'Survivor's' Richard Hatch Blames Dan Spilo's Scandal For Not Returning To The Show

Summary

• Richard Hatch was set to return to Survivor: Winners at War, but was excluded due to Dan Spilo's scandalous removal.
• Jeff Probst believed Richard's scandalous past made him a bad representation of the show for Survivor: Winners at War.
• Richard called out Jeff Probst's explanation, citing the show's earlier success and family-friendly image during his time on Survivor.

Throughout Survivor's long history, there have been many great seasons, some of which are perfect for new viewers to watch first. One of the reasons why there are so many great seasons is that memorable players like Richard Hatch often return for more than one season.

Unfortunately, some Survivor players have been involved in disturbing controversies, including the first player who was medically evacuated. Then there is the ejected contestant, Dan Spilo. Richard believes he didn't return for a Survivor season because of Dan Spilo's scandalous removal from the game.

Richard Hatch Claims He Was Going To Return To Survivor Before Dan Spilo's Scandal

In 2020, the most historic season of Survivor ever aired as season 40 turned out to be a landmark moment in the show's history. A season that was called Survivor: Winners at War, the 40th season brought together 20 players from the past who were named the Sole Survivor.

When it was announced that there was going to be an all-winners season, fans debated who would be involved. One of the past winners that some fans wanted to return was Richard Hatch, since he was the first Sole Survivor and his season was an absolute sensation.

Ultimately, Richard wasn't one of the players who competed during Survivor: Winners at War. Richard wound up speaking out about his exclusion and claimed he was left out because of Dan Spilo's removal from Survivor: Island of the Idols.

In February 2020, Survivor fans discovered that Richard Hatch had a YouTube channel. Richard mostly used that channel to give his often blunt takes on his own life, social issues, and Survivor.

In 2019, Dan Spilo became the first Survivor player who was ejected from the game. Dan was removed after Kellee Kim and a member of the production crew accused him of inappropriate touching. Jeff Probst and Survivor got a lot of criticism because fans thought they waited too long to take action against Dan.

The first video that Richard uploaded on his YouTube channel was the epitome of all those things. After all, Richard used his first video to explain why he believed he was excluded from Survivor: Winners at War. Most notably, Richard claimed he didn't compete in Survivor: Winners at War because of Dan Spilo's scandal which took place during season 39.

"During the filming of season 39, when they recognized things were going to be touchy with respect to, sexual harassment, et cetera, they wondered what it would be like for me, who is a bold figure on the show, to participate in season 40 and for those conversations to potentially be continued. I think they made a horrendous mistake in choosing and deciding to, change their plan and to remove me from the cast."

Earlier during the same video, Richard claimed that before the Dan scandal caused a significant backlash, he'd been told he would compete in Survivor: Winners at War. "I was asked to be on. I agreed. I did all the upfront work, the paperwork, the documentation, the physicals, and was approved. I got the call, 'You're in.'"

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In fact, Richard claimed that he'd been told that everyone behind the scenes agreed that he had to come back for the all-winners season.

"I got told this was one of the first times that the executives gave the power to the producers, the people, deciding what contestants would participate. And they said, 'It's up to you. Anybody you want.' And supposedly, I was told, I was the only one who every single producer said they wanted. So I was golden.'"

Richard then described how he reacted when he was told the decision had been made to exclude him from the season. Richard also revealed that Survivor's second winner, Tina Wesson, got called on the same day and was told she wouldn't be competing either.

"Two days before I was to fly out, Tina Wesson, the 2nd winner, and I got calls from, uh, the same guy that said you're in, and he said, 'Things have been paused'. I said, 'You're lying'. He said, 'I told them you wouldn't believe me'. I said, 'I don't', and I've never heard from him since.'"

During the same interview, Richard claimed that he made a sacrifice to compete in Survivor: Winners at War before he had the rug pulled out on him. Richard explained this after revealing that he had to decide if he still had it in him to compete on the show since he'd grown a lot older.

"I was in, decided I was going. I'm old, I had to think about it, but I'm in. So I withdrew from my PhD program last semester, already paid for, and I withdrew to participate in season 40."

Jeff Probst Had A Very Different Explanation For Why Richard Hatch Didn't Compete In Survivor: Winners at War

In January 2020, Jeff Probst spoke to US Weekly about the decision to exclude Richard Hatch from Survivor: Winners at War. During that conversation, Jeff began by explaining that he wanted the former winners who returned to be good representations of the show. "The bigger consideration was ‘Where is the show now?’ and ‘Do these 20 winners represent the show today?’"

Jeff then went on to explain that he believed Richard's scandalous past made him a bad representation of the show.

"We didn’t feel that Rich fit into the equation. Given his history on our show, it did not seem appropriate. We were in a different time and different culture back then and we would never let him run a challenge naked now. Looking back on it, it just didn’t seem to fit. It’s not a slam against Richard Hatch. He’s just being Richard Hatch. I didn’t feel comfortable having him out on the show and representing a show that is for families. It’s about inspiring kids to want to get out and make something and see what they’re capable of. This group is very inspiring.”

In response to Jeff's claim that he wasn't a good representation of the show and CBS, Richard called the Survivor host out.

During the aforementioned YouTube video in which he blamed Dan Spilo's scandal, Richard expressed why he thought Jeff was lying. Most notably, Richard pointed out that he competed in Survivor when the show was getting a lot more viewers and was considered family-friendly at that time.

"The hypocrisy is ridiculous. But they're not gonna talk about that. They're gonna just try to make you believe that they're doing what's in the interest of their viewers and making the show family-friendly. That's absurd. We had 54,000,000 viewers in the first season's finale. That was family television. That was appointment TV. We started it. So what he's spewing now is baloney. Don't buy it."