Richard Hatch has made his triumphant return to reality TV as a cast member of House of Villains Season 2. Has this perceived onscreen bad guy turned over a new leaf? It was 24 years ago when he made history as the first winner of the Survivor. From there he went on to try his hand at other competitions including Celebrity Apprentice and The Biggest Loser.
Things went downhill for Hatch when he was convicted on three counts of attempted tax evasion in 2006 and served 51 months along with an additional nine for not amending his 2000 and 2001 tax returns. With House of Villains in full swing, Hatch opened up about why he thinks people look at him as a villain ands insists he was misunderstood on Survivor.
In an interview with People published on October 15 he says, “They love to hate me because they didn’t understand Survivor.” He continued that, “The world saw me as a villain. I understood that the word meant something to people that wasn’t reflective of what it means in the dictionary. Now more people understand the game, supposedly, and I don’t know that they think of me as villainous. But I’ll do whatever it takes in a game, and that’s villainous to somebody.”
Pictured: (l-r) Richard Hatch ,Tiffany New York Pollard, Larissa Lima — (Photo by: Trae Patton/E! Entertainment)
It’s this mindset that has allowed him to be so successful. The veteran of this kind of environment goes as far as to say others should follow his strategy. “When you see House of Villains season 2, all you’re going to see is tears, crying, emotion, and whining. Where the hell were these people for the past two decades that they didn’t know this is a game?,” he said.
Joining Hatch in the infamous house is an eclectic mix, but few have played a game such as this before like Wes Burgmann of The Challenge and Jessie Godderz of Big Brother. Tiffany “New York” Pollard was on the first season of House of Villains, which definitely accounts for something. That is unless you’re Hatch, who didn’t think the Flavor of Love star got off on the right foot.
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“In fact, I thought, how can you conduct yourself like that and imagine that anyone would continue to interact with you, let alone find you reliable enough to be in an alliance with or to move forward with?” Hatch said. “I had no idea what was behind her strategy.”
So far Hatch has survived the first cut with Larissa Lima of 90 Day Fiancé the first sent home. The proud nudist so far has been impressed by RuPaul’s Drag Race star Kandy Muse. That doesn’t mean he is going to hit the club with any of his roommates any time soon.
“I’m not there to make buddies and not have conflict. I don’t care,” he told People. “Let’s have some conflict. I’m fine with all of it. I want to win.”
House of Villains, Thursdays, 10/9c, E!
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