PROVIDENCE — A federal judge in Rhode Island is ordering Richard Hatch, the Newport resident who won the inaugural season of “Survivor,” to pay $3.3 million in delinquent income taxes and penalties stemming from his reality-TV victory nearly 26 years ago.
Chief Judge John J. “Jack” McConnell Jr. of the US District Court of Rhode Island entered a final judgment on March 17, ordering Hatch to make the payments for his federal income tax liabilities for the 2000, 2001, and 2012 tax years.
Hatch, 64, who is representing himself although he does not have a law degree, has already filed an appeal with the Boston-based First US Circuit Court of Appeals.
“People think I’m crazy, but I’m really, really hopeful,” Hatch told the Globe on Wednesday. “I think the appellate court will see for the first time what has really happened throughout this case.”
Hatch, who was traveling for “Survivor” Season 50 watch parties, said he had been looking forward to a settlement conference scheduled for April 1 before “an objective judge.” But he said federal prosecutors cancelled that conference because the two sides were too far apart.
In June 2025, then-Senior US District Court Judge William E. Smith issued pre-trial decisions on motions made in the case against Hatch.
“The factual history of this case stretches back nearly 25 years,” Smith wrote. “In 2000, Mr. Hatch won the inaugural season of the reality television show ‘Survivor.’ His prize winnings totaled one million dollars. And the golden goose kept giving, as his newfound fame brought him more financial opportunities over the next few years.”
“During those heady days,” Hatch and his sister, Kristin M. Hatch, jointly purchased 23 Annandale Road in Newport, adding to Richard Hatch’s real estate, which included 21 Annandale Road, the judge said.
“But Mr. Hatch’s good fortune was not to last; the money was gone by April 2005,” Smith wrote. “By that time, he had fully transferred both the 21 and 23 Annandale properties to Ms. Hatch because he could no longer afford to keep them.”
Then things got worse. “Mr. Hatch did not pay the full income taxes due on his ‘Survivor’ and ‘Survivor’-related earnings for tax years 2000 and 2001,” Smith wrote.
In 2006, a federal judge sentenced Hatch to 51 months in prison for evading income taxes after a jury found him guilty of tax evasion and filing a false return for not reporting to the IRS about $1,428,000 that he earned from “Survivor” and other sources.
The judge also ordered Hatch to file amended tax returns and pay all remaining taxes due, but he did not comply, Smith said. So in February 2010, the Internal Revenue Service formally assessed Hatch with outstanding taxes and penalties.
The government also placed a tax lien on 21 and 23 Annandale Road, claiming Hatch either was the true owner of those properties or that he fraudulently transferred them to his sister.
Hatch denied those allegations.
Smith ruled that the government was entitled to summary judgment on its motion to reduce Hatch’s tax liabilities to a civil judgment. But he ruled the government was not entitled to summary judgment on its motion to apply tax liens to 21 and 23 Annandale Road to pay those debts.
“In this case, the passage of time appears to bar any claim that the government could assert under Rhode Island law to show that Mr. Hatch retains any interest in the Annandale properties,” Smith wrote.
In his March 17 ruling, McConnell ordered a judgment entered against Hatch for $3,293,471. And he said the final judgment will allow prosecutors to start to use the federal debt collection procedure against Hatch.
Hatch filed an appeal with the First US Circuit Court of Appeals on March 19, saying he was challenging McConnell’s March 17 order and “all prior orders incorporated therein.”
When he appeared on the Globe’s Rhode Island Report podcast in 2023, Hatch maintained his innocence.
“There was literally not one iota of calculation or attempt to evade anything,” Hatch said at the time. “The truth is, of the tax thing, those taxes were owed to Malaysia by CBS and Mark Burnett — by law, by US law, by Malaysian law — before we even left the island."
Edward Fitzpatrick can be reached at edward.fitzpatrick@globe.com. Follow him @FitzProv.