Survivor - Russell told who won in the past (no spoilers in this thread)

[dr.strangelove]

http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2011/02/survivors_russell_hantz_has_be.html

"The villainous Russell Hantz has competed on Survivor twice before (and will again this month), and every time he makes it past the first few eliminations, he always marvels that anyone would think to trust him, given his record. Maybe that should go double for CBS and the reality show's producers: After Survivor message board commenter Jim Early was sued for publishing elimination orders and other secrets from the set, he revealed that the information was given to him by Hantz himself. The lawsuit was then dropped, but the question now is whether the show will sue Hantz for violating his contract, given that he stars in the already-filmed season that's about to air. "

The above is from the linked NY Magazine page. It appears that Russell may be in trouble. He reportedly told a man named Jim Early a great deal of what happened in his two seasons, including who got to the end and when people were voted off. Early reportedly tries to spoil the show by researching the players and he came into contact with Russell doing his research. He was sued by Mark Burnett for posting the elimination order of Russells two seasons, and some very detailed information about what would happen, on a message board. In the litigation he was forced to reveal that his source was Russell Hantz. This is crazy. I remember Mark Burnett went after Stacy from season 1 for suing them and potentially leaking information, but settled that suit. I can't imagine he would want to sue Russell, who has been a great villain and ratings grabber. But seriously, this is messed up if true.

This is why I hate spoilers. Somewhere, someone is going to get it right and spoil the end of the show for me. I love the thrill of survivor and not knowing what will happen. Part of the fun for me is my wife and I debating what would happen in a given season and who a tribe would keep or get rid of. If I knew, it would be terrible. I will try even harder to stay away from spoilers now.

[catchnrelease]

1. Agree re spoilers

My husband and I do the same re debating what's going on/and going to happen, so I really try to avoid hearing anything about upcoming episodes. I like to go to read Probst's blog the day after an episode, but have to be really careful as sometimes people post comments there that can spoil. Luckily helpful people will usually post a warning if there is a spoiler comment ahead.
(This is so ironic, as I didn't even watch the show for many seasons and even made fun of my husband for watching such a stupid show. Somehow I got sucked in and am now hooked. It's my guilty pleasure.)

[lazarus]

2. this has been out for a couple of weeks

I never got around to posting it, of course. :hi:

Early was the main spoiler over at SurvivorSucks for the last three seasons. His spoilers were even too accurate for the spoiler hounds, at least for Troll's seasons.

The problem is, if MB doesn't bring the hammer down on Russell (the contract calls for a $5 million penalty for spoiling), then there's nothing to stop spoiling in the future. But that means he'd have to go after one of the most popular survivors of recent seasons (most popular and most hated). It's a quandary.

Part of me loves seeing MB and Probst bitten in the ass by the monster they created. First Na Onka turns into a quitter, now this. Hopefully, they'll learn their lesson and start casting legitimately interesting people, not super-villains who can't win and are just assholes.