Russell Hantz deserved to win Survivor Samoa

I really believe that Russell Hantz deserved to win Survivor Samoa on Sunday night, not Natalie. While the fact that America agreed that Russell H was the "best player," I am also feeling slightly embarrassed and concerned that I am so disappointed that Natalie won and Russell H did not. Do I really think that his abrasive and obnoxious persona, arrogance, and constant lies and betrayals are commendable?

Allow me to explain. First, Russell said at the beginning that he was going to play the game, and that the way he played Survivor was going to be totally different from how he lived. He admitted he was going to lie, cheat, and annoy people and play the most strategic game possible. He did not say he was going to play a moral game or that this was the way to live.

Secondly, he did stuff on Survivor Samoa that has not done in the past 18 seasons: finding two immunity idols without clues, using the immunity idol the one time he needed to, but not playing it unnecessarily. He saw the intelligence of John to vote him off right after Laura, realizing he was an intelligent player and legitimate threat. He won a key immunity challenge at the end to make sure that Brett did not survive. While it took the other Foa Foa members cooperation, the fact that they went from down 8-4 to up 4-1 in members was simply remarkable and co-ordinated by the four staying strongly aligned.

Thirdly, Natalie did not play the game with a strategy. Perhaps after Foa Foa was down to four people and started to knock off the Galu members, she then adopted a "strategy." However, from what viewers saw, she never had a "stay low and let Russell take the bullets" strategy until the final few episodes. Even Mick would have been a more deserving winner, I think. He at least won a few immunity challenges and early on said that the "let Russell take the bullets" strategy would be shrewd. When Brett won the immunity that eventually led to Jaison being voted off, it would have seemed obvious that the time was perfect to try to team up with Jaison and Mick to blindside Russell (even though he had the immunity idol, he didn't plan to play it). Yet these three guys never even talked about "now's our chance."

So, no, I am not embarassed to say that Russell was the best player and should have won Survivor Samoa. Lying, cheating, betraying people is not the way to live and these actions are simply wrong. If this was the way he lived outside the game, I would be concerned, yet I don't believe it is. Nonetheless, part of almost any "game" (eg. sports, board games, reality tv) is the element of making your opponent believe you are going to do one thing and doing another (eg. a head fake in football, basketball, or hockey; a change-up pitch in baseball or stealing a base). I'm looking forward to seeing season 20 of Survivor: Heroes vs Villains begin on February 11 and hope that Russell will be one of the cast members.