Richard Hatch

Richard Holman Hatch, Jr. is the very first Survivor winner, earning the title of Sole Survivor in. He also competed on.

Best known for creating the show's first ever alliance, known as the Tagi Alliance, a voting bloc that controlled the game during and helped define Survivor gameplay, as his strategy became a reference for future contestants. He is also known for his constant nudity, superb fishing skills and unlikely friendship with Rudy Boesch. Hatch is also infamous for his incarceration after being accused of not paying his taxes over his Survivor winnings, which prevented him from coming back for a third season.

Borneo
Richard currently runs his own business as a corporate trainer and consultant, conducting seminars on numerous topics including, conflict management, team building, practical negotiation and public speaking. In addition, he is a licensed real estate agent and has worked as a car salesman and bartender. He spent five years in the Army, initially enlisting and then becoming a West Point Cadet.

Richard is halfway through the Masters' program in education and counseling at Providence College in Rhode Island. Past studies have included oceanography and marine biology at Florida Institute of Technology, management at The United States Military Academy and general studies at George Mason University. He earned his Bachelor's degree in Management and Applied Behavioral Sciences through National-Louis University.

Richard describes himself as bright, rational, spontaneous and humorous - "just as comfortable running a meeting in a boardroom as attending the annual nude weenie roast of the American Society of Harley Davidson Enthusiasts." He enjoys provocative and meaningful conversation, any sport involving water (snorkeling, spear fishing, swimming, etc.) and camping.

Richard is from and currently lives in Newport, Rhode Island. He is married to Emiliano Cabral and has an adopted son, Christopher.

All-Stars
Richard Hatch shocked the country when he was crowned the original Sole Survivor on SURVIVOR: BORNEO. Since then, he has been touring the world as a spokesperson and motivational speaker. He worked as a correspondent for "Entertainment Tonight" and CBS News' THE EARLY SHOW, and made a guest-starring appearance on CBS's BECKER.

Richard continues to run his own business as a corporate trainer and consultant, conducting seminars on numerous topics, including conflict management, team building, practical negotiation and public speaking. In addition, he is a licensed real estate agent and has worked as a car salesman and bartender. He spent five years in the Army, initially enlisting and then becoming a West Point Cadet.

Richard's education includes studies in oceanography and marine biology at Florida Institute of Technology, management at The United States Military Academy and general studies at George Mason University. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Management and Applied Behavioral Sciences through National-Louis University.

Richard describes himself as bright, rational, spontaneous and humorous, "just as comfortable running a meeting in a boardroom as attending the annual nude weenie roast of the American Society of Harley Davidson Enthusiasts." He enjoys provocative and meaningful conversation, any sport involving water (snorkeling, spear fishing, swimming, etc.) and camping.

Richard continues to live in his hometown, Middletown, Rhode Island. He is single and has an adopted son, Christopher. His birth date is April 8, 1961.

Survivor Borneo
Richard Hatch competed in the inaugural season of Survivor that was held in Borneo. He was placed on the orange Tagi tribe, where his outspoken and somewhat arrogant nature rubbed his tribemates the wrong way. Few more days down the line, Hatch created the most effective game strategy, a move that will be heavily copied over the proceeding seasons: forming an alliance. He made a pact with Rudy Boesch, Kelly Wiglesworth, and Susan Hawk, a decision that proved to be effective on their first try, after Dirk Been became their first "casualty". This strategy would then one of the most essential tools for success in future seasons.

After the merge, the Tagi alliance cause even more damage to their rivals, as their first post-merger Tribal Council ended with an erratic 4-1-1-1-1-1-1 vote (with the foursome voting against Gretchen Cordy, while the other six votes were throwaways). The success of the alliance continued until all the members of their former opposing Pagong tribe were eliminated, one by one, until the remaining castaways were the five Tagi members that entered the merge. When the former Tagi members started to turn on each other, their next casualty was Sean Kenniff, the only Tagi member that was never part of the alliance, leaving the core alliance of four as the final four castaways.

In the final four, Kelly, the outsider of the alliance, managed to win immunity, ensuring that Rudy, Richard, and Sue had to turn on each other. After a 2-2 tie (the first tie in Survivor history), Richard and Sue were both in danger of elimination. But when asked to vote again, Kelly opted to change her vote and eliminate Sue, cementing the end of their friendship. At the Final Three Immunity Challenge, Richard chose to eliminate himself early, trusting both Kelly and Rudy to take him to the Final Two regardless of who won. When Kelly won immunity, she did exactly that and voted out Rudy, making him the final member of the Jury.

In the final two, Richard was accused of being way too cocky and overall an evil person, but it was Sue's comments that really struck home. Comparing Richard to a snake, Sue claimed that she must vote for him as nature intended, because the snake must eat the rat, who was Kelly.

In the end, Richard became the first ever Sole Survivor in a 4-3 vote, gaining the votes of Rudy, Sue, Sean, and Greg Buis.

Voting History
In The Final Four, the vote ended with a 2-2 tie between Richard and Susan, forcing a revote. On the revote, Richard did not receive enough votes to be eliminated.

Survivor: All-Stars
Hatch's appearance on Survivor: All-Stars was a very short but eventful one. He according to Jeff Probst, "smuggled a canister of matches up his bum", earning his tribe fire. In every immunity challenge, he'd compete naked. As part of the original Mogo Mogo tribe, they lost one member in Day 9 when Survivor: The Amazon winner Jenna Morasca quit to be with her dying mother. On the same episode, while he went fishing, he got bitten by a shark (which his tribe would eat). When the Saboga tribe dissolved on Day 13, Mogo Mogo gained two extra members (Ethan Zohn and Jerri Manthey) and when they lost immunity, they immediately targeted Hatch. Although Hatch got wind of his impending doom and put together a counter strategy (aligning with the girls of his tribe Shii Ann, Jerri, and Kathy for a majority alliance to vote out the guys, starting with Colby), his plans were foiled and he was voted out, 6-1. Afterward, he screamed, "I've been bamboozed!". It is worthy to note that in the challenge, he 'accidentally' bumped into fellow Borneo contestant Susan while he was naked. This caused her to quit in the very next episode.

Post-Survivor

 * Richard was a contestant in a special Survivor edition (although copyright prevented NBC from using Survivor in the edition's name) of , along with fellow Survivor: Borneo castaways Gretchen Cordy, Ramona Gray, Sue Hawk, Sean Kenniff, and Joel Klug in 2001. Despite being the strongest link in the first round, Richard was unanimously voted out. He received a house minimum of $10,000 for his charity.
 * In 2002, Richard, along with Sue Hawk, appeared on the short lived game show . Richard lost while Susan went on to win the game.
 * Hatch was nominated in Survivor: America's Tribal Council for "Best Villain" but lost to Jonny Fairplay. In 2010, Hatch was inducted into the Survivor Hall of Fame.
 * In 2005, Richard appeared as a contestant in a special Castaway Special episode of Family Feud, where he competed with Jon Dalton, Rudy Boesch, Ethan Zohn, and Rupert Boneham. The five competed against Shii-Ann Huang, Susan Hawk, Tijuana Bradley, Christa Hastie, and Jenna Morasca.
 * In Summer of 2009, Richard, along with the other first eighteen Survivor winners, appeared on a TVGuide special 'Survivor Winners: Where Are They Now?'
 * During the  Reunion Show, Hatch left a video for fellow and  contestant Rudy Boesch. In the video, Hatch was fully nude and reading a magazine, before holding a bottle of sunscreen at the camera and asking Rudy to rub it on him.
 * In 2011, Hatch met two of his [allegedly] 200+ children that became products of his past as a sperm donor, namely, Emily Kidd and Devin O'Neil. Both reached out to Hatch and informed him he is their father.
 * Richard and the rest of the Survivor: Borneo final four appeared at the Survivor 10th anniversary party in Spring 2010.
 * Richard competed in  on March 2011, where his chosen charity was Grassroots Soccer, the charity created by fellow winner and All-Star Ethan Zohn. He was project manager in the first task, but lost to . Hatch was spared as teammate David Cassidy helped the least in the task. Hatch was later fired in task 5, after he contributed the least in their team's loss. He came back later in the season to be a part of 's team in the final task.
 * in July 2015, Richard and Kelly appeared in the first episode of National Geographic Channel's mini series The 2000's: A New Reality on Survivor's impact on Television and their experience on the show.
 * Around the same time, in an interview Richard gave his thoughts about how Kelly would do in.

Arrest

 * 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 Survivor 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 defence on his belief that CBS had arranged to pay the taxes before awarding him the money.
 * On August 18, 2009, he was re-arrested and taken into federal custody for granting two supposedly unauthorized interviews (prisoners under house arrest are required to get permission from the federal Bureau of Prisons before any media contact), one with Access Hollywood and another with Rhode Island NBC affiliate WJAR. He had been allowed by the Bureau of Prisons to be interviewed by Today earlier in the day. On September 9, 2009, Hatch's private and ACLU lawyers petitioned for habeas corpus so he might return home for the remainder of his sentence, on the grounds that prison media-access rules apply only in prison, and that permissions are negotiated between the media and the prison so their limitations did not bind Hatch.
 * On October 16, 2009, Hatch was released from prison after completing his federal sentence, yet still under house arrest. On December 2011, he was released from prison.

Trivia

 * Richard is the first person to win Survivor.
 * Richard is the only person in the first round of inductions to the Survivor Hall of Fame to not make the Final Tribal Council twice.
 * Richard is the only Survivor winner to be announced at the end of the Final Tribal Council. Starting with, winners are revealed right before a live audience.
 * Richard is the first contestant to be involved in a tie vote.
 * Richard is one of the two LGBT contestants to win the game, followed by Todd Herzog of China.
 * Richard received exactly six votes against him on both of his seasons.
 * In 2008, Survivor host Jeff Probst mentioned in an interview that Richard Hatch smuggled a canister of matches before  All-Stars, "in a little container up his bum".
 * His arrest was referenced by Jeff Probst during 's reunion show, when he told winner Aras Baskauskas to pay his taxes.
 * Richard is one of six winners, along with Ethan Zohn, Jenna Morasca, Sandra Diaz-Twine, Rob Mariano, and Tom Westman, to play more than once and not be a member of the jury in any season.
 * In an interview in Rob Has A Podcast, Hatch claimed that even while being incarcerated, he never missed an episode of Survivor.
 * Hatch requested to leave the USA to compete in, , and , but his request was denied all of those times.
 * Hatch became the first contestant to be in the game on his birthday (his birthday, April 8, coincided with Day 27 of Borneo). He turned 39 - which is the number of days the game of Survivor lasts.
 * Richard is the first contestant from Rhode Island.
 * Richard is one of fourteen Survivor contestants who has been known to participate in other reality shows besides Survivor. The others are Keith Tollefson, Amber Brkich, Rob Mariano, Jenna Morasca, Ethan Zohn, Jon Dalton, Twila Tanner, John Palyok, Whitney Duncan, Hayden Moss, Natalie Anderson, Nadiya Anderson and Michael Jefferson.
 * Richard shares his birthday with Patricia Jackson.