Richard Hatch, the winner of the first-ever Survivor season, offers his one-sided take on why he was not on the final list to play in Winners at War.
Back in December, Survivor: Borneo winner Richard Hatch made a series of comments on social media about his eligibility for Winners at War, explicitly talking about the process in which he cleared his final Ph.D. semester to play the game, how they initially expressed interest, but that interest “paused” just before the 20 castaways were flown off to Fiji.
Now Richard Hatch has employed the services of Dante Luna and Malcolm Digital to kickstart his new YouTube channel, leading off his new venture by publicly stating his position on why he ultimately did not compete in Survivor: Winners at War. He even adds that Australian Outback winner Tina Wesson got the same call he did two days before he was to fly out, learning that “things have been paused.”
The video offers a lot of conjecture on behalf of production, Jeff Probst specifically, and what he gleaned as the reasons officially given why Hatch wasn’t part of season 40. This is the second time in a few months that Hatch has downplayed the severity of the Sue Hawk incident, this time focusing more on Probst’s assertion that Hatch’s nudity doesn’t make him feel comfortable in representing modern Survivor.
This video doesn’t actively downplay the conspiracy theory-tier explanation Hatch had offered in the past, alleging that because he didn’t actually physically touch Sue Hawk when he was naked that he doesn’t have a history of sexual harassment (as discussed in the video). Instead, he reflects criticism back at Probst, claiming that he offered two women in Survivor: The Amazon the opportunity to strip for peanut butter (they offered to do it themselves, and Probst agreed).
If you’re interested in similar videos where Richard Hatch offers up his thoughts on the game of Survivor as it is played today, the feebleness of picking a Winners at War Ultimate Sole Survivor, how he’d have a good shot to win if he did play (while offering a decade-old Russell Hantz hot take), and sincerely profound thoughts on his departed friend, Rudy Boesch, there are the links.