In the early days of reality TV, Survivor broke onto the scene and won viewers with its intriguing premise and larger-than-life contestants. One of the most infamous contestants from the entire Survivor franchise is Richard Hatch, winner of season 1. He's known for walking around naked, lying to and using his fellow contestants, and generally playing the villain.
As the first winner of the show, Hatch's win was a groundbreaking moment for a series that was immediately popular. It also was a big deal for the gay community. Survivor is now the longest-running reality show to date. Of the hundreds of contestants that have appeared on the show, Hatch remains one of the most well-known, both for being the initial Sole Survivor and for his controversial behavior, including an incident in All-Stars. That moment that caused another player to quit was a part of the reason he wasn’t invited back for the Winners at War season.
Since appearing on Survivor, Hatch has spent about a quarter of his time behind bars. Despite publicly winning $1 million on national television, Hatch decided to enjoy his winnings all himself and not pay taxes on it. Surprisingly, he wasn’t convicted for tax evasion until 2006. He went to prison for 51 months (a little over four years). Then he went back to prison when he violated his probation. This time he served nine more months. This caused him to miss several opportunities to appear on Survivor, including the popular Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains. Hatch apparently didn’t learn his lesson, as he lost some property in Nova Scotia in 2013 after, you guessed it, not paying his property taxes allegedly.
Hatch appeared on a few other reality shows, including Who Wants to Be a Millionaire Australia, The Apprentice, and The Biggest Loser: Temptation Nation, though he did not have the same success with any of them as he had on Survivor. Even though it’s been 20 years, he hasn’t seemed to move on from that single accomplishment. He sells autographed pictures of his younger-looking self, as well as Survivor swag, and apparently watches his winning season on DVD.
In 2005, Hatch was married to Emiliano Cabral, but they divorced in 2017. He also adopted a son, and was later tracked down by two biological children from when he sold his sperm while in college. Hatch comments on reality TV on social media, and has strong opinions about a bevy of topics. He has made it known he is no fan of Survivor host Jeff Probst.
Hatch will always have the legacy of receiving that first million dollar check from Probst. Unfortunately for him, it seems that the show Survivor is no longer interested in involving Hatch in future seasons or having him represent them. Whatever happens, he will always be their first winner. While he has his fans, most Survivor viewers seem to agree that the franchise is better off without some of the baggage that comes along with him.