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The Stingray: Lethal Tactics of the Sole Survivor

© Kathy Kehrli

The Stingray: Lethal Tactics of the Sole Survivor by Peter Lance

Just as the Survivor phenomenon was shaping up in the summer of 2000, investigative reporter Peter Lance found himself on the inside track. A native of Newport, Rhode Island, he’d just so happened to have grown up with the now infamous Richard Hatch. Though the ultimate winner had not yet been declared, it was obvious that Hatch’s devious, diabolical tactics on the island would make a great story, win or lose. That, coupled with Hatch’s own troubled youth, and the book was a guaranteed, runaway success, as riveting pagewise as it was screenwise. So, Lance contacted his childhood buddy and set the wheels in motion for a tell-all book. As luck would have it, Richard Hatch walked away with the coveted million-dollar prize and into the arms of his not-so-adoring public. Then bedlam let loose.

Hoping to capitalize on his fame, Hatch played all the wrong cards, further branding himself with the stigma of "island enemy number one." He was summarily arrested for physical abuse of his adopted son, Chris (charges which were later dropped). He appeared nude on several occasions, flaunting the nakedness that had proved so unpopular with his island peers. But, most importantly, he found himself shackled by CBS documents, signed prior to the Survivor debut. Essentially, these legal pacts put a stranglehold on all appearances, projects and public speakings not entirely approved in advance by CBS. And so, as publishers scrambled for exclusive rights, the Richard Hatch tell-all went down the drain. But, rather than counting his losses, Peter Lance decided to unveil the cutthroat tactics without CBS or Hatch’s approval. The result was The Stingray, the first unauthorized examination into the Survivor phenomenon. It is here that we get the first indication that the CBS reality series wasn’t all "reality" after all. Allegations surface of shots being edited out of sequence, of tribe-chosen ambassadors being replaced by producers' choices and, most scathingly, of executive producer, Mark Burnett’s, tampering with jury voting.

Stacey Stillman’s lawsuit against CBS is still pending over these claims, and Dirk Been’s testimony in support of her allegations was unsealed in May. Should these accusations pan out, Burnett could be faced with an FCC violation of the embarrassingly Twenty-One scandal kind. The Stingray is a truly fascinating story, which continues to unfold as we speak. Author Peter Lance has set up a website devoted exclusively to developing events in the Survivor saga. To learn the latest, visit The Stingray.