MIDDLETOWN, R.I. — At the Sportsticket bar in Richard Hatch's home town, his sister, Sue, leapt out of her chair when he became a millionaire on "Survivor."
"Good for him," she said, watching the show with about 30 people. "He played the game well and he deserves it."
Hatch had schemed and conspired his way to the final episode. When his maneuvering paid off Wednesday, his friends back home were cheering.
At the Newport Athletic Club, where Hatch trained before going on the show and still works out, a crowd of about 40 people watching the show's final episode erupted in cheers.
The club was decorated with balloon parrots and torches with the names of the final four contestants on them. The bartender snuffed out the torches one by one as the finalists were eliminated.
Jon Smyth, Hatch's personal trainer, said he never had an inkling who the winner was. Then he thought back to a moment before Hatch left for the island.
"He looked me dead in the eye and said, 'I'm going to win this competition, and I said I know,"' Smyth said. "It was strange, but he said it with the most confidence I've ever seen."
Smyth said the Machiavellian Hatch seen by millions on TV is not the man he knows.
"That's a side of Rich I've never seen before," Smyth said. "In real life Rich is a warm, fun guy to be around. He's funny."
Hatch, 39, is the corporate trainer who became the contestant everyone loved to hate. In his professional life, he specializes in team building and conflict resolution; on the remote tropical island off Borneo, he used lies and subversion to form an alliance that helped him win.
The "Survivor" contestant whom David Letterman dubbed "the naked fat guy" was in Los Angeles with his fellow castaways when the TV show's secret was bared.
Sue Hatch had sat quietly through most of the show, agonizing over her brother's fate. During the final minutes, she held her face in her hands, giving a "thumbs up" sign when a vote for Richard was read.
She said the disparaging comments some of the other players made about her brother didn't really bother her.
"That was just the persona he played, and it was all part of the game," Hatch said. "I just laughed, I didn't take it personally, and I'm sure my brother didn't either."
Jon Brett, a clinical psychologist who works with Hatch's mother at Newport Hospital, defended the way Hatch played the game.
"When you're playing a game without rules, ethics are a difficult thing to define, therefore anything goes," Brett said. "It's probably deemed unethical because Rich was so overt. If he was less overt he would have won with more votes."
Hatch began reaping the spoils of fame weeks before his win was made public. He will spend next week as the host of a morning talk show on a local radio station and he's currently featured with the final four in a "Got Milk?" mustache ad. He's been hounded by autograph seekers and, openly gay, has been inundated with marriage proposals from men and women.
The Rhode Islander experienced the flip side of celebrity when the national media reported he was charged with second-degree child abuse in April, days after he returned home from the island.
His then 9-year-old son told police Hatch pulled him by the ear and wrapped his hands around his neck when the youngster tired on a run. The criminal case is pending. Hatch is suing police and state child welfare officials for false
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