Richard Hatch

Richard Holman Hatch Jr. is the winner of. He also competed on.

He is known for creating the Tagi Alliance, a voting bloc that controlled the game and helped define Survivor and being the first winner of the show. A legendary figure in the history of the game, he is regarded as the pioneer of the series such as creating the first alliance that controlled the game. Hatch is also infamous for his incarceration for tax evasion.

Profile
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 currently single and has an adopted son, Christopher.

Survivor: Borneo
Richard Hatch competed in the inaugural season of Survivor that was held in Borneo and was placed on the orange Tagi tribe. After his tribe's first two Tribal Councils, Hatch created the most effective strategy (a move that will be heavily copied over the proceeding seasons) - the alliance. He made a pact with Rudy Boesch, Kelly Wiglesworth, and Sue Hawk, a decision that proved to be effective on their first try, after Dirk Been became their first "casualty". This strategy would then be the basis for playing the game 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, while the other votes were throwaways). The success of the alliance continued until the members of their former opposing tribe Pagong 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 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 Kelly'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.

Voting History
 Note: 

In , the vote ended with a 2-2 tie between Richard and Susan, forcing a revote. Richard did not recieve a vote due to Kelly changing her vote from Richard.

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 bit 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. 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
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. ''

He competed with fellow Borneo and All Stars contestant Sue Hawk in the short lived game show Dog Eat Dog.

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 (which he now acknowledges was not correct) 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.

In December 2011, he was released entirely, making it possible for more Survivor competition.

Other
Richard was a contestant in a special Survivor edition (although copyright prevented NBC from using Survivor in the edition's name) of The Weakest Link, 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.

Richard and the rest of the Survivor: Borneo final four appeared at the Survivor 10th anniversary party in Spring 2010.

Richard competed in Celebrity Apprentice 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 Star Jones. Hatch was spared as teammate David Cassidy had no help in the task. Hatch was later fired in task 5, after he contributed the least in their team's loss.

Trivia

 * Hatch is the only Survivor winner to be announced right after the Final Tribal Council. Starting with Survivor: The Australian Outback, winners are revealed right before the live reunion show.
 * In 2008, Survivor host Jeff Probst mentioned in an interview that Richard Hatch smuggled a canister of matches onto Survivor: All-Stars "in a little container up his bum." The immediate result was that the Mogo Mogo tribe was able to get fire early on in the game.
 * His arrest was referenced by Jeff Probst during Panama's reunion show, when he told winner Aras Baskauskas to pay his taxes. He also failed to report his winnings to the IRS.
 * Richard is one of seven winners (Along with Ethan Zohn, Jenna Morasca, Sandra Diaz-Twine, Tina Wesson, 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.
 * He is the tallest Survivor winner at 6'4" (1.93 m).
 * Hatch is the first openly gay contestant and winner.
 * Hatch requested to leave the USA to compete in Survivor: Micronesia, Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains, and Survivor: Redemption Island, but his request was denied all of those times.
 * If he had been able to compete all of those times, he would have the record for most seasons participated in, with five.
 * Hatch is the first winner to have to go through a tie-breaker.
 * On Survivor: Borneo 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 the first contestant to catch a fish.