Dear Russell:
I don’t know if you’ve seen the Survivor logo lately, but you might want to take a gander at it. It might clue you in a bit as to why you (again) didn’t garner the top spot this season.
It states: “Outwit … Outplay … Outlast.”
Why don’t we take a quick stab at breaking down these three words for your edification? Mayhap a lightbulb will come on in your head. And — being this letter is presented to you with no room for interruption or debate — it might do you a service you can take with you when you’re invited back to get your ass kicked by Boston Rob.
You game? Yeah … I know you’re not. But let’s give it a whirl anywho, just for giggles … ‘kay?
“Outwit”: Now … you might think you outwitted everyone on the show and, for the most part, you did. But seriously: Did you honestly believe you could screw people time and time again, changing your allegiances day in and day out, and there not be any consequences to your actions? Dude, it just doesn’t work that way. At some point, usually sooner rather than later, it’s going to come back to haunt you. Case in point: Sandra. Did she outwit you? No. Not directly. But what she did do was fly under your radar. This was a good thing as it ultimately got her the win. So indirectly, she outwitted you. Plain and simple.
“Outplay”: Man … did you outplay just about everyone on the show, Russell. Hands down, you cleaned their clocks by the simple evidence you made it to the Top Three. No argument there. You cajoled, you lied, you snuck around, you made alliances with several groups at once, you played mind games ’til the cows came home. Without doubt, you outplayed every contestant on the show this season. Bravo.
You made such a big, fat convolution of things you ended up indirectly convincing good ‘ole boy JT to offer up an immunity idol directly to your hand and out of the blue. Talk about outplaying someone!
Yet — despite confuzzling everyone — there stands Sandra … still in the game, week in and week out. And right up until the the finals. She did it again: She indirectly outplayed you.
“Outlast”: And, in the end, there’s Sandra once more, this time sitting on the left side of Parvati with you on the right side of her. All three of you prettied up and patient, awaiting the final tally of votes to be read by Jeff Probst, anxious for word of who will ultimately win Season 20.
This time, however, Sandra did do something. And it wasn’t indirectly, either. It wasn’t done under the radar. And it wasn’t done by accident. And it wasn’t done through any alliance.
She did it all by herself. All by her lonesome. And she did it in spite of your best efforts, Russell: She “outlasted” you by garnering more votes than either you or Parvati and winning the million dollar prize.
(Oh. That’s right. You didn’t get a single, solitary vote from that jury of your ‘peers’ … did you?)
You see: Deep down, we like villains. We really do. It’s in our nature … in our very core to like them. In many ways, we live vicariously through them, Russell. Villains just like you.
But we also like our villains to have a modicum of intelligence along with all that cunning and deviousness. This is something which escapes you and which you don’t care about, Mr. Hantz. You’ve said that yourself.
Your game is good, Russell … really good. But the thing is, you have to pay attention to the social aspect of Survivor along with everything else. Because if you don’t, it comes back to bite you in the ass.
And it has a tendency to walk off with that million dollars. Do you get it now?
Sincerely,
Michael
Clacked by Michael Noble 
on May 17, 2010 @ 20:41 EST5EDT
He does not get it and probably never will.
*POST AUTHOR*
The thing is, GL, by winning the ‘most loved hero / most hated villain’ popularity contest at the end of the finale, it only fueled Russell’s fire, adding credence to his arguments he deserves to be the best … he deserves the prize … he deserves to wear the title of “Best Survivor” … ad nauseum.
As mentioned, there’s a strange attraction to the guy … even for me. But you are correct: Russell will never ‘get it’ …
To be honest they cheated on Pearl Islands by giving Rupert a Million Dollars too by popular vote.
So I don’t really see where Russel’s problem is. There was a popular vote and the people chose him. He got 100k for runner up on S19, he got ca. 50k for third on S20 and 100k for the popular prize on S20 Reunion. If that’s not winning the villain vote I don’t know what is.
But again – that is not the game and that doesn’t get into this guy’s proverbial thick skull… I think it spoke volumes that when he won six people stood up. His family. Nobody else.
But to be fair – he really invigorated this show. If it weren’t for him this season wouldn’t have been what it was now. So it’s good he was on. Kinda sorta
Oh and Michael I hope that didn’t sound sarcastic in my other post down there I really meant it – thanks for writing this down it gave me a chance to comment on the show :-)
Damn I wanted to write this :-)
Thanks Michael.
There was only one Bully who could ever win this game – Richard Hatch. Too bad (or funny) that in the end he ended up in jail for being the way he is. I don’t want to point fingers but Russell’s Wikipedia page already cites an altercation with an 18 year old this year.
The only way for a Bully after that to win was to marry the winner. Like Rob did.
To be honest I was disappointed that the final tribal was three people. In the end Russell would’ve lost against Parvati OR Sandrah. He would’ve said that Paravati didn’t deserve it either because she rode coattails even though she made that marvelous move with the two idols.
Like GL said – he doesn’t get it and never will. He’s not the best person who ever played this game. He’s the bully that made 250.000 bucks off it by going as far as he could and will ever be able to go – to the final tribal. I don’t understand why that’s a problem for him. It’s insane that he thinks that America would vote for him in the end. He might be a great player, the ultimate villain, but that’s just it.
But then again that vote for best player of the season contradicts me. Maybe America would vote for him. But like Jeff said multiple times. That is NOT the game. I think it speaks volumes that Russell thinks the game is flawed the way it is set up. Changing the rules doesn’t mean you become the rightful winner.
It means you cheated.
*POST AUTHOR*
Sebastian:
I agree with you where Richard Hatch and Boston Rob are concerned.
Jonny Fairplay was a big old doofus we loved to hate as well. He didn’t get as far, but he made things interesting.
It speaks volumes Russell didn’t snag a single vote. ‘Nuff said.
And: I didn’t take your comment of “Damn I wanted to write this” for anything other than what it was … which I interpreted as putting down the words you only wanted to say.
Thanks for the comments.