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Randy Russell Biography & Facts

Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains is the twentieth season of the American CBS competitive reality television series Survivor. Premiering on February 11, 2010, it was the show's fourth season to feature contestants from past seasons, after Survivor: All-Stars, Survivor: Guatemala, and Survivor: Micronesia, and was only the second season to feature a cast consisting entirely of returning players, after All-Stars. The season was filmed in Upolu, Samoa. Unlike previous seasons, the preceding season and this season were filmed back-to-back with a commenced short break occurred between seasons due to budget circumstances over the worldwide Great Recession. The twenty contestants were initially divided into two tribes based on their prior reputation in their previous seasons, Heroes and Villains. When ten players remained, the two tribes merged and named their new tribe "Yin Yang." After 39 days, Sandra Diaz-Twine became the first two-time Survivor winner, defeating Parvati Shallow and Russell Hantz with a vote of 6–3–0. Despite receiving zero jury votes, Hantz was voted by fans to win "Sprint Player of the Season" award for the second consecutive season and the $100,000 prize that went with it, earning the fans' vote over runner-up Rupert Boneham. Additionally, Hantz received a nomination in the 2010 Teen Choice Awards for his performance on this season. Casting According to host and producer Jeff Probst, the production initially selected 50 players from past seasons, narrowing down the list to twenty and keeping one spot open for a possible player from Survivor: Samoa. Some selections were made to match players that production thought would be exciting to see together, according to casting director Lynne Spillman. Several notable omissions have been directly addressed by Probst, the production team, and former contestants over the years. While Richard Hatch, winner of the original Survivor, was asked to return for this season, he had to apply to leave the country since he was under house arrest at the time; his request was denied by a federal judge in Rhode Island. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly days before filming began, Probst revealed that Cook Islands winner Yul Kwon, Michael Skupin of The Australian Outback, and Terry Deitz of Panama had been considered for the "Heroes" tribe but were ultimately not chosen; Kwon, Skupin, and Deitz returned for Survivor: Winners at War, Survivor: Philippines, and Survivor: Cambodia, respectively. He also said that they had considered having Ozzy Lusth, of Cook Islands and Micronesia, compete for a third time, but had ultimately decided against it; Lusth returned for Survivor: South Pacific three seasons later, and again for Survivor: Game Changers in 2017. Thailand winner Brian Heidik was in talks to participate in this season, however, Probst and other producers felt "too repulsed" to include Heidik once again. Probst also revealed that the producers would have liked Elisabeth Hasselbeck from The Australian Outback and Colleen Haskell from Borneo to participate on this season, but knew neither of them would have accepted the offer. Another notable omission was that of Jonny Fairplay, of Pearl Islands and Micronesia, which led Probst to say that Fairplay was a "Survivor quitter" after asking to be voted off first in Micronesia, and quitters are not asked back. Shane Powers of Panama was cut and replaced by Russell Hantz of Survivor: Samoa. However, Jonathan Penner, of Cook Islands and Micronesia, claimed that his spot was revoked in favor of Hantz, but he would later return for Survivor: Philippines. Yau-Man Chan, of Fiji and Micronesia, and Corinne Kaplan of Gabon were asked to return, but had to decline due to work commitments. Kaplan was replaced by Danielle DiLorenzo, and would eventually return for Survivor: Caramoan. Natalie Bolton and Erik Reichenbach, both of Micronesia, were on site as alternates. Reichenbach would return for Survivor: Caramoan. According to episodes of the podcast Talking with T-Bird, Judd Sergeant of Survivor: Guatemala and Shii-Ann Huang, of Thailand and All-Stars, were both in the casting process for this season as well. Randy Bailey said that Ace Gordon of Gabon was close to coming back for this season as a member of the Villains tribe, but he was ultimately not chosen. Coby Archa of Palau said that his castmate from that season, Ian Rosenberger, attended casting finals. Fiji winner Earl Cole was also considered for this season. Jenna Lewis, of Borneo and All-Stars, was considered for the Villains tribe. It was also revealed by Candice Cody that Parvati Shallow was originally supposed to be on the Heroes tribe, and her on the Villains tribe. Sierra Reed of Tocantins was originally going to be a member of the Heroes tribe, but she had to step down because she got engaged to a producer from her season. Contestants There were twenty contestants overall, divided into two tribes, Heroes and Villains. After ten contestants were eliminated, the tribes were combined, or merged, to form one tribe, Yin Yang. Nine contestants made up the jury, who ultimately decided who would win the game, and the $1 million grand prize. Due to the back-to-back filming of Survivor: Samoa and this season, the other players did not have an opportunity to see Russell Hantz's gameplay in Samoa nor reveal more information about him; however, the players were told by the production crew that Hantz was considered "one of the five most notorious male villains of all time" prior to the start of the game. Future appearances Russell Hantz and Rob Mariano returned to compete once again in Survivor: Redemption Island. Hantz would later compete in Australian Survivor: Champions vs. Contenders at an international level. Benjamin "Coach" Wade returned to compete in Survivor: South Pacific. Rupert Boneham, Candice Woodcock, and Tyson Apostol returned for Survivor: Blood vs. Water. Boneham returned with his wife, Laura, who appeared in Heroes vs. Villains as a loved one; Woodcock, now using her husband's surname Cody, returned with her husband John; and Apostol returned with his girlfriend (now wife), Rachel Foulger. Cirie Fields, James "J.T." Thomas Jr., and Sandra Diaz-Twine returned to compete in the 34th season of the show, Survivor: Game Changers. Diaz-Twine and Mariano returned in Survivor: Island of the Idols to serve as mentors, and they both returned the very next season, along with Shallow and Apostol, to compete on Survivor: Winners at War. Diaz-Twine also competed on Australian Survivor: Blood V Water with her daughter Nina. Outside of Survivor, Boneham competed on The Amazing Race 31 with his wife Laura. Apostol competed on the first season of The Challenge: USA. Stephenie LaGrossa and Cirie Fields competed on the USA Network competition series Snake in the Grass. In 2023, LaGrossa and Fields also competed on the first season of Peacock reality TV series The Traitors. Later in 2023, Fields competed on Big Brother 25. .... Discover the Randy Russell popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Randy Russell books.