Richard Hatch Shares Why He Was Unable to Outlast a House of Villains (Exclusive)

TooFab spoke to Hatch following his elimination on the show Thursday, where he shared how the E! competition series differed from his days stranded on a deserted island, and revealed where he went wrong when trying to play the HOV game.

“So I got a couple of chances at Survivor. And in the original season, Literally no one even knew what these unscripted drama competitions were. Second season, more people knew but still weren’t playing. That’s been 24 years of examples. So coming into House of Villains, I was super prepared and I knew everybody would be playing the game,” Hatch surmised.

“Boy, was I wrong,” he continued. “So I was– it’s my fault, I was really nervous by the lack of gameplay. This was a big ball of crazy. I mean, just a big ball of emotion and anger and tears. And I’ve never seen people interact with one another the way some of these people talked to each other.”

While Hatch, who starred alongside a bevvy of reality TV villains, including Larissa Lima, Teresa Giudice, Wes Bergmann, Safaree, Jessie Godderz, Camila Poindexter, Kandy Muse, Victoria Larson and Tiffany “New York” Pollard, said he had the strategy down pat before entering the house, underestimating the social game at play on House of Villains was what ultimately led to his downfall.

“Even calling it a social game is too far. So what I realized is there isn’t– still, all these years in, depending on who’s selected as participants, isn’t gameplay. It’s not a social game, even. They might call it that. They might even, while they’re playing it, think that. But they’re not,” Hatch maintained. “They’re just wrapped up in their emotions. ‘Who do I like? Who’s my friend? Who isn’t?’ All that is jabberwocky to me. It has nothing to do with the game. And that was my downfall.”

“They weren’t there to play the way I think a winner has to play the game of Survivor. So as I tried to communicate to Camila what that was, and she’s someone who knew me, who’d watched and understood what the game was, she still wasn’t there prepared to play that way, to make the hard choices, to trust a good player. Let’s hope she regrets it.”

It was the Bad Girls Club alum that ultimately was responsible for Hatch going home, after putting him up for elimination at the top of Thursday’s episode. And while Hatch didn’t agree with Poindexter’s decision to give him the axe, he said it’s all love off-camera.

“Oh, I love her. I love her. There’s no such thing as friendship for me in the game. I don’t care what you say to me. I don’t care what you don’t say to me,” Hatch explained. “No matter whether you think we’re bonded for life or not, we’re not. You’re a pawn. You’re a plastic little piece, and I have to get rid of your a–. That’s the way I play a game. But when it’s over, you’re a human being, and we shared an experience, and let’s be friends.”

He added, “I love Camila. I don’t care what choices she made in the game. But let’s put it bluntly, that was dumb. That was really, really stupid, and I hope she regrets it. But not just because she put me up. She didn’t think it through sufficiently.”

Hatch believes there will be some fallout from Poindexter’s move as the season progresses, and thinks she may even have a target on her back as a result of this week’s elimination.

“I believe there will be consequences as a result of her like throwing spaghetti at the wall. She puts all these people up with whom she had been interacting and talking. That targets, you know, that puts a huge target on your back that doesn’t leave you protected in any way,” the 63-year-old reality star explained. “Not smart is the kindest way I can possibly say it.”

A reality TV veteran, Hatch has long been considered a TV “villain,” following the diabolical way he played Survivor, but he didn’t consider himself one until he got home from winning Season 1 and saw the way it was received.

“I didn’t realize I was a villain when I played the original season until I got home. I thought I was coming home to a most valuable player. I thought people would be awed by what I did, but they didn’t understand the game,” Hatch explained. “And it turns out they still don’t. But more and more people do. And so House of Villains, fine. You know, I’m a villain. Let’s go. I don’t care. I’m going to win. That’s just the way I approach things. So I’m not bothered by it.”

“I think people now better understand that you do what you need to do within the context of the game. And that’s just what’s right. It’s just what’s necessary,” he added.

While Hatch was hopeful he’d take home the $200,000 prize winnings awaiting the HOV winner — a life-changing lump sum for him after the legal and financial struggles he suffered in the wake of his Survivor success, he’s open to more reality TV opportunities.

“These are opportunities. For me, life has always been about opportunity. And I’ve really been intrigued by trying different things and exploring,” Hatch told TooFab. “I’ve had a really, really interesting life. It was sidetracked awfully, horribly by what happened after Survivor. And that’s part of our system being broken and more than we can get into now. Prejudice, et cetera. But I love life. I love me. I love exploring opportunity. And so there’s no telling where you’ll see me next.”

As for who he thinks will go home with it all, that’s something Hatch is keeping close to the chest.

E!’s House of Villains airs Thursdays at 10pm ET/PT on E! and stream from the beginning on Peacock.