Survivor: Samoa and Heroes vs. Villains

Did Russell Hantz leak Survivor spoilers? What the record shows

Mark Burnett's production company DJB Inc. sued spoiler Jim Early in August 2010 over leaked Survivor: Samoa and Heroes vs. Villains results. The case was dismissed without prejudice on 13 January 2011 after Early cooperated. Early then named Russell Hantz as his source. Hantz called that claim 100% false.

Disputed The lawsuit and its dismissal are documented. The attribution is not. One man named a source while cooperating to end a case against himself, the named man denied it, and no court or investigation ever ruled on which account is true.

Russell Hantz Russell Hantz

What the record shows

  • Confirmed DJB Inc., Mark Burnett's production company, sued Jim Early in August 2010 over leaked elimination information from Survivor: Samoa and Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains, alleging misappropriation of trade secrets and tortious interference with contract. Early posted on the Survivor Sucks message boards as missyae. CBS Broadcasting was named in the settlement agreements at issue.
  • Confirmed The case was dismissed without prejudice on 13 January 2011, after Early cooperated and identified his sources. Without prejudice means the matter ended without a ruling on the merits.
  • Disputed Early told The Daily Beast that Russell Hantz was that source, saying of Hantz that "all I had to do was pick up the phone and say hello and I had anything I wanted," and that he had given lawyers email correspondence from Hantz.
  • Disputed Hantz denied it twice. On Facebook on 1 February 2011 he wrote that people should "never believe what you read." To USA Today he said of the allegation, "it is 100% false."
  • Confirmed Hantz was never a defendant in the case. No action of any kind was filed against him, and CBS cast him again the following year on Survivor: Redemption Island.
  • Confirmed CBS issued a general statement when the allegation surfaced and did not address the specific claim about Hantz.
  • Unverified Nothing here has been adjudicated. There is no court finding, no arbitration, no published production investigation and no CBS determination on whether Hantz gave Early anything. What is missing is any decision-maker who examined the evidence and said so.

The lawsuit was against Jim Early

In August 2010 DJB Inc., Mark Burnett's production company, filed suit against Jim Early. Early had posted on the Survivor Sucks message boards under the handle missyae, and he had been putting out elimination information from Survivor: Samoa and Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains before those seasons aired. The suit alleged misappropriation of trade secrets and tortious interference with contract, and CBS Broadcasting was named in the settlement agreements at issue.

The case ended on 13 January 2011. It was dismissed without prejudice after Early cooperated and identified his sources. That phrase matters. A dismissal without prejudice is not a judgment, not a finding, and not a verdict about anybody. It closed the file and left the production free to refile if it chose to.

Who Early named, and what Hantz said back

Two weeks after the dismissal Early spoke to The Daily Beast and said his source had been Russell Hantz. He described how easy the arrangement had been, saying that "all I had to do was pick up the phone and say hello and I had anything I wanted," and he said he had handed lawyers email correspondence from Hantz.

Hantz denied it, and he denied it twice. On 1 February 2011 he posted on Facebook that people should "never believe what you read," a reply reported at the time by Inside Pulse. Two weeks later he told USA Today that the allegation "is 100% false." Both accounts sit at the same weight on this page. Early's is the word of a man who named a source while cooperating to end a lawsuit against himself. Hantz's is a flat denial from the man he named. Neither has ever been tested.

Russell Hantz was never sued

This is where most retellings go wrong. Russell Hantz was not a defendant. No complaint was filed against him, so there was nothing for him to settle and nothing to be dropped as to him. Summaries that say the suit against Hantz was dropped are describing a case that never existed.

The suit that did exist named Jim Early and only Jim Early, and it ended in a dismissal without prejudice after he cooperated. Everything connecting Hantz to those leaks comes from what Early said afterwards, in an interview, and from an email correspondence that has never been published or authenticated.

What happened after

CBS issued a general statement when the allegation surfaced and declined to address the specific claim about Hantz. Whatever the network concluded internally, if it concluded anything, has never been made public.

What is on the record is the casting. Hantz appeared on Survivor: Redemption Island, which aired in 2011, the same year Early named him. He was the third castaway voted out. Nothing in that sequence proves either account, but it is the only action by anyone with access to the facts that can be observed from outside, and it did not treat him as a person the show had finished with.

People in this story

Questions people ask

Did Russell Hantz leak Survivor spoilers?
That has never been established. Jim Early, sued by Mark Burnett's production company over the leaks, publicly identified Hantz as his source after the case was dismissed. Hantz denied it, calling the claim 100% false. No court or investigation has ever ruled on it.
Was Russell Hantz sued over the spoilers?
No. The August 2010 suit by DJB Inc. named Jim Early. Hantz was never a defendant, never settled anything, and no action of any kind was filed against him.
How did the lawsuit end?
It was dismissed without prejudice on 13 January 2011, after Early cooperated and identified his sources. A dismissal without prejudice ends a case without any ruling on the merits.
Who is missyae?
Jim Early, who posted elimination information from Survivor: Samoa and Heroes vs. Villains on the Survivor Sucks message boards under that handle. He was the defendant in the DJB Inc. suit.
Did CBS punish Russell Hantz?
No sanction has ever been announced. CBS issued a general statement when the allegation surfaced and did not address the specific claim, and Hantz was cast again on Survivor: Redemption Island in 2011.

Sources

Checked on 2026-07-26. If something here is wrong or out of date, we want to know: get in touch.