I previously did my own interview of Russell the day after meeting him here in Phuket. You can check that out here. A couple of weeks later I did a post about some of the charity work he’s been doing here in Thailand. Link right here. He recently returned to Houston but is planning a return trip soon.

Some people have said to me, “who is Russell Hantz, never heard of him, why should I care?” My first response to such nonsense is, “is this a complaint?” I mean, how fucking stupidly entitled? I’m posting something about a celebrity of sorts, out to thousands of my subscribers—and whomever else may search and find—and you find some bizarre need to tell me, or post a comment, that YOU’VE NEVER HEARD OF HIM!!! as though that means squat and I should give a shit?

So just fuck right off on that score. If you’ve never heard of him, then here might be an opportunity to learn something rather than peacocking around your ignorance, expecting people to somehow be impressed with it. Hilarious and pathetic way to virtue signal, to boot.

Survivor is the most successful reality TV show of all time. My wife and I got hooked midway through Season 1. They do two seasons per year and Russell was on three times in near succession when the show was about 10 years into its run, which is now on Season 45 or something. So, I watched for about 10 years. Russell comes on and literally redefines the game in a most dramatic way—twice in a row back-to-back. So much so, that after he was to be seen no more, I stopped watching and have never watched a single episode since.

…So out of the month of July he spent down here in Rawai, south Phuket, Thailand, we saw each other frequently, hung out, trapsed around. So what can I say about Hantz on a personal level?

The Energizer Bunny.

Just like on Survivor. He’s also smart, strategic, and has an excellent rapport with people he likes and finds interesting—just like on Survivor. Perhaps that’s what made his performance on the show so appealing. He didn’t have to play a role, so much. He’s a really personable guy with a smile and piercing eyes. The girls adore him, and quick—and I’m not talking about only bar girls. He courted many a “legitimate” young woman in his time here.

…He rode his scooter over to my house one mid-morning, set up his gear, and interviewed me. We shot about 30 minutes of footage which he cut down to 15 minutes—owing to the constraints of having a YouTube Channel, The Russell Hantz Show, with over 40,000 subscribers (another answer to the “who is Russell Hantz?” question).

If you watch my interview of him along with what I’ve written above, you might ask: why is he introducing you like that, since that’s not what happened? Chalk it up to harmless creative license. It’s his show, he’s the star of it. Period.

A correction to something I said: I should have said hundreds, not thousands, when referring to my engagement with Asian bar girls over 40 years, since 1982 in Pusan, Korea, when I was an NROTC Midshipman still in college. So from 1984 to 1989, 5 years living in and travelling all over Asia, and now 2 1/2 years in Thailand, hundreds is a reasonable number.

I’m not Wilt Chamberlain, after all.

A final note before getting to Russell’s interview of me about the disrespect the western world shows to this ubiquitous bar girl industry. I laugh. How do people think these hundreds of thousands of girl bars scattered all over Asia exist, if there aren’t millions and millions of men—both Asian and western foreigner—patronizing them? Yet nobody does it! Amazing! Either they condemn, deny, or keep quiet outside the realms of being within the culture of it.

Well, I unabashedly and unapologetically assert that I have partaken in the delights for 40 years. I haven’t a gram of shame, trepidation, reservation, or evasion over any of it. I always knew what I was doing, no exceptions. If I’m going to talk or write about it, I’m damn sure going to be transparent, open, and honest. All the rest can condemn and/or lie about it all they want. I will not.

And if my activities “cause” people to feel repulsed or disgusted, what in the fucking fuck do I care? What anyone thinks about me is none of my business.