Russell Hantz: Will he return to "Survivor"?

(CBS/AP) "Survivor" villain Russell Hantz, who has been on three seasons of the show in two years, said onscreen this week that he was done with the game.

But in interviews with the Associated Press and the Los Angeles Times, he seems to be backing away from that declaration.

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The 38-year-old oil company owner from Dayton, Texas, told the newspaper he would have to be extremely invested to come back for a fourth attempt at the game and spoke about factors that would bring him back or keep him away.

"If I played again, I'd be playing with all-stars," he told the AP. "I assume, and they basically hate me. They hate me because I played the game three times in a year and a half, and they're sitting at home and they want to play. ... They get their feelings hurt because they pick me again. If I did ever play again, I would shut my mouth."

Hantz also said the tears he shed as he left the game were partly a response to some things TV vewers didn't see.

" When I looked into Jeff's (Probst) eyes, when it happened, he looked down to the ground and said, 'Give me a second.'

"This is stuff y'all didn't see," Hantz said. "These are my friends, for the past year and a half, the cameramen, soundmen are people I've spent a ton of time with and are my family out there. When he did that, I felt like I let everyone down."

In both interviews, Hantz also vehemently denied that he was the source of e-mails to Jim Early, a "Survivor'' message board poster, leaking episode details before they aired.

"Survivor" producers last year filed a lawsuit against Early that they later dismissed.

"That's all bull," Hantz declared. "I'm the easy one to pin that on. If you want to get famous, all you got to do is make stuff up about Russell Hantz."

As for the only other veteran in this season's game, "Boston" Rob Mariano, Hantz said his departure may actually help Mariano.

"If Rob does well in this game, trust me, I'll give him all the respect in the world, " Hantz said, "because you also didn't see me telling my tribe, 'He is going to eat you up and spit you out 'cause I know the game. You cannot play with this guy. He is an all-star for a reason.'"

"I said from day one that once the merge happens, only I can take out Rob."