Jeff Probst on Russell Hantz: 'I think Russell was the victim of a jury of bitter people.' (CBS)
Clearly not everyone thought Natalie White should’ve won Survivor. Count among the doubters one Jeff Probst.
Probst, the host of the CBS reality juggernaut, wrote on Entertainment Weekly‘s PopWatch blog that he believed Russell Hantz should’ve received the $1 million first prize on Sunday night instead of Natalie.
Probst wrote: “Oftentimes on Survivor, the vote does come down to a choice where a determining factor is ‘how nice someone is’ but that’s usually when all other criteria being considered is equal. That doesn’t hold up this season. This season was so lopsided in terms of one person (Russell) completely dominating the game that to not give him the money and the title is a bit silly.”
'Survivor' contestants Russell Hantz and Natalie White. (CBS)
Probst, who also serves as producer on the show, said the audience of the show spoke loudly when they voted Russell their favorite player by a large margin.
But the reason why Russell didn’t win, Probst surmised, was due to a “jury of bitter people”: “I do not believe the jury voted for Natalie, I believe the jury voted against Russell.”
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I am not watching this dumb a** show anymore. What the show is saying that a girl like Natalie could survive by herself in the wilderness is ridiculus! Thanks for wasting my time this last season. Did the people on the jury never see the show before that lying is part of the game?????? DUMBEST WASTE OF MY TIME EVER!
Mindy, the show is about lying and deceiving WITHOUT PISSING OFF A MAJORITY OF THE JURY MEMBERS. Something both you and Russell overlooked.
I loved this season. Russell was awesome. His downfall was his arrogance and a big ego. Too bad.
Why do people say Russell was mean. I never saw him say a cross word to that damn cheating ass panel of losers. I saw him play the game hard. He found idols to keep him in the game. He was a target the entire time and out smarted all of them. Tell me where did anyone see Russell mistreat any of those sore losing Galus. When the show bring back past players I don’t want to see any of those players that wear on the panel including Natalie who is spending Russell’s money.
oops! misspelled were. Sorry but you get where I’m coming from.
Russell played the game 90%. The jury has the final say and Russell couldn’t swing it. Natalie on the other hand played a 100% game and played it well. By her own admission she rode on Russells coat tails to the final three, but there was no other way for her to do it. Enjoy your million Natalie you earned even if not everyone agrees.
I think it was Eric’s speech to the finalists that sealed it for Natalie. He mentioned that it was irrelevant how Natalie got to the final three, bottom line is she didn’t step on too many toes. Her strategy was different than Russell’s and evidently more player-friendly.
i agree debbye
The point is that its a game, While Russel Played the game to get to the end he used natile as a pawn in his game. She was and always will be a Pawn, The Jury were all so full of jealousy and hate for Russel being successful they voted agaist him, Not for Natile…..She was a Lucky Pawn! It took no thought, skill, or cunning!
I totally agree with the vote. Russell should NOT HAVE WON for BULLYING around the entire season! He was a jerk, egotistic to the max and was so confident that he was going to win, that he SHOULDN’T have won! I am glad the vote went the way it did. Mick and Natalie were my choices from the beginning,so either one of them winning pleases me to no end. I will watch again!
this was the best survivor ever why because Russell made it the best give him the million.
So, Russell had to be tough, tenacious and at times deceptive. This isn’t Survival of the nicest or cutest he/she who stands out the least. As long as Russell wasn’t outright dirty (like Johnny Fairplay, lying to invoke undeserved sympathy) I think Russell should have won.
this was the best survivor ever why because Russell made it the best give him the million
The jury could not handle that Russell was smarter than they ever thought they they could be he made this the best survivor ever give him aa million he deserved it
russel was the most entelligent the jury could not handle that thats why they gave the money to her ,Russell made the show the best ever
Russhole is an Idiot. If he “didn’t need the money”, why won’t he get his tooth fixed? He lied on the show and no doubt lies in life. I’ll bet his “Oil Company” is a hot shot service with one broken down 1/2 ton truck. He was also very degarding towards women and no doubt pushes his wife around by telling her how “smart” he is. What a pathetic pile of crap he is!
Russell didn’t win because he left out a crucial part of strategy, not p***ing off the jury. That said, his game wasn’t that great as pretty much all of the players this season weren’t the brightest crayons in the box. Seriously, I thought that from day one, no one was very smart and that made it a lot easier for Russell to get to the end. Any other season and he would have been gone, long gone, not getting close to the finale. In my opinion, he did play the best of a sorry lot.
I wish the show would let us vote for the winner like American Idol does, except they should let us only vote once, not hundreds of times over several hours.
If they let us vote ONE time per phone it would be awesome.
Russell is the best player on Survivor I have ever seen. He went into the game with a goal and proved that he was the man to beat right off of the bat. While he may have seen arrogant and overbearing to some, he displayed a very strong alpha male leadership role and really provided a functional and successful leader role. Russel was the most honest in terms of being there to win the game. There are three rules to Survivor and he dominated the game on all three levels, OUTWIT, OUTPLAY, OUTLAST. He won it hands down in my book. I’d love to see him come onto the Howard Stern Show, it would be great to get a candid interview from him.
Russell was the winner by a mile. He dominated the game like no one else. Russell set a standard so high that the weasels on the jury were intimidated by his massively superior gamesmanship. Natalie was a cute little thing that had no business being anywhere but on the jury.
Have you not seen the winner in a bikini!?
Actually, I’d like to see SURVIVOR take all the folks that were booted off first and give them another chance. Going back 19 seasons? Be kind a neat…
Every two or three years on Survivor you get an iconic type of contestant. Russell should have won. Even if it was an even merge, the fact that his team of four vs eight was about make it to the final 5 was amazing. It’s good to see he’s going to be on all-stars 2.
I totally agree with Probst. Russell had my vote! I think that if the TV viewing audience was allowed to vote, he would have won hands down. He definitely made for the most entertaining season of survivor EVER. Those people who get angry about his ‘lie, cheat and steal’ strategy clearly don’t understand that T.H.I.S. I.S. A. G.A.M.E.!!!!!!!
Russell should have one he had my vote. America loves him and he plays the game unlike Sandra, floating threw the game.