Survivor Winner Richard Hatch Revisits Naked Decision

Richard Hatch cemented himself as a Survivor legend the moment he decided to strip down on national television.

“One of the craziest points for me was this decision to spend more and more time naked,” Hatch, 63, says in Us Weekly’s first look at the upcoming episode of ViceTV’s Dark Side of Reality TV, which drops on Tuesday, October 22.

While celebrating his birthday on the show’s debut season, which aired in 2000, Hatch famously decided to remove his clothes and spend time with his tribemates while in the nude. Some of his fellow contestants were amused by the decision, while others were annoyed.

“We would be sitting down eating a bowl of rice and Rich would come, sit down with his legs spread, ‘Hey guys. How you guys doing?’” fellow Tagi tribe member Gervase Peterson recalls in the clip. “I’m like, ‘Can you just cover your legs, please? Cross your legs or something? And he was doing it for a reason — to get under your skin.”

Hatch explained his decision to strip down was more than just to goof around with the group of strangers.

“More than that, it was game,” he said. “It was strategic.”

In addition to hearing from Hatch himself, Dark Side of Reality TV also spoke to fellow players Peterson, 54, runner-up Kelly Wiglesworth and Joel Klug about what it was like to witness that infamous moment in reality TV history. Producer Maria Baltazzi also weighed in on what the moment was like from behind the scenes.

While Hatch had a tendency to get under his tribe’s skin during Survivor: Borneo, there were also some sweet moments. Hatch famously came out to his tribe. The reality star was initially worried about telling Rudy Boesch at first, assuming he’d have an unpleasant reaction. However, the men’s friendship grew stronger and Boesch referred to him as one of the nicest people he had ever met. (Boesch died in November 2019 at age 91.)

Hatch made it to the first-ever final tribal council where he made his case about why he should be the winner over Wiglesworth. Despite being the season’s villain, Hatch owned his game. He became the first person to earn the title of Sole Survivor and its $1 million prize in a 4-3 vote.

After his time in Borneo, Hatch returned to play Survivor a second time in Survivor: All-Stars. Magic didn’t strike twice and Hatch was voted out for the first time, coming in fifth place.

Dark Side of Reality TV airs on ViceTV on Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET.