CBS Richard Hatch on 'Survivor'
Original “Survivor” winner Richard Hatch recently revealed why he chose to be naked on the long-running reality series and it’s kind of hilarious. He also talked about how the show affected him. Read on to find out what the castaway said.
Hatch Went Naked So the Cameramen Would Leave Him Alone
Back in the first season of “Survivor,” the show acted like Hatch was naked just because he wanted to be naked — which is fine, but it turns out there was a much more conniving and hilarious reason.
In an episode of “For Real: The Story of Reality TV,” Hatch, who is gay, said he was naked so that the straight cameramen would leave him alone.
“I chose to be naked, from one perspective, because all of the camera crew were straight guys,” said Hatch. “So they were following me and literally I would watch them go, ‘ugh,’ and turn away and go somewhere else. And I realized, ‘Oh if I’m not wearing any clothes, they’re not gonna follow my a** around!’ I got all kinds of things close to people’s conversations that I never could have if I had a film crew following me.”
Sneaky!
Hatch Also Talked About Sue Hawk’s Infamous Tribal Council Speech
Hatch said that to viewers, Sue Hawk’s famous final Tribal Council “snake and rat” speech was riveting television, but in actuality, the castaways heard speeches like that from her all the time.
“You know what folks didn’t see? Sue Hawk made those type speeches regularly,” said Hatch with a laugh. “So we had to endure things like that through the entire season.”
He also said that her speech actually turned some of the jury members against him because they found it so disturbing.
“That speech was so off-putting that some of the contestants in the jury, even though Sue was asking them to vote for me, did the opposite even though they were going to vote for me initially. So I won by a hair,” said Hatch.
Hatch Said His Edit On the Show Was Tough On Him
Hatch was definitely edited as the mastermind of “Survivor’s” first season — and he was, to an extent. But he said the show painted him as a villain because alliances weren’t something they had considered would be part of playing the game and that villain edit really hurt him after the show.
“You are going to be portrayed differently from how you see yourself. I really was perceived as evil, manipulative, Machiavellian. It was all thrown at me. I had a sufficiently villainous reputation and it really, really, really impacted my life, destroying my family,” said Hatch. “It’s the reason I was forced to deal with court and tax evasion, things that I didn’t do but that prosecutors sought to win at all costs, specifically because I was ‘the villain.'”
Hatch went to prison in 2009 for tax evasion for not paying taxes on his “Survivor” winnings. Hatch always maintained that CBS promised to pay the taxes on the prize money, according to Forbes, but the courts saw it differently and he went to prison for 51 months.
“Survivor” is back in production now. If the pattern holds, it should be premiering its 41st season the third or fourth week of September 2021.