Hall of Fame Moment for Survivor: Samoa’s Russell Hantz – No Clues, One Man, Two Idols

When we were introduced to Russell H., long before the first episode of Survivor: Samoa even aired, we were told he would be a nasty villain, the likes of which we’d never before seen on the show. That lasted for a few episodes, then we began to see more of Russell’s play and less of his nastiness. Indeed, as many of the writers at Reality News Online have noted over the course of the season so far, Russell often seemed to be the only one playing the game!

Most of the time, that discussion centered around Russell’s scheming and plotting and controlling the all-too-many votes of the Foa Foa tribe. But Russell also did something that nobody else had ever done on Survivor – he found a hidden immunity idol without a single clue.

Doing so at the very beginning of the game allowed him to flash the idol to whomever he wanted, using it as both leverage and power, much in the same way as we previously credited Yul back in Cook Islands when we recognized him with a Hall of Fame Moment. So that alone might have been reason enough for us to similarly recognize Russell, if he had followed through by continuing to use the idol wisely.

To be honest, though, he didn’t. When the tribes merged, Russell thought he could play the same game with the Galus, but they didn’t go for it. That left Russell in the position of needing to play the idol as a just-in-case measure, when it turned out he didn’t have a single vote cast against him.

But then Russell did the almost-unthinkable – he found another immunity idol without a single clue! Heck, he didn’t even know for sure if a new idol existed! But he logically deduced where an idol would need to be if a new one was put into the game, and he discovered it.

This one, he kept secret from his opposition. And like Hall of Fame Moment honoree Amanda from Survivor: Micronesia, he played it perfectly. This time, he would indeed have gone home if he had not played the idol. But instead, his minority group was able to even the odds (presuming Shambo votes with the Foa Foans) and get rid of another former Galu member.

Russell’s actions got us thinking here at the Reality TV Hall of Fame. If we recognized one past player for using the idol by not using it, and another for using it perfectly, and yet another player, Shii Ann, for pulling out an immunity win when she desperately needed to – much like Russell pulled off his discovery of the second idol when he desperately needed to – then it seemed clear that Russell also deserved such recognition.

You might not like Russell’s personality or his tendency to target any strong female in the near vicinity, but you have to give him credit. He found not one but two hidden immunity idols without a single clue. And he used them to control the early game and save himself after the merge. Those actions make him worthy of recognition for a Reality TV Hall of Fame Moment.

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David Bloomberg is the Editor of the Reality TV Hall of Fame and can be reached at RNO@pobox.com. You can also now follow him on Twitter!

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