A lesson in how not to ''Survive'' without paying taxes

A lesson in how not to ''Survive'' without paying taxes

PASADENA, California - The winner of the first "Survivor" series Richard Hatch, who is facing a possible prison term for tax evasion, has said that he was under the belief that the show's producers would be paying the taxes. Hatch won $1 million in 2000 after he emerged the first "Survivor", but is charged with evading the payment of taxes on his winnings.

Hatch is being tried for tax evasion at a court in Providence, R.I and he testified on the stand saying, "Never from the beginning have I ever had any intention but to get this resolved and paid as due," the 44-year-old told the court. His lawyer Michael Minns said on Friday that his client had caught other contestants cheating and the producers agreed to pay his taxes in exchange for his silence.

It is reported that Hatch caught some friends trying to sneak food to the contestants. CBS refused to say anything on this matter and "Survivor” executive producer Mark Burnett's spokesman said that it was against policy to comment on ongoing trials. Even Judge Ernest C. Torres did not permit the jurors to hear this testimony about cheating on the show. But several of the original cast have rubbished Hatch's claims of cheating, “I really have no idea what he could possibly be thinking in terms of how he could get away with this," Dirk Been, who was a contestant in the first show said.

When Hatch eventually filed his returns, the court was told, he said that he was entitled to a $4,483 refund instead of paying taxes on his winnings, "All I wanted to do was find out whether or not the taxes due on the million dollars or some portion of them had been paid," Mr. Hatch acknowledged during his testimony. "I just didn't want to pay them if they had already been paid." Closing arguments in the case are slated to be heard on Tuesday.