Hatch Wins Survivor Prize

Aug. 24, 2000 -- In America they say nice guys finish last, and Richard Hatch proved that expression true, scheming and conspiring his way to become the winner of the $1 million Survivor prize in a show broadcast Wednesday night.

An estimated 51 million viewers tuned in to watch Hatch, the 39-year-old corporate trainer from Rhode Island who forged a secret alliance to knock out other contestants, outlast runner-up Kelly Wiglesworth, a 23-year-old whitewater rafting guide from Las Vegas.

Preliminary Nielsen ratings are calling Survivor the most-watched program on TV this season except for the Super Bowl. When the series debuted in May, viewers quickly latched on to the reality TV show, in which the contestants had to eat rats and bugs, weather torrential rains and endure their lying, conniving beachmates.

During the two-hour finale, Hatch edged out three rival castaways on the tropical island that served as the setting for this game-show hit, outlasting Wiglesworth, Rudy Boesch and Susan Hawk. Sixteen castaways marooned themselves on remote Pulau Tiga at the series’ launch in May.

The final choice — between Hatch and Wiglesworth — was handed down by a jury of seven former tribemates. Their vote was a squeaker: 4-3.

“I wouldn’t change anything that I did,” Rich told the jury in a final statement.

When Survivor premiered three months ago, critics called it Gilligan’s Island meets Lord of the Flies. But for much of America, it was the must-see TV event of the summer.

Forty million viewers were expected to tune in. CBS touted the finale with the kind of fanfare usually reserved for the Oscars; a 30-second commercial spot went for $600,000; unheard of for summer TV.

For the sake of comparison, 40 million viewers is roughly the audience size attracted by a big episode of NBC’s ER. That hardly ranks it among the all-time highest rated programs, but for August, it is considered very impressive.

The Mystery of the Summer

The Survivor finale quickly became the most beguiling TV mystery since the “Who Shot J.R.?” episode of Dallas in 1980. CBS went to great lengths to keep viewers tantalized.

“We’ve sort of been chuckling,” CBS President Leslie Moonves said with satisfaction, and perhaps relief, that the secret hasremained intact.

“Obviously, there were people running aroundtrying to figure it out, and some of the Internet break-ins made usfeel uneasy.”

The biggest threat, he said, came early on, when a tabloidpublication pursued Survivor staffers, offering them money totell all.

“The fact that there were no traitors was remarkable,” Moonves said.

And it’s exactly this type of suspense that makes the series so compelling. “It is a huge event, there’s no denying that this has captured the interest of the country unlike anything we’ve seen,” says Michael Ausiello, senior editor for TV Guide Online.

“[The] key to the event is the secrecy, in this day and age it’s hard to keep a secret.”

Challenges, Immunity and the Vote

The finale was a special two-hour event featuring a double dose of the usual immunity challenges and tribal council votes to evict competitors and determine a victor.

For those not schooled in the rules of the game, each week a member was voted off during a tribal council meeting, although one lucky player could secure immunity from the eviction by winning a competitive challenge.

The seven-person jury of ex-castaways represented a big change. Many viewers expected the ever-outspoken Richard to get his comeuppance. But in the end, he prevailed.

Hatch used lies and subversion to form secret alliances with the other three finalists that helped him last to the show’s final hours. Unbeknownst to most of the contestants, he promised each of those three finalists that he would not knock them out, if they paid him the same favor. Many observers said he was therefore duplicitous.

But Jon Smyth, Hatch’s personal trainer, feels the public perceptionof Richard is wrong.

“He’s just a really nice guy,” said Smyth, who guided Hatch from about 340 pounds to 250 before he left to tape the show. “He’s funny. He’s nothing like he is on the show. I guess it’s a game. Whatever you have to do to win, you do.”

That included parading nude before the cameras. Talk show host David Letterman was quick to nickname him, “the naked fat guy.” But Hatch, no doubt, will reap rewards, despite the taunting.

In Reality TV, Losers Win

Hatch will spend next week as the host of a morning talk show on a local radio station and he’s currently featured with the final four in a “Got Milk?” mustache ad. He’s been hounded by autograph seekers and, openly gay, has been inundated with marriage proposals from men — and women.

The Rhode Islander experienced the flip side of celebrity when the national media reported he was charged with second-degree child abuse in April, days after he returned home from the island.

His then-9-year-old son told police Hatch pulled him by the ear and wrapped his hands around his neck when the youngster tired on a run. The criminal case is pending. Hatch is suing police and state child welfare officials for false imprisonment and defamation and is seeking more than $1 million in damages.

Even the other castaways can expect more than 15 minutes of fame. TV Guide senior critic Matt Roush says the cast will hardly drift into obscurity, “I do believe that they’re gonna be endorsing all kinds of things,” he said.

“Losers are winners, depending on how they got voted off the island. Everybody thinks of Sean [as] the idiot who voted alphabetically; people think of Gretchen and Jenna and Colleen, the women that we really came to kind of care about,” said Roush.

Surviving Ratings Topper: M*A*S*H

When it comes to the ultimate hall of fame of most-watched TV specials, Survivor’s finale will most likely be a distant relative to the enduring champ, the M*A*S*H finale. That drew an audience of 50.15 million households in 1983, according to Nielsen Media Research.

Compare that with the Aug.16 broadcast of Survivor, which drew 17.9 million households, for a total of 28.6 million viewers. Nielsen did not tally individual viewership numbers when M*A*S*H aired, but the number of households clearly dwarfs the typical audience for the island antics.

Early next year, the sequel, Survivor: The Australian Outback comes to TV. By then, the show will face ever increasing competition from reality shows of all manner and from virtually all networks. Then we will begin to see whether Survivor survives the test of time. ABC Radio and The Associated Press contributed to this report.