Former Survivor star Brandon Hantz arrested on arson and racketeering charges
A former Survivor player may be facing jail time.
Brandon Hantz, who competed in both season 23 and season 26 of the popular CBS competition show, is one of 14 people out of a 3,500-person biker gang that was indicted by a federal grand jury in Houston, Texas on Wednesday.
Hantz is allegedly a member of the Bandidos Outlaw Motorcycle Gang and was charged with conspiracy to commit racketeering activity and arson related to an alleged turf war that began in 2019 with a rival biker gang.
Hantz faces up to 40 years in prison as both charges carry possible sentences of around 20 years.
On Thursday some of the indicted men will be making their first appearance in front of a judge, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office. It is not known if Hantz will be among them.
Supervisory Official Antoinette T. Bacon of the Justice Department's Criminal Division said in a statement on Wednesday: 'Today's indictment is an important step in eliminating the Bandidos Outlaw Motorcycle Gang.'
'The Bandidos declare war on rivals — and they wage that war on our streets. Criminal behavior like this has no place in America, and the Department of Justice is fully committed to bringing peace back to our communities.'
Throughout Hantz's time on Survivor, he was often associated with his uncle Russell Hantz who is regarded as one of the show's biggest villains. During his first season, he made it to day 36 out of 39 and was the 15th contestant voted off the island.
However, during his second season on the show, he ended up making a dramatic exit after bursting out in a fit of rage and dumping his tribe's food supply of rice and beans.
His tribe consequently decided to forfeit their immunity challenge to vote Hantz out at the next elimination. Hantz then had another outburst at the challenge, causing his unprecedented early elimination.
Following his last episode, the reality TV star denied having 'mental problems' in an interview with People.
'No one out there was in danger; I wasn't going to hurt myself or anyone else,' he told the outlet back in 2013. 'But if you get personal with me, I will push back.'
He continued: 'People say that it's hard to watch, but I'm proud of myself and how I left the game. I don't know why people want to assume that something's wrong. I don't have mental problems.'
He compared his decision to dump his team's food to 'road rage' and clarified that it wasn't planned. 'I can see why they were upset about it. It wasn't premeditated,' he said.
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