Richard Hatch

Richard "Rich" Hatch (born April 8, 1961) is the former corporate trainer and consultant who won CBS' original Survivor series.

Early life

Prior to his Survivor appearance, Hatch was a corporate trainer from Newport, Rhode Island. He spent five years in the United States Army, two of them at the United States Military Academy (would have been Class of 1986).^[1]

Survivor

Survivor: Borneo

Hatch competed in Survivor: Borneo, the first edition of the show in the United States. He competed with the Tagi tribe, and quickly aligned with former Navy SEAL Rudy Boesch. He also became notorious for playing naked, repeating the strategy later on Survivor: All-Stars, where doing so resulted in a contentious incident with fellow Borneo and All-Star player Susan Hawk.^{[citation needed]}

Once Sonja Christopher and Stacey Stillman were eliminated from the Tagi tribe, Hatch and Boesch formed a voting alliance with the two remaining female members of the tribe, Kelly Wiglesworth and Susan Hawk, who also had a strong bond. This left Dirk Been and Sean Kenniff as the only two to vote off. Dirk was voted off, and then Joel Klug was voted off of the Pagong tribe. A merge followed the elimination of Klug, and the tribes merged as Rattana at five members each. Sean Kenniff, the one remaining member of Tagi not in the alliance, voted using an alphabet strategy. The tight four voted for Gretchen Cordy, while the other six votes were all different. Greg Buis was next to go, as he received votes from the five former Tagi members as well as Jenna Lewis (who received the other three votes).^{[citation needed]}

As the alliance continued to target the opposing tribe, Pagong, Jenna Lewis and Gervase Peterson were eliminated next.^{[citation needed]}

Due to the rift in the relationship between Susan Hawk and Kelly Wiglesworth, Wiglesworth quickly became the new target of the now 3-way alliance between Hawk, Boesch and Hatch. Wiglesworth had opted out of the alliance, a move that Susan considered cowardly and simply a way to show off to the jury, thinking this assured her of winning. Wiglesworth won immunity, and Colleen Haskell was voted off. When Wiglesworth won immunity again, the 3-way alliance voted out Kenniff.^{[citation needed]}

In the final four, Wiglesworth won immunity again, ensuring that one of the alliance would be voted out. In a 2–2 tie (the first tie in Survivor history), Hatch and Hawk were both in danger of elimination. When she revoted, Wiglesworth opted to eliminate Hawk, cementing the end of their friendship. At the Final Three immunity challenge, Hatch eliminated himself early, trusting both Wiglesworth and Boesch to take him to the Final Two regardless, and not wanting to go back on his word with Rudy if he himself won. When Wiglesworth won immunity, she voted out Rudy, making him the final member of the jury.^{[citation needed]}

In the final two, Hatch was accused of being way too cocky and overall an evil person. But it was Hawk's comments that really struck home. Comparing Hatch to a snake, she claimed that she must vote for him as nature intended, because the snake must eat the rat, who was Wiglesworth. Clearly shaken by this statement, Wiglesworth would not acknowledge Hawk after the show, opting not to hug her.^{[citation needed]}

Hatch became the first ever Sole Survivor in a 4–3 vote, gaining the votes of Rudy Boesch, Susan Hawk, Sean Kenniff, and Greg Buis. Buis asked Wiglesworth and Hatch to pick a number between one and ten.{{Citation needed|date=May 2012}}

Controversy remains over whether other contestants were cheating during the original season's filming

Survivor: All-Stars

Hatch's appearance on Survivor: All-Stars was a very short but eventful one. As part of the Mogo Mogo tribe, they lost one member in Episode 3 when Survivor: The Amazon winner Jenna Morasca quit to be with her dying mother. When the Saboga tribe was dissolved in Episode 5, Mogo Mogo gained two extra members and when they lost immunity, they immediately targeted Hatch. Although Hatch got wind of his impending doom and put together a counter strategy, his plans were foiled and he was voted out. As the final vote was read he yelled, "I've been bamboozled!"^{[citation needed]}

Before he was voted out, he was involved with an incident with Sue Hawk. During an immunity challenge, Hawk, while Hatch remained customarily naked, inexplicably turned off her original course to engage with Hatch. The next day, Hawk resigned from the game voluntarily, claiming that Hatch touched her and his nudity upset her.^{[citation needed]}

In 2008, Survivor host Jeff Probst mentioned in an interview that Hatch smuggled a canister of matches onto Survivor: All-Stars "in a little container up his bum." The immediate result was that the Mogo Mogo tribe was able to get fire early on in the game. Since this incident all contestants are now strip searched.^[2]

Other appearances

• Hatch appeared on an all-reality show edition of the short lived game show Dog Eat Dog. He lost his challenge and was placed in the show's "dog pound".^{[citation needed]}

• In August 2005, Hatch was a contestant of Battle of the Network Reality Stars in which his team lost in the finals.^{[citation needed]}

• He also appeared on the Australian version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? (hosted by Eddie McGuire). He didn't do the (11 x 12) and got his fourth question wrong, becoming the first person in Australian Millionaire history to go home with AU$0.^{[citation needed]}

• In an issue of Entertainment Weekly, Mark Burnett said that if Hatch was not under house arrest, he would have been invited for Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains.^[3]

He had a cameo as a patient in the Becker episode "One Wong Move" where Ted Danson's character received him as a patient, discussing the bizarre eating habits of the people on the television show, and mentioning that he didn't mind if he had to take his clothes off.^{[citation needed]}

He appeared as himself (and naked) in the 2006 film Another Gay Movie.^{[citation needed]}

He also appeared on the fourth celebrity edition of The Apprentice.^{[citation needed]}

Personal life

Hatch was born and raised near Newport, Rhode Island, graduating from Middletown High School in 1979. He first majored in Marine Biology and Oceanography at Florida Institute of Technology before he enlisted in the Army in 1980. He served 5 years. First he was stationed at Fort Bliss, Texas, and Fort Stewart, Georgia, before attending USMAPS in Fort Monmouth, New Jersey, and the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York. Hatch left West Point for New York City where he worked for Ian Schrager and Steve Rubell (owners of Studio 54) at Palladium. He later attended Baruch College in NY and George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, during which time he became a sperm donor. Hatch spent 8 years in the Washington, DC, area and graduated from National-Louis University with a Bachelor's degree in Management/Applied Behavioral Sciences. Hatch returned to Newport, RI, and adopted a 7-year-old boy. He later attended Rhode Island's Providence College pursuing a Master's degree in Education and Counseling.

Prior to winning CBS' original Survivor series, Hatch worked as a bartender, auto salesman, and licensed real estate agent before nearly fifteen years as a corporate trainer and consultant for his own company.

Most of Hatch's years following his Survivor win, Hatch has spent fighting charges of "attempting to evade taxes" brought by prosecutors who pursued Hatch without the IRS ever having completed an assessment of his 2000 and 2001 tax returns. He served a 51-month sentence in federal prison for "attempting to evade taxes" that had never been determined to be due. Hatch served an additional 9 months in prison for not amending his 2000 and 2001 tax returns despite expert testimony it is not possible to amend tax returns that are the subject of an ongoing audit pending before the US Tax Court.

In 2003, Hatch met Emiliano Cabral in Argentina, and they were married in Canada.

References

External links

• Richard Hatch at the Internet Movie Database
• Hatch's criminal indictment on The Smoking Gun