AP Photo/Stew MilneThe Snake is looking to slither out of the slammer.
Richard Hatch, the conniving winner of CBS' inaugural season of Survivor back in 2000, who nabbed himself a four year, three-month prison sentence in 2006 for failing to pay taxes on his $1 million winnings, is hoping another run on the reality show can reverse his misfortunes.
The Rhode Island native is asking a federal appeals court to let him out to participate in a 10th anniversary edition of Survivor in Samoa in order to help pay the $400,000 he still owes the IRS.
No doubt they'll find the 48-year-old roaming naked on a beach somewhere.
Hatch, who's spending the remaining three months of his term in home confinement in Newport, R.I., before he's a free man, said in his petition that allowing him an early release next month will enable him to make good on his debt to society.
Unfortunately given his penchant for cheating and scamming his fellow tribesmen, federal prosecutors weren't buying it. In a response filed with the court, government lawyers claim the reality TV star, who earned the nickname "The Snake" for all of his scheming, might not return to the U.S. if allowed out of the country and would fail to pay his bill.
In April, a federal judge already rejected Hatch's request to move to Buenos Aires after leaving the halfway house to live with an Argentine national whom he recently married.
Survivor is about to enter its 20th season, but in the early days of its ratings reign in the inaugural contest in Borneo, the former corporate trainer became the man fans loved to hate for masterminding some of the more shrewd alliances in the show's history. Hatch was so popular, in fact, producers brought him back for Survivor: All Stars in 2004, but due to his already devious rep, the Bearded One was voted off the island early.