantz.

Samoa:
We first saw Russell hit the beach in Samoa. As a viewer, we've seen games evolve gradually throughout the game. Day 1 Russell Hantz said he was going to play a certain way and he did. He was the first person ever to look for an immunity idol without a clue. Everyone else planned on playing a classic game of Survivor and he ruined their plans by manipulating every single one of them.
He said whatever and didn't care what people thought, because he knew if people cared, they were out. And that strategy worked. However, he was sexist and that is something I don't agree with, but it worked.
Side Note: I appreciate the strategic side of the game and how people play the game rather then if they're nice to people or not. But in cases like J.T., Danni, or Fabio, with it being part of their strategy, I appreciate it more.
I think the highlight of that season was how Russell Hantz took his Foa Foa four all the way to the final 5 (with the help of Natalie). But he was the one making the daring moves. He found the idols that sent Kelly home and kept him safe. He was the one that got Shambo on his side to help with the numbers. Natalie played a major role in getting out Erik and kind of sat back for the rest of the merge.
At final tribal, his social game was trashed. He lost due to a bitter jury because they all got outplayed by the minority tribe. Clearly, he played a bit of a social game by receiving a vote from Shambo and John Fincher. Erik's reasoning for voting for Natalie was she grew as a person. She killed a rat. I thought that was a long shot to vote for her, but it worked, and she won. Admittedly, on the second watch of Samoa, her win was justified, but I think Russell deserved more credit.

Heroes vs. Villains:
I didn't realize when I first watched this that no other contestant had seen Russell's game and it takes away from his domination in the game.
There is a positive Russell and a negative Russell in this season.
Positive: If Russell played the game like he played the pre-merge, he may have had a better shot at winning. People say that Russell has NO social game. I beg to differ. One of the BEST social plays EVER in Survivor was Russell convincing Tyson to switch his vote for Parvati. That was a stroke of genius and I think this justifies his social game.
Negative: Come the merge, Russell's game collapsed. This is when Parvati's game took over and what should've given her the sole-survivor title. (That's another blog for another day).
He played idols he didn't need to, he made lies he didn't have to, and he voted out Danielle, which maybe cost him the game. So, for Heroes vs. Villains, I think his Pre-Merge game is a masterpiece, and his Post-Merge is the fall of Russell.

Redemption Island:
This is where I questioned Russell's game. Before, he was one of the greatest players to ever play the game. This, for me, was questioned when he came back and said, "I'm going to play the exact same as the first two times because it worked."
Well, Mr. Hantz, it worked the first time I'll give you that. The second time it worked because they've never seen you play before. This third time he played with people who knew his game and ultimately he was voted out so early, which led Redemption Island to being one of the worst seasons because of the lack of strategy Russell would've brought to the game (again, another blog for another day.)

Overview:
Russell's early game was legendary. Throughout the years however, the edits changed from  a confident asshole who knew he was an ass and was good at the game, to an overconfident asshole who was just an ass because he is caught up in his past games.

I think Russell needs to be appreciated because he changed Survivor. That's my argument. But I understand if readers disagree with me because of his attitude towards other contestants, women, and just the natural evilness he brings to the game of Survivor.
But in the words of Abi-Maria, "Villains have more fun."

If you have any suggestions on who to do a player profile on next, contact me.

Thanks for reading,
The tribe has spoken,
-TropicalReviews

Contact:
Email: tropicalreviews123@gmail.com
Twitter: @Survivor_Outwit