All Is Forgiven at Survivor Reunion

August 24, 2000 -- During the reunion special that followed immediately after Survivor's phenomenal finale, love reigned between the formerly squabbling contestants: Rich defended Rudy's "bare-assed queer" remarks as simply being part of the Navy SEAL's ornery charm, Sue and Kelly somehow made up, and no one seemed to hold a grudge against Gervase for that oft-repeated "cow" remark.

This morning on The Early Show with Bryant Gumbel (where the cast members — except for Kelly — struggled in with hangovers and little sleep, due to last night's post-reunion show party on the CBS lot), a slimmed-down and clean-shaven Rich answered questions about whether he had abused his adopted son when he returned from the island.

Rich says his son, whom he insists he "loves to death," had fibbed about his adopted dad hitting him when he tried to get out of a jog. The allegation led to the Survivor winner spending two nights in jail in his Rhode Island hometown. A criminal case is still pending. Hatch is suing police and state child welfare officials for false imprisonment and defamation and is seeking more than $1 million in damages.

Hatch also told Gumbel that he plans to use the money to start an outdoor program for troubled teens, similar to the one Hatch attended when he was 18.

Rich Cashes InHatch will spend next week as the host of a morning talk show on a radio station and is also currently featured with the other three finalists in a "Got Milk?" ad. The openly gay winner has been hounded by autograph seekers and has been inundated with marriage proposals from men — and women.

Keeping the SecretThe 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 has remained intact.

"Obviously, there were people running around trying to figure it out, and some of the Internet break-ins made us feel uneasy."

The biggest threat, he said, came early on, when a tabloid publication pursued Survivor staffers, offering them money to tell all.

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

Seattle television station KIRO reported that cable channel QVC was a spoiler of sorts, going on the air with Survivor T-shirts of Richard Hatch at 8 p.m. PDT, after the winner was revealed on the East Coast but as the circus was just beginning on the West Coast.

ABCNEWS.com contributed to this story.