‘Survivor’ Star Russell Hantz Reveals Sandra Diaz-Twine Almost Quit in ‘Heroes vs. Villains’
After watching two-time champ Sandra Diaz-Twine’s performance in Survivor 40: Winners at War, an upset Russell Hantz took to his YouTube channel and revealed she nearly quit 20 seasons ago.
[SPOILER ALERT: This article contains information from Survivor 40: Winners at War Episode 7.]
Sandra Diaz-Twine and Russell Hantz’ history
After Sandra Diaz-Twine won Pearl Islands (Season 7) and Russell Hantz placed runner-up in Samoa (Season 19), they both returned as part of the Villain tribe in Heroes vs. Villains (Season 20).
The two were on opposite sides as Sandra aligned with Russell’s nemesis, Boston Rob Mariano. She told him several times she was against him and attempted to flip to the Heroes to help vote the notorious villain off the island.
It never worked, and Russell brought Sandra to the Final Tribal Council, alongside Parvati Shallow, believing either he or his ally had a better shot at winning.
The jury, mainly composed of Heroes, blasted Russell’s ruthless gameplay and closely associated Parvati with her ally, despite her dominating performance.
Therefore, they awarded Sandra her second title. During the reunion, Russell made it clear he did not think the Washington-native deserved the win.
Throughout the past decade, the two have clashed several times on social media, and Sandra recently blocked him for blasting her regarding her performance in Survivor 40: Winners at War.
Sandra Diaz-Twine quit ‘Survivor 40: Winners at War’
For the 40th season, Sandra returned to Survivor for her fourth and last time to compete against 19 former champs for a $2 million grand prize. Despite being the only player to have already won twice, Sandra rarely came up on anyone’s radar as a threat.
In the tribe swap, she alongside tribemates Kim Spradlin-Wolfe and Tony Vlachos remained on Dakal with Jeremy Collins and Denise Stapley joining them.
When they had to go to Tribal Council, Sandra realized the idol she bought from Natalie Anderson on the Edge of Extinction would expire after that night.
Therefore, she struck a deal with Denise, who everyone planned on voting for, and sold the immunity idol for two fire tokens. Denise, who already had her own idol she found on Sele, agreed to the deal but wanted one token beforehand and one afterward.
At Tribal Council, the Philippines champ played Sandra’s idol on herself and saved her original tribemate, Jeremy, with her idol. She then voted to send the Queen to the Edge of Extinction single-handedly.
Only minutes after stepping foot on the Edge, Sandra decided to raise the white flag as she thought she would not beat anyone in a competition to re-enter the game.
Russell Hantz revealed Sandra Diaz-Twine agreed to quit before
After she quit, Russell took to his YouTube channel in frustration to share his opinion. He thought her decision to leave denounced her as a Queen and thinks her fans should stop making excuses for her.
The Samoa runner-up also said he now considers her the worst winner of all time and would refuse to film another season with her regardless of the amount of the money.
According to Russell, in Heroes vs. Villains before an individual immunity challenge, executive producer and showrunner Jeff Probst asked off-camera if anyone would quit for $50,000 and two movie tickets. He claimed Sandra “raised her hand,” and no one else did.
Therefore, he always knew “she was a quitter” and no longer thinks she belongs in any Survivor conversations. Survivor 40: Winners at War airs on Wednesdays at 8 p.m. EST on CBS.
