Richard Hatch, winner of the $1 million prize in the first “Survivor” competition on CBS, lost an appeal of his tax-evasion conviction last week and will remain in jail.

The United States Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston upheld the “Survivor” winner's conviction on tax-evasion charges, rejecting an argument by lawyer Michael Minns that his client was not allowed to fully defend himself before Judge Ernest Torres of Federal District Court, the New York Times reported.

Minns claimed his client had been presented with a deal by the producers of “Survivor,” to have his income taxes paid in return for his silence about employees of the show smuggling food to other contestants.

Hatch, 46, won the $1 million prize of the first American edition of “Survivor” in 2000 and was convicted of failing to pay taxes, on his “Survivor” cash as well as proceeds he received from appearances on a Boston radio station, in January 2006.

In May of that same year, he was sentenced to 51 months in prison, for tax evasion and for lying on the witness stand. The Rhode Island resident is serving time in a federal prison in West Virginia and is scheduled to be released in October 2009.

As to Hatch’s claims that the show’s producers made an arrangement with him, CBS has been constant in its denial of such a deal. Producer Mark Burnett testified that all contestants, including Hatch, signed contracts stating they were responsible for their own taxes, E! Online reports.

In its 52-page decision, the court wrote that Hatch had the opportunity and time to present the federal court in Providence, where he was tried, with evidence of the so-called agreement with the network.

“The failure of Hatch to present any evidence of such conversations when invited by the court strongly suggested that no actual promises were made and no such ‘deal’ actually existed,” the court decision read, as quoted by E! Online.