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The cultural juggernaut that is Survivor undeniably changed American television. The CBS competitive reality show had precursors, but nothing compared to the addictive and often controversial formula presented in Survivor: Borneo in 2000. And no one person was a bigger part of causing that paradigm shift in TV history than Season 1 winner Richard Hatch.

He went above and beyond the producers’ wildest dreams of what the show could be. He shocked viewers with his manipulative and often downright odd behavior. It went so far, the producers wondered if the man who would solidify Survivor into a megahit franchise was actually on the path to ruining their show.

The first season of ‘Survivor’ set off a whole new era of reality TV

Richard Hatch and Sonja Christopher on season 1 of "Survivor."
Richard Hatch and Sonja Christopher on season 1 of “Survivor.” I CBS via Getty Images

The first season of Survivor was essentially the shape of all reality TV that came after, according to Reality Blurred. Many of the contestants were simply themselves, sometimes pushed into action by the producers. Hatch, on the other hand, made a point of taking all the rules at face value.

The now-62-year-old American started wandering around naked. He forged alliances with contestants he knew couldn’t win, leveraging their plight for his gain. Hatch orchestrated a merge between two tribes, and then a subsequent purge of the remaining members of the unlucky lesser tribe. The reality star even came out as gay during filming, a key moment in reality TV history.

Survivor producers had expected to have far more control over the show’s outcomes. Instead, Hatch ruthlessly exploited the format of the show. It was always a competition, but he blatantly treated it as a game meant to be won. And to win a game based on people liking (or disliking, as often was the case) you, involves a lot of manipulation. In retrospect, who else could have won this season but Hatch?

‘Survivor’ producers weren’t sure what they had on their hands when Richard Hatch won the season

Survivor producer and host Jeff Probst recently shed some light on the odd duck villain Hatch’s shocking win.

“We knew a secret that the viewers didn’t know. The villain was going to win! So we were all concerned, the audience is going to be with us all the way through the end, and then they’re going to hate the ending. And that would be the end of the show,” Probst said on On Fire with Jeff Probst: The Official Survivor Podcast.

“Which didn’t happen. What happened was, people either loved Richard [Hatch], or they loved to hate that he won. But what it showed us, was, they liked the show. They liked the format. We found that we had to trust the format. Find interesting people, give them an interesting game to play, and trust that the format works!”

Richard Hatch’s ‘Survivor’ win turned out to be a key moment for the reality TV medium

After nearly a quarter century of Survivor and so many other reality TV villains like Spencer Pratt on The Hills, it’s easy to take Hatch’s wildman strategist moves for granted now. But before that, reality TV villains usually found themselves ostracized. The worst people on The Real World and even more competitive series like Road Rules tended to get the boot, and audiences were happy to see them go.

Hatch handed down the blueprint to the villains that followed. He also provided a key lesson for reality competition winners. According to The Hollywood Reporter, he didn’t pay taxes on his Survivor winnings, which landed him in prison for 60 months total. His selfish behavior worked to win a competition, but the consequences in the real world tend to be a bit harsher.

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