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Template:Survivor contestant Richard Hatch (born April 8, 1961) is currently spending several years in prison for tax evasion. Prior to that, he was the winner of the first American Survivor series, which aired in 2000 and was set in Pulau Tiga.

Prior to his Survivor appearance, Hatch was a corporate trainer from Newport, Rhode Island. He spent five years in the US Army, is a licensed real estate agent, and has also worked as a car salesman and a bartender.

Throughout the duration of Survivor, Hatch claimed his profession as a corporate trainer aided him in his ability to deal with other people. He also admitted to being very cocky, a trait he soon came to be known by, and even made the notorious statement (on Day One) that he "already had the million dollar check written in his name."

Survivor: Borneo

As a member of the Tagi tribe, cocky and openly gay Richard Hatch had to fight in his season to ensure a win. In the game, Richard became close to 72 year old Rudy Boesch, who was, ironically enough, homophobic. Despite a very hostile relationship, the two bonded and created an alliance early in the game. After Sonja Christopher and Stacey Stillman were eliminated from the Tagi tribe, Richard and Rudy 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 solid 4 person alliance orchestrated the elimination of Dirk Been before the two tribes merged into one, Rattana. The voting alliance was criticized very heavily during the game, some even saw it as cheating. Little did they know that this would become the bare standard for the Survivor seasons to come. Once the tribes merged, they targeted the opposing tribe, Pagong, and eliminated Gretchen Cordy, Greg Buis, Jenna Lewis and Gervase Peterson in four straight tribal councils.

Due to the rift in the relationship between Susan and Kelly, Kelly quickly became the new target of the now 3-way alliance between Susan, Rudy and Richard himself. Kelly 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. But Kelly won immunity, and Colleen Haskell was voted off instead. When Kelly won immunity again, the 3-way alliance voted out Sean Kenniff.

In the final four, Kelly managed to win immunity once again, ensuring that one of the alliance would be voted out. In a 2-2 tie (the first tie in Survivor history), Richard and Susan were both in danger of elimination. But when asked to vote again, Kelly opted to eliminate Susan, cementing the end of their friendship. At the final 3 immunity challenge, Richard chose to eliminate himself early, trusting both Kelly and Rudy to take him to the Final 2 regardless. And when Kelly won immunity, she did exactly that and voted out Rudy, making him the final member of the jury.

In the Final 2, Richard was accused of being way too cocky and overall an evil person. But it was Susan's comments that really struck home. Comparing Richard to a snake, she claimed that she must vote for him as nature intended, because the snake must eat the rat, who was Kelly. Clearly shaken by this statement, Kelly would not acknowledge Susan after the show, opting not to hug her. In the end, Richard 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.

Survivor: All-Stars

Richard'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: 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 Richard. Although Richard got wind of his impending doom and put together a counter strategy, his plans were foiled and he was voted out.

But his stay was not without its share of controversy. The Mogo Mogo tribe encouraged Richard's nakedness in challenges, and in the immunity challenge in episode 5, he rubbed himself against opposing tribe member and fellow Survivor: Borneo alliance member Susan Hawk. While seemingly a joke at first, Susan took it very hard and opted to quit the game as a result in episode 6, the episode after Richard was eliminated.

Other Information

Richard Hatch is known for his nudist tendencies, and was shown on Survivor naked. This all began with his 39th birthday, a day he says he had always planned to spend in the nude. On Survivor: All-Stars, he was also shown naked, with blurring by Survivor editors. In the independent film Another Gay Movie, he provides full frontal nudity with no blurring. Openly gay, Hatch has an adopted son named Christopher from his previous marriage to Joanne Mansell. In May 2005, he married his partner, Emiliano Cabral, in Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada.

David Letterman dubbed Hatch the "fat naked guy" in reference to his naked 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".

In August 2005, Richard Hatch was a contestant of Battle of the Network Reality Stars in which his team lost in the finals.

He also appeared on the Australian version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire (hosted by Eddie McGuire, not Regis Philbin). He couldn't do the math properly and got his fourth question wrong.

Tax evasion conviction and imprisonment

On January 19, 2005, the United States Attorney's Office in Providence, Rhode Island, reported that Hatch had failed to report the $1,010,000 he had received from the Survivor show on his Federal income tax returns (the additional $10,000 was paid for his appearance on the final episode). Hatch also allegedly failed to report approximately $321,000 he received that year for appearances on radio station WQSX-FM in Boston. Prosecutors stated Hatch would be charged with filing a false tax return. An agreement was arranged whereby Hatch was offered a lenient sentence in exchange for a guilty plea. Hatch withdrew from the arrangement. He subsequently said he was basing his defense on his belief (which he now acknowledges was not correct) that CBS had arranged to pay the taxes before awarding him the money.

Hatch was indicted on September 8, 2005. The 10-count indictment included all of the above charges, plus additional charges that he failed to report rental income from properties he owned, failed to declare an automobile he won on Survivor, used money as personal income that was paid to a charity organization he had set up, and had knowingly submitted false statements in the above transactions.

On January 25, 2006 a jury in Providence, Rhode Island found Hatch guilty of tax evasion. The verdict stated that Hatch did not pay taxes either on his Survivor winnings, or on $327,000 he earned as co-host of a Boston radio show and $28,000 in rent on property he owned. He was acquitted of seven bank, mail and wire fraud charges.

Hatch faced up to 13 years in prison and a fine of $600,000. On May 16, 2006 he was sentenced to 51 months in prison, plus three years of supervised release after serving his sentence. He began serving his sentence at the Plymouth County Correctional Facility in Massachusetts. In July, 2006 he was moved for a short period of time to the Federal Transfer Center in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. before being placed at the Federal Correctional Institution in Morgantown, West Virginia on August 2, 2006. His inmate number is 05559-070. After sentencing his lawyer Michael Minns added: "It's bad for Richard, who is an outdoor person."

On December 7, 2006, Hatch filed an appeal of his conviction in the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston. He claims that the trial judge prevented him from arguing that he had made a deal with CBS whereby CBS would pay his taxes on his winnings and he would keep mum that CBS cheated on Survivor by providing food to other contestants.

Other legal problems

Richard Hatch was arrested in April 2000 on a charge of abusing his then 9-year-old son. That charge was later dropped. In 2002, Hatch was found not guilty of assaulting his ex-boyfriend. However, this charge cost him a game show host position on a gay version of a dating game shown on MTV at the time.

External links

• Richard Hatch at IMDb
• Richard Hatch's criminal indictment on The Smoking Gun

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• Participants in American reality television series
• Reality show winners
• Survivor contestants
• American tax evaders
• Incarcerated celebrities
• United States Army soldiers
• Non-graduate alumni of West Point
• LGBT people from the United States
• 1961 births
• Living people
• People from Newport, Rhode Island
• Survivor winners
• National Reality Television participants