Original “Survivor” winner Richard Hatch claimed he wasn’t invited to the Season 50 live finale, which airs Wednesday.
“CBS Morning lied this morning that all Survivor winners would be invited to the Season 50 finale!” Hatch, 65, wrote to X on Tuesday.
He added: “I’m the original winner, but I’m not invited!”
“All winners were invited to the Survivor 50 finale to celebrate the show’s heritage,” CBS told Page Six in a statement.
The three-hour “Survivor 50” finale will see the final five contestants – Aubrey Bracco, Lizzo Velovich, Jonathan Young, Tiffany Irvin and Joe Hunter – battle it out for the $2 million prize. This will be followed by the show’s first live reunion since Season 39 in 2019.
This milestone season will feature some of the previous year’s winners, but Hatch is not a contestant.
Hatch was also not cast in 2020’s Season 40 of “Survivor: Winners at War,” which featured all of the show’s former champions.
At the time, host Jeff Probst said he was “not comfortable” having Hatch appear on “Winners at War.”
“Given his history on our show, it didn’t seem appropriate,” Probst told Us Weekly. “Back then, we were in different times and cultures, and I would never let him try naked now. Looking back, it just didn’t seem right.”
Hatch famously won the first season, which aired in the summer of 2000.
He returned to “Survivor: All Stars” in 2004, where he caused controversy when he rubbed naked during a challenge with fellow contestant Sue Hawk. Hutch was voted out later in that episode, and Hawk quit the game the next day as he was so distraught over the incident.
In 2006, Hatch was convicted of two counts of tax evasion for failing to pay taxes on the $1 million he earned on the show.
He was sentenced to 51 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release. Still, he refused to pay taxes and was sent back to prison in 2011.
In March, a Rhode Island judge ordered Hatch to pay more than $3.3 million in taxes on his winnings due to interest, according to People magazine.
The reality star has reportedly filed a notice of appeal and confirmed that she will represent herself in court.
The “Survivor 50” finale and live reunion airs Wednesday at 8pm ET on CBS.
If you or someone you know is affected by any of the issues raised in this article, please call our Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-330-0226.
