‘Survivor’ Alum Brandon Hantz Arrested for Racketeering & Arson as Part of Biker Gang

Martin Holmes February 20, 2025, 10:28 am

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Controversial Survivor star Brandon Hantz has been arrested on charges of arson and conspiracy to commit racketeering activity as part of a takedown of the Bandidos motorcycle gang in Houston, Texas.

As first reported by TMZ, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas unsealed a 22-count indictment Wednesday (February 19) charging Hantz and 13 others with a variety of crimes connected to an allegedly violent 2019 turf war with fellow gang B*EAST. Some Bandidos members have been accused of murder, attempted murder, and assault.

Hantz, who allegedly goes by the nicknames Loco and Gun Drop, has not been accused of murder but has been charged with counts of arson and racketeering, each of which could see him facing a 20-year prison sentence. The outlet notes that the FBI raided his home on Wednesday.

“Today’s indictment is an important step in eliminating the Bandidos Outlaw Motorcycle Gang,” Supervisory Official Antoinette T. Bacon of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division said in a statement Wednesday, per Entertainment Weekly.

“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,” Bacon added.

Hantz is the nephew of infamous Survivor villain Russell Hantz and first appeared on the show in 2011 on Season 23, Survivor: South Pacific. He made it to day 36 before ultimately being voted out in sixth place after he was duped into giving up his immunity necklace.

Three seasons later, he returned for Survivor: Caramoan – Fans vs. Favorites as part of the Favorites tribe. His second run was cut short after becoming involved in a personal rivalry with fellow returning contestant Phillip Sheppard, leading to an enraged, public outburst at a challenge that saw him effectively ejected from the game. Rather than wait for that night’s tribal council, his tribemates opted to vote him out on the spot on day 13.

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At the time the episode aired, Survivor host and executive producer Jeff Probst told EW, “It was clear that [Hantz] was very upset. That’s why I asked him to come to me, so I could separate him from the rest of the contestants.”

In the episode, Probst is seen massaging Hantz’s shoulders in an effort to calm him down as he explodes on his tribemates.

“When I saw him getting more agitated I put my hands on his shoulders in an attempt to help him relax,” Probst explained. “It was probably also a bit of a head start on controlling him if a physical confrontation were to ensue. Because something like this had never happened before there was no plan in place. I was assessing moment to moment, making decisions based on what was playing out in front of me.”

“It was clear that Brandon wanted out of the game,” he recalled. “I was very proud of Brandon for making the choice to stay next to me and not turn this into a physical altercation. I was equally proud of Phillip and the other contestants for their restraint. It was obviously a historic moment from a show point of view, but the overriding concern was the mental and physical health of the contestants.”