Original Survivor winner Richard Hatch releases just dropped a bombshell
It’s been more than 26 years since Richard Hatch won Survivor: Borneo on the largest finale—to this day—of Survivor’s long-running history. And now, he’s a published author, recounting lessons he learned in his life and how others can approach the question, “What if everything you were taught was built on ground that isn’t there?”
Hatch shared a little more about this new endeavor in an interview with The Standard Times, noting that the book has been something on his mind for over a decade after gaining wider recognition due to the publicity surrounding his 2006 arrest for tax evasion after failing to properly report his $1 million earnings from winning the very first season of Survivor.
And now, Hatch is looking back on his life and specifically the idea of perception—both how we look at ourselves and how others see us.
“People often talk about ‘my truth’ or ‘her truth,’ or ‘she’s living her truth,’” Hatch told Allison Shinskey of The Standard Times. “There’s no such thing. They’re misusing the word. It’s what we perceive or what we believe, but we don’t own truth. I don’t have a version of what’s true. There’s what’s true, there’s what’s actually so, and then there’s the way we look at it or what we think.”
Mainly rooted in his childhood, Hatch uses stories from his life as examples of how people don’t look beyond appearance or public persona when observing others. He shares that there were many unfortunate moments as he grew up that shaped him—for better or for worse—and still stick with him today. Moments that altered reality for him.
And the outlook on reality that he shares in his book could also explain how he went on to win a reality competition show that no one knew anything about going into. He reflects that he was able to win because he already knew who he was when he stepped foot on that beach for the first time. Whereas many Survivor contestants enter the game to learn something about who they are, Hatch knew exactly who he was and wasn’t afraid to use that information to outsmart those around him.
“I don’t think I learned much about myself on Survivor,” Hatch clarifies. “And here’s why: People ask me all the time, ‘What advice do you have for me? I’m going to apply. How should I get ready?’ those kinds of things. And what I tell everyone is, don’t go on Survivor and learn who you are. Figure that out before you go. It’s not time to do it then. So, I think that’s what gave me an advantage. I really understand who I am.”
We’ll be interested to see if Hatch’s newly released philosophical reflection leans into the game he played back in Borneo or if that was just the “reality” we saw. “Reality Matters: What You Owe Yourself” is now available.
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