‘Survivor’: Richard Hatch Says Homophobia Kept Him Off ‘Winners at War’ Season 40
Survivor‘s original winner Richard Hatch is making some big accusations about homophobia being the reason he isn’t on Winners at War. According to the Season 1 Borneo winner, he was supposed to be part of the all-star lineup.
In an interview with the Domenick Nati Show, Richard called out Survivor showrunner Jeff Probst and producers. He claimed they were lying, bullying and abusing their power. Keep reading to get the full scoop.
Survivor: Richard Hatch Originally Included on Season 40 ‘Winners at War’?
Richard Hatch, the winner of the inaugural season of Survivor, gave his thoughts on the current season Winners at War. But the information he shared opened up an entirely new can of worms. Because Richard claims he was going to be one of the twenty castaways competing this season.
“I was invited,” Richard said, which challenges host Jeff Probst’s statement that he wasn’t sure if Survivor production considered him. He called Jeff’s response an “outright lie”. Furthermore, the 58-year-old says he completed all of the pre-show evaluations for season 40. Richard says CBS paid for his “physical and pre-production work”.
Richard Hatch says that two days before he was scheduled to fly out, someone called to tell him “the show is paused”. He says that the same thing happened to the second Survivor winner Tina Wesson.
Richard Claims Homophobia Caused Producers to Drop Him
According to Richard Hatch, the Survivor: Island of the Idols’ sexual misconduct situation with Dan Spilo was the reasoning behind it.
The “blowback” from that season was something he says the producers want to avoid.
Richard said that producers wanted to “avoid responsibility”, so CBS cut him from Winners at War. He also said that producers didn’t want to see a “naked gay guy” on Survivor.
Richard Hatch was known for going around in the buff and even competing in challenges completely naked.
On Survivor: All-Stars, Richard Hatch’s genitals rubbed against Susan Hawk while he played an immunity challenge in the nude. Richard started out the challange wearing pants, but then took them off.
The challenge involved squeezing past people on a balance beam. As Richard approached Susan he said “Want Some?”. Then as he squeezed past Susan he paused and appeared to rub or bump his genitals against Susan, who was wearing bikini bottoms. It seems that because of the bumping motion, Susan was forced to almost put her arms around a naked Richard Hatch to avoid being pushed off the balance beam.
Jeff Probst yelled “Guys, C’mon”.
Later, on the show, Susan Hawk said to Jeff Probst that she was “Sexually Violated”. She quit the game (see video below) and planned to sue CBS. She didn’t file a lawsuit because she says CBS producers helped her “deal with the situation”. Many fans believe this meant she took an out of court settlement.
Richard Hatch, the very first Survivor winner, says he has “suffered greatly” as a result of “subtle homophobia”. And his sexuality is why people considered him a villain on the show.
Survivor: Jeff Probst Called a Bully
Richard Hatch says Jeff Probst and other producers’ actions made him, “disappointed in what I see as bullying”. He called their “wielding of power” throughout the years “corrupt”. “They don’t care much about us as individuals,” is what he thinks about the production team. In his opinion, they only care about the people that they like and the one they don’t are just dollar signs.
He even accuses Jeff of using “coded language” to answer interview questions surrounding his absence from the season. “It’s a family show,” is reportedly just another way to say that they don’t want the “gay guy”.
What do you think of Richard’s side of the story? Survivor: Winners at War currently airs on Wednesday at 8/7c on CBS.
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