You may remember Richard Hatch as the first winner of Survivor or more importantly as the old guy who celebrated his birthday by walking around naked that day. After collecting his million dollars he subsequently “forgot” to pay any taxes on it. Though he claimed a secret arrangement had been made with CBS that they would cover the taxes on his winnings. Um, why wouldn’t you have gotten something like that in writing? For an old, naked guy you’re not too smart.
Hatch was convicted of tax evasion and sentenced to 51 months in a minimum security federal prison. Here’s where the startling revelation appears. Richard Hatch claims prison to be “horrendous”! What? No kidding. How this came as a surprise to Hatch is beyond me. Poor Richard:
“We were all in a small room — 52 people: child molesters, murderers, rapists and me,” he recalls. “For six months I never left that room. There were no doors, no privacy. There were two TVs in that room, so I lived all day long with `Jerry Springer’ blaring.”
My favorite part there is the “…and me” part as he tries to clearly differentiate himself from the “guilty” ones there. And since when do murderers and rapists get sent to minimum security prisons?? No way, Jerry Springer all day?? This sounds like Guantanamo Bay all over!
Take away lesson for the children: When you’re fat, old, and naked pay your taxes. Especially if it’s on winnings from the highest rated show of the year and everyone knows what you won.
Posted on: Friday, March 16, 2007
March 16th, 2007 at 8:32 pm
Some people are so clueless….I guess he thought of himself as a celebrity, that he would get off like the real ones do.
March 16th, 2007 at 10:15 pm
Kind of delusional of him. Then the same thing was going on recently with Wesley Snipes. It seems like someone that was just a regular person (non-famous) that made an average salary could get away with sneaking a little off their taxes (Wild Bluff Media does not encourage tax evasion!) with no one noticing. But when you’re a big name and everyone knows you make millions on movies or TV shows why in the world would you try to get away with paying $0?!
There sometimes seems to be the sense of “above the law” with celebrities. Certainly a strange bunch!
March 18th, 2007 at 9:35 am
blessed1 - does it really surprise you?.. he always carried himself as if he were above everyone else.. even before he won the show..
March 18th, 2007 at 2:33 pm
I guess it shouldn’t, but I didn’t watch too much of the show to know the extent of his ego. I just heard about it from people who did watch.
March 18th, 2007 at 2:41 pm
Yeah, he was pretty bad even back then. I remember him going on about how he was smarter than the rest of the contestants. He even gave up on the last competition because he told the other 2 that whoever won that round would have to take him to have a chance at winning. Sadly, he was right. Even worse was that he still won the whole thing. He certainly played a good game though.