As much as I disliked Russell in the first episode I've come to respect his game.  He seems to be the only one out there who is thinking ahead.  I still don't like his rude confessional comments, but, dang, he's researched the game and seems to know what he's doing.

I read somewhere (I'll have to look around and see if I can find the article) that his choice to vote off Liz instead of Jaison was probably due to the merge coming.  In a merge situation Jaison will probably be picked off before Liz because of his size which keeps Russell there longer to work his game.  Makes sense to me.

On another note, I wonder if he really has twin daughters.  I'm fairly certain his dad wasn't a preacher.  Russell sure knows people and how to say the right thing to make them feel comfortable.  Slimy, but he's playing the game!