# Richard Hatch (Survivor 1) sentenced to 51 months **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 24, 2006, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/richard-hatch-survivor-1-sentenced-to-51-months/365880 "2006-07-24T21:15:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Beadalin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@Beadalin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beadalin)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2006, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/richard-hatch-survivor-1-sentenced-to-51-months/365880/1 "2006-07-24T21:15:24Z")
[http://apnews.excite.com/article/20060724/D8J2II509.html](http://apnews.excite.com/article/20060724/D8J2II509.html) > [@](#): > > Richard Hatch has been sent to a federal prison in Oklahoma as he serves a 51-month sentence for failing to pay taxes on the $1 million he won on the debut season of “Survivor.” What a doofus. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2006, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/richard-hatch-survivor-1-sentenced-to-51-months/365880/2 "2006-07-24T21:16:34Z")
Let’s see how much of that time he spends running around naked. ---
**Author:** ![Askia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2006, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/richard-hatch-survivor-1-sentenced-to-51-months/365880/3 "2006-07-24T23:51:00Z")
Dropped the soap. I SAID I DROPPED THE SOAP! ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2006, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/richard-hatch-survivor-1-sentenced-to-51-months/365880/4 "2006-07-25T00:00:22Z")
I see a new game in the future. _Survivor: San Quentin!_ ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2006, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/richard-hatch-survivor-1-sentenced-to-51-months/365880/5 "2006-07-25T00:22:03Z")
What’s amazing is how incredibly stupid Hatch’s crimes were. How could he possibly have thought he’d get away with them? Although for that matter, how did he get away with them as long as he did? ---
**Author:** ![Seven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Seven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seven)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2006, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/richard-hatch-survivor-1-sentenced-to-51-months/365880/6 "2006-07-25T00:29:18Z")
Richard Hatch, this is your final challenge. The tribal council has spoken. ---
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2006, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/richard-hatch-survivor-1-sentenced-to-51-months/365880/7 "2006-07-25T00:38:55Z")
That’s pretty freakin’ dumb. Everyone and their mother knows who Richard Hatch is and that he won a bunch of money. Even I do, and I’ve never seen more than two minutes of Survivor in its entire history–I’d rather spoon-feed burning magnesium to my pupils for weeks on end than watch a single episode of any reality TV show, but even I would check out his return first, before the baseball players, lottery winners, Fortune 500 CEOs, etc. Especially since it’s public how much money he made. How dumb can tax evaders get, really? ---
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2006, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/richard-hatch-survivor-1-sentenced-to-51-months/365880/8 "2006-07-25T00:50:05Z")
Aw, why’d they pick Oklahoma? I live in Oklahoma. We have enough showoffs and nitwits here already. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2006, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/richard-hatch-survivor-1-sentenced-to-51-months/365880/9 "2006-07-25T01:28:30Z")
[QUOTE=Askia] Dropped the soap. I SAID I DROPPED THE SOAP! [/QUOTE] With apologies to Hues Corporation… _Drop the soap! Don’t drop the soap, baby Drop the soap! Don’t you bend over…_ ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2006, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/richard-hatch-survivor-1-sentenced-to-51-months/365880/10 "2006-07-25T04:40:52Z")
[Nelson Muntz] Ah-HA! [NM] ---
**Author:** ![Baffle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/dec6dc/32.png) [@Baffle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baffle)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2006, 8:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/richard-hatch-survivor-1-sentenced-to-51-months/365880/11 "2006-07-25T08:03:24Z")
Now if he lived in Canada, this wouldn’t be a problem. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2006, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/richard-hatch-survivor-1-sentenced-to-51-months/365880/12 "2006-07-25T15:05:30Z")
Of course not. Only US citizens can compete on Survivor, so he never would have won a million dollars in the first place. ---
**Author:** ![Nutty\_Bunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/d07c76/32.png) [@Nutty\_Bunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nutty_Bunny)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2006, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/richard-hatch-survivor-1-sentenced-to-51-months/365880/13 "2006-07-25T16:14:58Z")
What’s even dumber is that he should have known better, based on what he was doing for a living before appearing on the show. IIRC, he was working as a consultant (what kind, I don’t know), so he would already know about 1099s and that there is no tax withheld. He should have saved some of his winnings for taxes at the end of the year, as one would think he was doing while working as a consultant. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2006, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/richard-hatch-survivor-1-sentenced-to-51-months/365880/14 "2006-07-25T16:17:32Z")
That seems like a pretty long sentence for failing to pay taxes, even on that much money. I’m thinking that this might have something to do with it: > [@](#): > > He was sentenced in May to 51 months in prison by a judge who said the reality TV star had lied repeatedly on the witness stand. If he’d fessed up when first confronted, and agreed to pay the money back, he might have gotten away with a fine and/or a much shorter sentence. ---
**Author:** ![Duke\_of\_Rat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Duke\_of\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke_of_Rat)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2006, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/richard-hatch-survivor-1-sentenced-to-51-months/365880/15 "2006-07-25T16:46:36Z")
Seems like I remember him not declaring income on some rental property or something. He had a little more going against him than just the Survivor winnings. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2006, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/richard-hatch-survivor-1-sentenced-to-51-months/365880/16 "2006-07-25T17:35:22Z")
I think it was as much about his lying every time he opened his mouth as it was the money. He makes me wonder if he didn’t actually \*want \* to go to jail. Won’t he do half the time he was sentenced to? ---
**Author:** ![kittenblue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ba8739/32.png) [@kittenblue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kittenblue)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2006, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/richard-hatch-survivor-1-sentenced-to-51-months/365880/17 "2006-07-25T17:55:58Z")
I always thought that when you won money on one of those shows, they deducted the taxes before they even sent you the check. At least that was my perception from a friend whose daughter won some cash on a game show once. And welcome back, **Boyo Jim**. Where have you been hiding for the past year? ---
**Author:** ![Stainz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecd19e/32.png) [@Stainz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stainz)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2006, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/richard-hatch-survivor-1-sentenced-to-51-months/365880/18 "2006-07-25T17:56:27Z")
[QUOTE=Baffle] Now if he lived in Canada, this wouldn’t be a problem. [/QUOTE] Do you mean because game show and lottery winnings aren’t taxed here? ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2006, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/richard-hatch-survivor-1-sentenced-to-51-months/365880/19 "2006-07-25T17:59:10Z")
Him going to prison is part of a super-secret new Fox reality show. Remember folks, you heard it here first. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2006, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/richard-hatch-survivor-1-sentenced-to-51-months/365880/20 "2006-07-25T18:22:38Z")
Hmmm. If he starts passing out red roses to the guys on his cellblock, I’m lunging for the remote… [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/richard-hatch-survivor-1-sentenced-to-51-months/365880.md?page=2)