Reality star Hatch found guilty of failing to pay taxes on Survivor winnings
DAVID BAUDER

NEW YORK (AP) - The jurors have spoken, and Richard Hatch was a loser this time. Reality television's first big star, the "naked fat guy" who won the first season of Survivor, couldn't outwit the law.

A jury in Providence, R.I., found Hatch guilty Wednesday of failing to pay taxes on the $1 million US he won on the CBS reality show, along with other income. He was immediately handcuffed and taken into custody.

The 44-year-old Hatch faces up to 13 years in prison and a $600,000 fine. Sentencing was scheduled for April 28.

A year ago, Hatch had cut a deal with prosecutors to plead guilty and they would recommend less than the maximum 10-year sentence. But he changed his mind and decided to fight the charges, arguing that CBS had agreed to pay his taxes.

Hatch became an instant star in the summer of 2000 when Survivor was a TV sensation. Taken to parading around a tropical island wearing no clothes, he came off as an unpleasant and manipulative character - but smart enough to outplay all of his fellow competitors.

When Brennan Swain won the first edition of CBS' The Amazing Race, he said it was a bit strange to suddenly be given a big cheque - in his case it was $500,000 - with no taxes taken out of it.

"The first thing you think is 'How can I pay as little taxes as possible?' " Swain recalled. "But you still pay them."

He hired an accountant to help him sort out his sudden financial success, he said.

Perhaps Hatch thought the Internal Revenue Service wouldn't notice him; a foolish bet given that more than 50 million people watched him win the game.

"Maybe he wanted the publicity," Swain said, noting that many reality TV participants are desperate to keep the spotlight after it moves on to someone new. He doesn't know Hatch, but wondered whether the contestant thought beating the government would be an attention-getting device.

Last week, Hatch's lawyer Michael Minns suggested to reporters that Hatch had caught fellow Survivor contestants cheating and made a deal that the show's producers would pay his taxes if he won. Hatch was never asked about the allegation when he testified, and CBS and Surivivor executive producer Mark Burnett would not comment on it.

Earlier in the trial, Burnett had testified that the Survivor contract had stated that the winning contestant would have to pay taxes on his prize.

Hatch was also convicted of evading taxes on $327,000 he earned as co-host of a Boston radio show and $28,000 in rent on property he owned. He was acquitted of seven bank, mail and wire fraud charges.

Minns told jurors that Hatch, who lives in Newport, was the "world's worst bookkeeper" and said his client never meant to do anything wrong.

Besides the tax charges, prosecutors accused Hatch of using money donated to a charity he had planned for troubled youth for dry cleaning, home improvements and tips to a limousine driver.

And he thought Survivor would be tough as a gay man.

You shouldn't do jail time for this.