Survivor winner Richard Hatch alleges producers secretly gave food to their favorite contestants

(Image credit: Jason Merritt/Getty Images)

last updated 9 July 2015

During a panel for the National Geographic Channel series The 2000s: A New Reality, guest Richard Hatch — the winner of 2000's smash-hit first season of the CBS reality series Survivor — alleged that the show's producers secretly gave food to several contestants.

"[Runner-up Kelly Wiglesworth] cheated in the first season," Hatch said in response to a question from an audience member.

"I caught her being fed. She was fed through the whole first season. She, and [Sue Hawk], by production. It's a tough thing for me. We got down to the end, and I refused to continue — stopped the show, and the whole bit — until those people were removed from the game... [Kelly] won five challenges in a row at the end, but only because she'd been fed... Not a thing that most people know. I'm interested in seeing how far she gets [in the upcoming series Survivor: Cambodia - Second Chance], and how it happens."

At that point — to the groans of the audience — the panel ended. But while Hatch didn't get to conclude his story, he did provide a more detailed version of his allegations in a Facebook post in May. Hatch wrote that his experience after Survivor "resulted in more than a decade of terrible, unjust suffering for my family and me," — likely a reference to his time spent in prison for tax evasion for failing to pay taxes on his winnings — but says he's still eager to see Kelly Wiglesworth on Survivor: Cambodia - Second Chance in September. "I believe I would like to see Kelly have a second chance to play a game I'm confident CBS and producers have since improved to prevent cheating," he wrote.

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Scott Meslow is the entertainment editor for TheWeek.com. He has written about film and television at publications including The Atlantic, POLITICO Magazine, and Vulture.

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