Dark Side of Reality TV Episode 7
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00:00In 2000, 16 castaways wash up on a remote island to take part in an unprecedented televised
00:13competition.
00:14I just wanted to know if I could freaking do this.
00:17This was our opportunity for an adventure of a lifetime.
00:21Over 39 days, they battle snakes.
00:24There's no antivenom.
00:25It's for real.
00:26Storms.
00:27Nature is in charge.
00:30Survivor is like the worst high school clique you can imagine.
00:37In a ruthless pursuit of the show's $1 million prize.
00:40The best people don't win Survivor.
00:43It's going to be a conniving, shitty win.
00:46That's bull.
00:47Will you talk to me?
00:48No!
00:49You're here to win a million dollars.
00:50Get over it!
00:51What was a gamble on an unproven format became the most successful show in reality history.
00:57The winner of the first Survivor competition is...
01:01The show took the country by storm.
01:05That paved the way for its creator to become an industry titan.
01:09The only reason this show was successful is because of Mark Burnett.
01:12Yeah, Mark's the biggest winner of this whole thing.
01:15But the first season of Survivor remains its most controversial.
01:19I don't blame producers for influencing.
01:23What else could they do?
01:24There's coercion.
01:25You're putting your thumb on the scale.
01:27This is not about money.
01:28Mark Burnett manipulated my exit from the show.
01:31The tribe has spoken.
01:32It also created the world's first reality TV villain, who played the game a little too
01:38hard.
01:39Rich was a snake.
01:40I've been dealing with the consequences for 24 years since, and spent years and years
01:45in prison as a result of it.
01:54Get ready for adventure.
01:56Modern-day adventure television is all about beautiful cinematography, lush exotic locations,
02:02and even famous faces.
02:04I'm covered!
02:06But back in the day, things were a lot rougher, in every sense of the word.
02:11The world's greatest adventure competition, the Eco Challenge.
02:15Eco Challenge was like triathlons on steroids.
02:21And you go 24 hours.
02:22Each race is like around 250 to 350 miles.
02:26It goes on, and on, and on, but we're in it.
02:30And they're brutal.
02:31You know, people are super hardcore that do this.
02:36First broadcast on MTV in 1995, Eco Challenge is the brainchild of the man who would help
02:42define reality as a new TV genre.
02:46Mark Burnett.
02:47Three years of my life have gone into bringing adventure racing to this country.
02:51I just feel absolutely over the moon that we're finally here.
02:55Mark Burnett is a fascinating character.
02:57Basically, he was not in TV, not in entertainment, and decided, I'm going to make my own show
03:01and my own adventure race and figure out how to do it.
03:04Eco Challenge was really his first foray into the television world.
03:11Coming from a military background, he was athletic, he was competitive, and he loved
03:17adventure.
03:18When he gets behind an idea, I mean, it's everything.
03:23It is full on.
03:26At the turn of the millennium, Burnett is looking to stake an even bigger claim in the
03:30U.S. TV marketplace.
03:32He acquires the North American rights to a highly ambitious competition format called
03:37Expedition Robinson that he rebrands Survivor.
03:42Mark Burnett pitched Survivor to every American broadcast network.
03:45They all rejected him, and I think it was just because no one could conceive of this
03:50kind of program at that time.
03:52Burnett's idea, to maroon a group of people on a remote island, is initially deemed too
03:57risky and too expensive.
03:59And not only had I pitched everybody, I'd got a no from CBS, so I was really bummed.
04:07Being the tenacious producer that he is, he turns to an age-old solution.
04:12Mark took inspiration from the early days of television where shows would be sponsored.
04:19What if we found a series of sponsors who bought into not only some commercial in the
04:24show, but the associative marketing values?
04:29And we could even drop in products.
04:34Mark started to get Reebok and Target and Visa to come on board, and I think it was
04:44that product placement that pulled it over the line.
04:48And then I went back in to CBS, who'd already said no, and got a yes.
04:57No doesn't actually mean no.
04:59It's still a gamble, but with advertisers already on board, CBS gives Burnett the green
05:05light.
05:06Now all he needs is a cast.
05:10You're simply looking for A-type people who are diverse economically, racially, age,
05:20geographically, intent, belief.
05:26My mom comes home from work, and she throws this piece of paper at me, and it says,
05:3116 people, $1 million, 39 days, survive.
05:37The money wasn't a real motivator.
05:39I just wanted to know if I could freaking do this.
05:44My name is Kelly Wigglesworth, and I was runner-up on the first season of Survivor.
05:51Since I was five years old, I've always wanted to be an actor.
05:54And then I had my first son at 20 years old.
05:57So everybody told me I had to be responsible, get a real job, take care of my son.
06:03And then the application for Survivor came.
06:06And I'm thinking, well, this might be my way to get into acting.
06:10My name is Jervis Peterson, and I was a castaway on season one of Survivor.
06:17In 1999, I was 27 years old.
06:19I show up at the CBS studio, and the very first person that I run into in the lobby
06:27is this PA.
06:28And he says, hey, listen, they want you to be the guy that's going to hit on all the
06:31girls.
06:33And that's all I had to hear.
06:35Because if you tell me what you're buying, that's what I'm selling.
06:38My name is Joel Klug, and I was on the first season of Survivor.
06:43So my mom saw an ad, and she called and said, they're putting together a show just for you.
06:48And so I looked it up, and they were.
06:50And it was just for me.
06:53My name is Richard Hatch.
06:55I am the original winner of Survivor, season one.
07:01I grew up on food stamps.
07:02We were made fun of.
07:03The whole purpose of my interest in the game was the money.
07:10The million-dollar cash prize draws thousands of applicants.
07:14To narrow the field, Mark Burnett has those with potential undergo perhaps the most rigorous
07:18selection process ever devised.
07:21It was 10 days of psychological tests, physicals, and interviews.
07:26That was pretty intense.
07:27You're sequestered the whole time.
07:29You're at the hotel, so you can't speak to anybody.
07:33They'd come bursting in your room at two in the morning, lights, camera, you know, hey,
07:37wake up.
07:38What are you doing?
07:39Da, da, da, da.
07:40You know, and then like sit you down and ask you all these questions, and that would happen
07:43rather frequently.
07:44You're an idiot if you think you can predict behavior that you see in a casting air-conditioned
07:51room in Los Angeles to what may happen in a jungle.
07:55How would they know what it's going to be like to suffer in like 100 degree heat, 100
08:01degree humidity?
08:02They don't know.
08:03How would they know?
08:06Sixteen contestants survived Burnett's military-style assessments.
08:10All that's left to do is put pen to paper on their contracts.
08:14Here, sign this.
08:15And there are all these places to sign, and it's in a huge document, but couldn't have
08:20given a crap less.
08:23Couldn't have signed it faster.
08:25When I got the phone call that I made the show, it was the best feeling ever.
08:29And then it was the biggest panic attack I could ever have because I'm like, it's real
08:34now.
08:36It takes more than two days for the cast to fly to the island of Borneo in the South China
08:40Sea.
08:41Hey, we've landed.
08:42Looks like me.
08:47Then there's a 65-mile drive to a remote pier where they board a boat for the final leg
08:52of their journey.
08:54They stop the boat a few miles off of this island in the South China Sea, and Mark comes
08:59out and he says, that's your new home.
09:02You guys are going to have to get yourselves there.
09:04I'm like, holy shit.
09:06Are they going to throw us off this boat?
09:08Are we going to do it, Eve?
09:11We're so fucked.
09:12You are witnessing 16 Americans begin an adventure that will forever change their lives.
09:18Giving the cast their marching orders is Jeff Probst.
09:21Far from being a household name, his biggest role to date is VH1's Rock and Roll Jeopardy.
09:26For the next 39 days, they'll be marooned, left to fend for themselves, no creature comfort.
09:32The primary reason why he was cast was he was the one-take wonder.
09:36They were really concerned with somebody to step up, deliver the line, and go.
09:4116 strangers forced to band together, carve out a new existence, totally accountable for
09:47their actions.
09:48They must learn to adapt or they're voted off.
09:51In the end, only one will remain and will leave the island with $1 million in cash as
09:57their reward.
09:58Get off the raft, baby.
09:59Get off the raft.
10:00And it's just chaos.
10:01Chaos.
10:02We're almost there, bro.
10:03Hang in.
10:04And then we finally get to the island and I'm so happy to have my feet on solid ground.
10:15And I just do the biggest.
10:20The relief is short-lived.
10:22Production divides the cast into two tribes, Taghi and Pagang.
10:26Should we, you know, talk for a little bit?
10:29Should we start moving stuff up?
10:31And they immediately set up the camp they'll be living in for the next six weeks.
10:35I had no survival skills whatsoever.
10:37I'm a suburb kid.
10:40It was by far the most hostile environment I've ever seen and I've been in a bunch of
10:43jungles since then.
10:45Nothing is as bad as Borneo.
10:48This is your guide to island living.
10:51They essentially just handed this to me and was like, here you go.
10:54There's basically two things in here you can eat and everything else will kill you.
11:00You can't sit on anything.
11:02Everything's crawling.
11:03Everything's wet.
11:04Here's the thorny and poisonous plants.
11:06All of them.
11:07All of them are thorny and poisonous.
11:09If you see these plants, like, you cannot eat these plants.
11:12Black scorpion, spotted house scorpion, pit viper.
11:15Yep.
11:16If you see these sea snakes, like, there's no anti-venom, like, it's for real.
11:20Yeah, you really can die out here playing this game.
11:25As the sun sets on day one, all the exhaustive intestines want is some rest.
11:30We're sleeping and I hear this squeal in my ear and I sit up and all I see is dark shadows
11:37shooting from this raft.
11:39It's rats.
11:40The nibble on your fingers, your toes, your ears are just everywhere.
11:47I slept one to two hours a night the whole time I was out doing that show.
11:53The two tribes will spend the next six weeks competing against each other in challenges.
12:01Every three days, someone will be voted off by members of their own tribe.
12:06Producers can only intervene if a contestant is injured or seriously ill.
12:11So there's two types of challenges that we would do out in Survivor.
12:14The reward challenge would be a challenge for a reward, and it could be pillows, blankets,
12:20fish hooks.
12:21You guys gonna name these chicken?
12:22Breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
12:24And then your immunity challenge, if you won that, your tribe didn't have to go with anybody
12:28out.
12:31One of the first immunity challenges creates an unprecedented TV moment.
12:36You can hear this squealing sound.
12:38Grab a seat, guys.
12:40We sit down at this long table, and they said, hey, that squealing you hear is a cicada.
12:46Now in Bordeaux, this is considered like sushi.
12:48They're just horrendous looking.
12:50You gotta eat one alive.
12:51Excuse me?
12:52I'm not doing that.
12:53I'm seeing everybody just picking them up, popping them in their mouth, and eating them.
13:01The first person who refuses to eat a bug loses immunity for their tribe.
13:06To eat a live creature was so out of the norm, and that CBS would allow this to happen.
13:13They're actually gonna air this.
13:15Guys, bon appetit.
13:16We're doing it for the what, service?
13:21Service!
13:22Seeing the physical reactions, the sweat.
13:25Eat it!
13:26Come on, man.
13:27I can't do it!
13:28People were losing their minds.
13:35What do you think you signed up for?
13:37You're here to win a million dollars.
13:39Get over it!
13:52It's the end of the first week of Survivor, season one.
13:55Baby, I need to have you grab your torch and bring it to me.
13:58And already, two of the castaways have been voted off the island.
14:02Baby, the tribe has spoken.
14:06It's time for you to go.
14:07All right.
14:08Goodbye.
14:11As the original group of 16 starts to shrink, conditions for those who remain get more challenging
14:17by the day.
14:18I'm hungry.
14:19I think we're all pretty hungry.
14:22I've gone days when I've only had some fruit, but there's no prospect of having any food
14:27here.
14:28It's dire.
14:29See what?
14:30There's a plate hanging and nothing.
14:32Wow.
14:33Empty.
14:34These suck.
14:35These do suck.
14:36Each tribe, season one, was provided a can of rice that they had to ration, and that
14:43was it.
14:44What you cooking, Ruth?
14:45I'm going to make the rice and a papaya.
14:49They had to find stuff that they could forage for in the jungle, or they had to catch fish
14:56in the water.
14:59There was really not a whole hell of a lot to survive on.
15:02There were types of wild boar and bird and things like that, but we weren't allowed to
15:07kill anything because everything was protected.
15:11Hunger pains never go away until you eat, so you're always hungry.
15:15I would think about food.
15:16I would dream about food.
15:17I would talk about food nonstop.
15:19I just wanted to eat so bad.
15:22I lost more than a pound a day.
15:25Most of those kids didn't have a pound to lose a day.
15:29People think when they watch the show that it looks hard.
15:32They have no idea.
15:33It's 10, 15, 20 times harder than you can imagine.
15:39The crew are living in relative luxury at a newly built eco-resort on the far side of
15:44the island.
15:45This is where we eat.
15:46This is where you can come up and get a drink or some water, and it's just a good place
15:51to hang out.
15:53For them, food isn't a worry, but they still have more than enough problems of their own.
15:59There were no resources on the island.
16:01You name it, it had to be shipped in.
16:05And similar to the survivors, nature is in charge.
16:13They would have these lightning storms that were just epic.
16:18The rain was really quite something.
16:20It was torrential.
16:22There was one storm, and we thought we were going to lose the set.
16:26Boom!
16:27Like, thunder and lightning, and the lights shorted out.
16:33People screaming, and huge trees fell near us, like, crashing over other trees, and we
16:40could have been standing there.
16:41This is really horrible.
16:43Revival of the fittest.
16:45And that night, I was like, this is it.
16:49This is the deepest, most miserable I've ever been in my life.
16:58It all has a huge impact on production.
17:02This is command central.
17:03Oh, and the power just went down.
17:06Every time we come in here, something happens.
17:08Something odd happens.
17:09The cameras would fog up because of the humidity.
17:15They had this idea of infrared cameras that were going to work and everything.
17:19None of that worked.
17:20They ended up shooting a lot of the nighttime stuff just on basic little video cameras that
17:24you would get from Best Buy.
17:26Oh, the sound guys were made crazy with the sound of the insects because it was so deafening.
17:34I saw a dude fall 24 feet off a cliff.
17:37We were in the jungle.
17:38He was running backwards with a camera trying to film us.
17:42He fell off a cliff.
17:45He was fine, but I mean, people busted their ass.
17:49But the crew isn't there simply to film the cast enduring the island's harsh conditions.
17:55Their job is to capture the growing rivalries and shifting alliances within the two tribes.
18:00As deciding who goes and who stays in the pursuit of the million dollar prize becomes
18:05a ruthless blood sport.
18:06The tribe has spoken.
18:08I think I'm going to handle this by beginning to develop alliances with some folks to ensure
18:14that I move into the next round.
18:16Season one, you didn't know how the game was going to play.
18:23And there were no rules about having alliances or not having alliances.
18:28I was just watching it play out.
18:31We have alliances that are happening within the group, and you're going to have that.
18:35It's because, you know, everybody's, hey, there's money involved.
18:38I had never experienced anything like that before.
18:41So you had no idea what was going to, what was going to happen.
18:45Jenna, the tribe has spoken.
18:48We really could control our fate if we stick together.
18:52Survivor is like trying to survive the worst high school clique you can imagine in the
19:01woods.
19:02It's just a game.
19:03This is not real life.
19:04So we're thinking, boy, Sean, it's time for you to go, bud.
19:07The tribe has spoken.
19:08The jungle has spoken.
19:09It's time for you to go.
19:10Goodbye, Sean.
19:11You didn't need to make stuff happen.
19:16It was happening.
19:19Like Sue and Kelly not getting along.
19:21That's bull.
19:22Well, I don't give a because I trust her more than I trust you.
19:25Why?
19:26That's bull.
19:27I've been your friend since day one.
19:28I knew every three days you had to vote someone off, but I thought it was, that was just going
19:31to like work itself out.
19:34As it progressed, it became this whole other monster that I didn't really see, I guess,
19:40going into it.
19:41The tribe has spoken.
19:42The tribe has spoken.
19:43It's time for you to go.
19:46Goodbye.
19:47You're not going to win Survivor by winning out on the challenges.
19:50It's going to be a conniving, shitty win.
19:57Through round after cutthroat round, one player starts to emerge as the most calculating of
20:02them all.
20:03But I think until the next segment, the three of us can work together really well.
20:07I trust you completely.
20:08Yeah.
20:09I think we can trust the three of our votes.
20:11Richard came to the island and had game face on from day one.
20:17I think I'm in control of who's being voted off, and I think that's all that matters to
20:25me.
20:26Rich.
20:27I mean, this guy is, he's strong.
20:28He's smart.
20:29The guy surprises me.
20:31You know, he's fat, but he's good.
20:34Richard was, you know, the puppet master, and he was really good at it.
20:37You're the only one I've been able to trust from the beginning, and you can right to the
20:42end.
20:43Right.
20:44Rich was just a Machiavellian person that was doing what he had to do to win.
20:48They're not voting me off because I'm not letting them.
20:51I felt not just one step ahead, but 10, 20, and that's the game.
20:57Whatever it takes to win here is the point.
20:59It's a game, and call it Machiavellian, sure.
21:02I knew that those people who were in my alliance had to be gotten rid of at some point, so
21:09I had to consider how would I work with them, but how would I get rid of them as well?
21:21One of the craziest points for me was this decision to spend more and more time naked.
21:27He walks around naked quite a bit.
21:28I think it probably bugs some of the guys.
21:30We would be sitting down, eating our bowl of rice.
21:32Rich would come, sit down, with his legs spread, hey guys, how you guys doing?
21:36And he'd be like, can you just cover your legs, please, cross your legs or something.
21:41He was doing it for a reason, to get under your skin.
21:43But more than that, it was game.
21:46Is it shock value, I don't know if it's shock value or not.
21:50It was strategic.
21:54As the competition continues, Mark Burnett must craft a compelling story out of hundreds
21:58of hours of footage.
22:00But as he burns through his multi-million dollar budget, rumor has it there's a problem.
22:06They were doing somewhat rough edits on the other side of the island, and they deliver
22:10the first episode to Mark, and he thinks it's shit.
22:14So Mark recut the whole first episode.
22:18Usually you would not have an executive producer doing the editing.
22:21He was responsible for the vision, he was responsible for the execution.
22:26If this would have fallen apart, his career would have been done.
22:30He had to try to save this thing, and that's when he kind of started putting his fingers
22:34on the buttons.
22:36Cast members allege Burnett stokes up the tribalism, so it burns even hotter.
22:42This is a television show, you do have to add a lot of drama.
22:47Certain statements can be leading.
22:49What do you think about this person, or they did that, huh, that's kind of interesting.
22:55I didn't trust production, because I felt like if I told them something, it would somehow
23:00leak out to people in my tribe or even the other tribe.
23:04There's coercion.
23:05You're putting your thumb on the scale here and there, wherever it needs to be.
23:09I don't blame producers for influencing, what else could they do?
23:14They're trying to get footage for a show that depends upon how we are interacting with the
23:20audience as much as how we're interacting with one another.
23:26There's tremendous pressure on Burnett to stick the landing, as Survivor nears its climax.
23:34Sue, second vote.
23:37Sue, you need to bring me your torch.
23:43The tribe has spoken.
23:45We'll see you again.
23:47It comes down to the final two, Kelly and Richard.
23:53We'll bring in our final tribal council jury.
23:57Seven castaways already voted off return to choose the winner.
24:02Survivor is a morality play.
24:06Asking the people that you have ousted to give you the gift of a million dollars.
24:13Sue Hawk had reached the final four before her rival Kelly voted her off.
24:18When it's her turn to speak, she doesn't disappoint.
24:22Kelly, I was your friend at the beginning of this.
24:25You're very two-faced and manipulative.
24:29My vote will go to Richard.
24:31And I hope that is the one vote that makes you lose the money.
24:36I remember standing back watching Sue's speech going, holy shit, she's going in on her.
24:41I knew 1,000% that she was going to go off.
24:48She was going to be pissed.
24:50I knew it, knew it, knew it, knew it, called it, called it, called it.
24:53This island is pretty much full of snakes and rats.
24:57We have Richard the snake and Kelly who turned into the rat.
25:01I feel we owe it to the islands to let it be in the end the way Mother Nature intended it to be.
25:07For the snake to eat the rat.
25:12I thought for sure I was going to win, despite Sue's venom.
25:18I am choosing Kelly.
25:21I was pretty darn sure I had at least four other votes.
25:26But I am voting for Rich.
25:28The votes were being turned over and it became three to three.
25:31We had an alliance to the end and I'm fulfilling my obligation.
25:35It was three to fucking three.
25:38I remember looking out at production and people were holding hands and, you know, everyone's on the edge of their seats.
25:47The winner of the first Survivor competition is...
25:53Rich.
25:55When they said Rich's name instead of mine, I was devastated.
26:01I could never communicate to anyone the full entire body kind of release.
26:12It really happened. I'm not dreaming.
26:15Richard has clawed his way to Survivor's first ever million dollar prize.
26:20Season one filming is wrapped, but the real drama is just beginning.
26:25You gotta be kidding me. They hate me? Like, it's rough.
26:28Like, America hates you. Like, that's something that's tough to deal with.
26:3116 real castaways. 39 days. One million dollars.
26:45In the spring of 2000, Survivor Borneo airs.
26:49Survivor comes to CBS beginning May 31st.
26:53And CBS is about to find out if their faith in Mark Burnett has paid off.
27:01The show starts to air and we're like, wow, this is not what I expected it to be.
27:07Mark Burnett always had a big vision of the show. He wanted to have a big launch.
27:14I mean, that first episode, well, I had no idea.
27:18The show aired and it was an instant hit.
27:21This is so much better than I ever thought it was going to be.
27:24From that first episode, I was absolutely entranced just by the music and the gorgeous cinematography.
27:32And then these characters who were unlike anybody I'd ever seen in terms of the things they said and the way they were acting.
27:39Rich is naked. Is he naked?
27:42So all of that was just so shocking and new.
27:46It looked amazing. People, Americans are going to watch this. They're going to watch me.
27:52And it was just this phenomenon, literally, that nobody had ever seen before.
27:56And then after that first episode aired, I remember some CBS executives coming up to us saying, congratulations, you're part of history.
28:05Fifteen million watched the first episode. The kind of audience that usually tunes in for live sports.
28:13None of us knew that it was going to create the sensation that it did.
28:20The finale had 51.7 million viewers.
28:26The winner of the first Survivor competition is Rich.
28:33I mean, who gets those kind of numbers other than the Super Bowl?
28:40It's uncharted territory for the cast, who go from complete unknowns to Hollywood celebrities overnight.
28:48You can't buy the opportunities that fame gives you. If people know you, they do treat you differently.
28:55I was getting offers to go here and fly there and magazines and TV and interviews. It just all was coming at me so fast.
29:06I wasn't in search of fame.
29:09But the level of fame and notoriety is pretty indescribable.
29:14How's it going, everybody? MTV?
29:17I had all kinds of money coming in and opportunities.
29:20I was cast on Baywatch and Nash Bridges.
29:23It's not real original, but it works.
29:25You name it, we were doing it.
29:27The list goes on and on and on. We were in demand and people cannot get enough of us.
29:35But the thrilling rush of fame doesn't last, as the cast must deal with portrayals ranging from unflattering to outright offensive.
29:45You know, I was portrayed as a chauvinist.
29:48Towards the ladies, he seems to be pretty condescending.
29:52We just couldn't understand it without Joel.
29:55And, you know, it wasn't received very well.
29:58Let's just try it like this first. I know that game he played is going to be pretty harsh.
30:02I was insensitive. I was a prick.
30:05I'm not super proud of how I did the show.
30:08I was 27 years old. I had no idea what I was doing.
30:11We were all kind of flailing. I'm not proud at all about how I did.
30:15I haven't done a thing out here since I've been here, it seems like.
30:19And that's cool.
30:21I was dubbed the lazy guy.
30:23I'm fitting every negative stereotype about a black man there is right now.
30:27And it doesn't look good.
30:29I have yet to cook anything.
30:31I haven't actually showed it on TV.
30:34But no one becomes as hated by viewers as Survivor's Machiavellian mastermind.
30:40Rich turned to one. Rich was a snake.
30:43It's not fair that Rick's won. You know what I mean?
30:45It's not fair that an alliance has won this game.
30:47I don't believe that the show's editing made me a villain.
30:51I believe people's perspective and lack of understanding of the game.
30:55Outwit, outlast, outplay.
30:57People didn't get it. Participants didn't get it.
30:59The contestants didn't get it. Never mind the viewers.
31:01Please welcome the snake, Richard Hatch.
31:08All of us were brought to the Rosie O'Donnell show, and she gave everyone a car.
31:15While giving me a box of rice, in order to shame me,
31:19because she was such a fan of the show, but so angry at the way I treated people.
31:25She clearly didn't get it.
31:28The backlash then takes a disturbing turn when it starts to target Richard's sexuality.
31:35Richard was gay. I mean, that was kind of a big deal in 2000,
31:42to talk about that on national television.
31:46Me and Richard got to be pretty good friends.
31:49Not in a homosexual way, that's for sure.
31:53You're talking about what it's like to be gay.
31:57You're having that point of view going up against someone like Rudy,
32:03who comes from the military and very conservative.
32:08I hadn't really understood, call me naive, which doesn't really fit my branding, but it's true,
32:16how I might be perceived and how that perception of that many American viewers
32:24might influence my life negatively.
32:26Make sure you get this on TV.
32:28Oh boy, you better have a beer in your hand when you're doing this one, Ashley.
32:31I don't know what my buddies are going to say when I get home, but I don't have to deal with that.
32:38Back then, gay people were second class citizens.
32:42Still today, challenging situation to be homosexual, but nothing like it was then.
32:49The press would write things like evil queen.
32:53The hatred, the venom, the fag, the queer, that was all completely and utterly shocking.
33:01But when the spotlight then shifts to the show itself, the controversy hits a whole new level.
33:07Mark Burnett manipulated my exit from the show.
33:10Mark should have to answer for his actions, violating the very rules he set up for the game show.
33:15This is not about money.
33:16This is not about money.
33:26I thought it was a done deal that Rudy would be the next one off, but it could be me.
33:30I don't know.
33:32In February 2001, season one cast away, Stacy Stillman goes public with a lawsuit
33:37claiming Mark Burnett denied her a fair chance of winning the million dollar prize.
33:42Stacy, the weather has spoken and the tribe has spoken.
33:48It's time to beat it up.
33:50This is Stacy Stillman. If you are a CBS affiliate or in any way affiliated with CBS,
33:55I will not be able to return your call as you are a party to the lawsuit. Thank you.
33:59Stacy Stillman alleged that Mark Burnett suggested to other players that they vote her off
34:06and keep Rudy around because he would make better television.
34:08Mark Burnett puts on contests for money.
34:12After that, he cuts it together to make it dramatic.
34:16In this case, the problem is he interjected himself into the game to add to the drama while the game was being played.
34:22I stand by my claims and the witnesses are ready to testify.
34:27What's interesting about Stacy Stillman's claims is that they're actually backed up by another cast member, Dirk,
34:33who in a deposition said that Mark Burnett did come up to him and suggest
34:38maybe vote off Stacy, maybe keep Rudy around.
34:41Dirk came to me and gave me this information. I in no way sought it at all.
34:46And numerous times he said to me, I regret voting against you.
34:51Mark Burnett came up to me and told me that the future contests would be more physical in nature
34:57and specifically said, why don't you think of forming an alliance to get rid of Stacy and keep, say, Rudy,
35:02who'd be more helpful in the challenges.
35:03Dirk was a big part of Stacy's case and I've been asked about that a lot of times.
35:10What do you think about what Dirk said? I said, I know Dirk's an honest person.
35:14That's all I can say.
35:20Burnett countersues Stillman for defamation and her lawsuit is eventually settled out of court for an undisclosed amount.
35:28Nothing was allowed to be staged.
35:30Every contest was one fair and square and there was no retakes or setups to have people say things we wanted them to say.
35:39We were not allowed to impact a contestant's game.
35:44Never did anything to sway a contestant one way or the other.
35:49We have not learned what happened from it.
35:53As so many things in Hollywood do, it kind of disappeared and went away.
35:57Oh, I think the show and CBS probably settled with Stacy because they didn't want to take the chance of there being more depositions
36:06and more public controversy about what did and didn't happen behind the scenes.
36:11What have you done with the million so far? Did you get it in one lump sum?
36:14I did get it in one lump sum.
36:16Did they take the tax out before the game?
36:18They did not take the tax out. It's in the bank.
36:20Earning money. OK.
36:22But public controversy about what happened behind the scenes is about to become part of season one's defining legacy.
36:29When in 2005, its most infamous cast member becomes embroiled in a scandal that makes international headlines.
36:37The first Survivor winner, Richard Hatch, remember him?
36:40Well, now he's getting attention for another reason. Tax evasion.
36:44Hatch didn't tell the IRS about some money he's made since being on Survivor.
36:49And he didn't tell them, apparently, about the million dollars he won on the program.
36:53And the amount of money that Mr. Hatch has been alleged to have evaded is quite large.
36:59So this is a very serious matter.
37:01The immediate reaction to hearing that Richard Hatch is in trouble for not reporting his Survivor winnings on Survivor is like, what the f***?
37:09It's especially hard to gel with the fact that, like, Richard Hatch seems like a really smart and together guy.
37:16That just doesn't make any sense at all.
37:19The IRS claimed I owed $300,000 that I attempted to evade paying. None of that's true.
37:26I didn't owe that much money, and I never attempted to evade it.
37:30Among several defenses Richard offers up in court, one comes right out of the Survivor playbook,
37:35implicating the show's creator in a conspiracy.
37:39When I caught them cheating, there's a line for me that was crossed.
37:46I was laying by the fire, and the producer handed food to Kelly, and I watched it happen.
37:56He threw a power bar on the ground, like, right at my feet, and Richard saw it.
38:01I think it was a power bar, but if you're talking about that calorie deficit, that's enough to make you really, you know, kick some ass.
38:09So then Richard raises up a big stink to, you know, Mark Burnett and the other producers, and then, you know, then he starts claiming that, you know, people are leaving me food everywhere.
38:20And I explained to him that I caught producers cheating, and that she'd been eating, etc.
38:27It's all a bullshit game.
38:31And supposedly, at this point, is when Mark said to Richard,
38:39Hey, if you hold this shit together, and you end up winning this thing, I'll pay your taxes.
38:53What is your position, sir?
38:55Well, you'll learn that at the hearing on January 10th.
38:58Reality TV's most notorious villain, Richard Hatch, is fighting to beat tax evasion charges by claiming that Survivor creator Mark Burnett promised to pay the taxes on his winnings.
39:10Do I believe that Mark did that? A hundred percent, because I would have done the same thing.
39:15I would have done whatever I got to do so that this whole shit doesn't fall apart.
39:19Trouble is, Hatch has no evidence to back his claim.
39:22And many of the others just don't buy it.
39:25It says in our contract, you're responsible for your taxes.
39:29I don't think there was a deal. I think he was just trying to get out of paying his taxes.
39:35Am I shocked? No, not at all. That's who he is.
39:38CBS, I know they clearly told everybody, make sure you pay your taxes.
39:43Got my check, took half of it, put it to the side for taxes, paid my taxes.
39:47The trial judge refuses to even entertain Hatch's cheating claim, and he's convicted for tax evasion and perjury.
39:55Hatch's new reality is pretty grim. He faces a maximum of 13 years behind bars.
40:02You are one of the biggest stars in the world right now, and you're going to jail for five years for not paying taxes?
40:14You're going to jail for five years for not paying taxes on some money that the world saw you win.
40:22Karma's a bitch. You know? There you go, buddy.
40:29It couldn't have been more poetic justice than that. I mean, really.
40:33Richard Hatch seems very much like he did on television.
40:37He's very convinced of his own arguments. He's very convinced of his own perspective.
40:42He's very strong-willed in sort of making sure that you understand his side of the story.
40:49And of course, that's what we saw also on Survivor.
40:53More than 20 years after Richard's conniving win on the island, it's like he never left.
40:59As for Survivor, it's still going strong over 45 seasons later.
41:05And Mark Burnett is now viewed as the godfather of reality TV.
41:09If you look back to that first season, I don't think there's any way that Mark truly could have predicted the level of success that he ended up having.
41:19Did he earn it? Absolutely. Yeah, Mark's the biggest winner of this whole thing.
41:25Mark Burnett turned it into the greatest reality show in the history of television.
41:31And it put him on the fast track in Hollywood. He was just cranking out shows left to right.
41:37Burnett follows up CBS' Survivor with NBC's The Apprentice, in which he created an altogether different kind of villain,
41:47who would capitalize on his reality TV persona in ways that no one could imagine.
41:53Trump would win Survivor. Not the best guy, but he's going to win. You have to be willing to do shitty stuff.
42:01Were you a little malnourished on the island, too?
42:02I did. I had a vitamin deficiency, so I got some real cool blisters up on my legs.
42:06As for season one's castaways, being the first to take part means they're reality TV pioneers.
42:13This is fan mail that I got from all over the world. Malaysia, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Denmark, South Africa.
42:22They appreciate you. They love the way you played the game. They respect you.
42:26I'm very touched by this. This is the power of Survivor.
42:29What it's done.
42:31I've never seen the show. I was there. Lived it.
42:36And I think I wanted to keep that experience, I guess, kind of pure for me, because I know what happened.
42:44I know what really went on. I know who I am and what I really did.
42:49It almost kind of worked out better that I didn't win.
42:53Richard Hatch won the money, but then he was in jail.
42:56So why do I do reality TV still? You know, it's money.
43:01It is also the same drive that I had initially.
43:05I was drawn to the genre of reality television because it's an environment in which I can explore who we are.
43:15And I can learn about the way in which we interact.
43:19Come on, step by step, buddy.
43:21Dig, Richard! Dig!
43:22So I still get fulfilled from that interaction while earning a paycheck.
43:29Can you do anything a man can do?
43:31We all went through this crazy experience together.
43:35The best way I can put it is we went through like a hostage situation together.
43:39And there's something that ties us together.
43:41We changed the landscape of television. That's a huge thing.
43:45All these reality shows that people love, that's because of us.