Richard Hatch (Survivor contestant)

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Survivor contestant
Richard Hatch
Date of birth April 8, 1961 (1961-04-08) (age 47)
Resides Federal Correctional Institution, Morgantown, West Virginia
Season(s) Borneo
All Stars
Finish Winner (Borneo)
5th voted out (All Stars)
Tribe(s) Tagi, Rattana (Borneo)
Mogo Mogo (All Stars)

Richard Hatch (born April 8, 1961) is the winner of the first American Survivor series, which aired in 2000 and was set in Borneo. He is currently incarcerated for tax evasion.

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."

Contents

[edit] Survivor: Borneo

Hatch, who is gay,[1] 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 who was homophobic.

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 thus the tribes merged into Rattana at 5 members each. Sean Kenniff the one remaining member of Tagi (not in the alliance), voted with the 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 5 former Tagi members as well as Jenna Lewis (who received the other 3 votes), and was next to go.

As the alliance continued to target the opposing tribe, Pagong, Jenna Lewis and Gervase Peterson were eliminated next.

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, Boesch and Hatch 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), Hatch 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, Hatch 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, Hatch was accused of being way too cocky and overall an evil person. But it was Susan'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 Kelly. Clearly shaken by this statement, Kelly would not acknowledge Susan after the show, opting not to hug her. In the end, 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, Greg asked Kelly Wiglesworth and Richard Hatch to pick a number between one and ten. Many speculate that if Hatch had picked the number Kelly would have won. But Greg later stated in interviews Hatch had his vote 100% and if Kelly had picked the right number he would have simply changed it.

While the voting alliance was criticized very heavily during the game, (some even saw it as cheating), this would become a standard for the Survivor seasons to come.

[edit] 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: 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.

But his stay was not without its share of controversy. The Mogo Mogo tribe encouraged Hatch's nudity 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 Hatch was eliminated.

[edit] Other appearances

  • 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".

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.

He appeared as himself (and naked) in the 2006 film Another Gay Movie.

[edit] 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 at the live Survivors reunion after the finale). 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.[2] before being placed at the minimum-security Federal Correctional Institution in Morgantown, West Virginia on August 2, 2006. After sentencing, his lawyer Michael Minns added: "It's bad for Hatch, who is an outdoor person."

On December 7, 2006, Hatch filed an appeal of his conviction in the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in Boston, MA. 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.[2]

On February 1, 2008, Hatch's conviction was upheld by the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit.[3] The Court stated that Hatch was given several opportunities to testify about the alleged deal, but he never took the opportunity. In a 52-page decision, the Court ruled, "The failure of Hatch to present any evidence of such conversations when invited by the court strongly suggested that no actual promises were made, and no such 'deal' actually existed. It was not the court's right, much less duty, to put words in Hatch's mouth."[4]

On May 23, 2008, Hatch petitioned the US Supreme Court for a writ of certiorari, asking that court to review the First Circuit decision.[5][6]

Hatch is scheduled to be released in October 2009.[7][8]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Kilday, Gregg (October 10, 2000), “Gay King Richard”, The Advocate, <http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1589/is_2000_Oct_10/ai_65806209>. Retrieved on 2007-11-14 
  2. ^ "Hatch hopes court votes him out of prison", MSNBC, 2006-07-12. Retrieved on 2006-07-12. 
  3. ^ Judgment, p. 52, Feb. 1, 2008, United States v. Hatch, case no. 06-1902, United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit.
  4. ^ Judgment, p. 27, Feb. 1, 2008, United States v. Hatch, case no. 06-1902, United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit; 2008-1 U.S. Tax Cas. (CCH) paragr. 50,166 (1st Cir. 2008).
  5. ^ http://www.supremecourtus.gov/docket/07-1478.htm
  6. ^ "'Survivor' winner takes case to Supreme Court", Yahoo, 2008-06-03. Retrieved on 2008-06-03. 
  7. ^ "Richard Hatch's Tax Conviction Upheld", MSN, 2008-01-02. Retrieved on 2008-01-02. 
  8. ^ Richard Hatch, inmate number 05559-070, Federal Correctional Institution, Morgantown, West Virginia; projected release date Oct. 7, 2009, per Federal Bureau of Prisons, at [1].

[edit] External links