Hello, and welcome back to the Deep Dive. Glad
to be here for this one. Yeah, we are really
getting into the weeds today. I'm excited because,
well, we have a stack of sources that paint a
picture of someone truly unique. Someone who
is, frankly, a massive contradiction. Exactly.
We're looking at a figure who, if you were anywhere
near a television set in the mid -2000s, you
know this guy. He was absolutely impossible to
ignore. Unavoidable, really. Right. Unavoidable.
We're talking about someone who didn't just participate
in reality TV. He arguably defined the entire
archetype of the modern reality TV villain. But
not just a villain. And I think that's the key
distinction we need to make right off the bat
for you, the listener. Yeah. Clarify that because
usually a villain is just the person you root
against. Right. Usually the villain is the person
you love to hate. You watch hoping to see their
downfall. Yeah. But in this case, we're looking
at a villain who was. Paradoxically Beloved.
Beloved and highly successful. We are diving
into the life, the game, and the very surprising
real -world reality of Richard Donato, though,
of course, the world knows him by his much more
colorful handle. Evil Dick. Evil Dick, exactly.
A name that, looking at the records, he certainly
lived up to in many ways. He did. And yet, as
we dig into these sources, it's a name that might
be a bit of a misnomer when you look at the actual
trajectory of his life. especially his later
years. It is a massive contradiction. And honestly,
that is the hook for me today. That's the whole
mission of this deep dive. To figure out how
those pieces fit together. Right. You have this
guy, Evildek. He's aggressive. He is loud. He
is incredibly confrontational. And yet, looking
at the voting records here, he was voted favorite
villain, which makes total sense. It fits the
branding perfectly. But in the exact same breath,
he won favorite reality performer. And he actually
won the grand prize. of big brother it's a trifecta
that simply shouldn't exist in the genre it really
shouldn't you aren't supposed to be the bad guy
and the fan favorite and the winner usually the
narrative forces you to pick one lane yeah you
can be the strategic villain who gets cut at
the very end or the nice guy who wins the money
exactly But he managed to do all of it. It's
like winning Most Hated and Prom King on the
same night. It just doesn't compute initially.
So our mission today is to unpack that specific
paradox for you. It's a fascinating psychological
case study. It really is. We want to know how
a 44 -year -old bar manager from Los Angeles
becomes a national phenomenon. We're going to
look at the unique dynamic of him playing the
game with his daughter. Which is a whole separate
layer of complexity. Oh, absolutely. And we absolutely
have to cover the later years. Specifically,
that sobering real life twist that ended his
reality career. Because that shifts the story
from just a fun game show recap to something
much more human. and much more serious. Right.
So just to orient you, the listener, before we
jump in, what exactly are we working with today
in terms of sources? Our sources are primarily
biographical data, the official voting in game
records from Big Brother seasons 8 and 13. So
two seasons he was on. Right. And then we have
the media coverage surrounding his later appearance
on VH1's Couples Therapy. Okay. So we've got
the game stats and we have the personal fallout.
Let's start right at the beginning. Section one,
looking at the persona. Where it all started.
Before the cameras rolled in 2007, before he
was a household name, who was Richard Donato?
Well, if we look at the vital stats, Richard
Louis Donato was born on June 24th, 1963 in Los
Angeles, California. So he's an L .A. native.
That feels pretty important to the overall story.
Through and through. Being from Los Angeles carries
a certain cultural weight. especially in this
context. You are adjacent to the entertainment
industry, you understand the hustle, and you
inherently understand the importance of image.
Yeah, you're breathing that air. And his professional
background before the show is listed as a bar
manager. Correct. a bar manager, and later he
became a podcaster. I gotta say, I've always
thought managing a bar is the perfect resume
for reality TV. It really is the ultimate training
ground. If you can manage a crowded bar in Los
Angeles, you can definitely manage a house full
of egomaniacs on a soundstage. It requires a
very specific skill set. You have to be able
to de -escalate fights. Or, you know, finish
them if necessary. Yeah, you have to manage intoxicated
people, you have to control the social environment
and the general vibe of the room. It is essentially
Big Brother, just without the cameras. That's
spot on. You're dealing with people at their
absolute most volatile. So he walks into the
house with that training already deeply embedded
in his personality. He wasn't a novice when it
came to reading a room. Right. But there is one
detail in his background that I think really
paints the picture of who he is. physically and
culturally. It's honestly my favorite piece of
trivia in the whole file. Yeah, you're talking
about the Hollywood connection. Yes. So rewind
to 2007. There was a massive movie out called
Pirates of the Caribbean at World's End. A massive
global blockbuster. You literally couldn't go
anywhere without seeing marketing for it. And
in that specific movie, there was a cameo by
a legitimate rock and roll god, Keith Richards
of the Rolling Stones. Playing Captain Teague,
the father of Johnny Depp's character. Which
was perfect testing in itself, given Depp based
the character on him. Right, exactly. Now, obviously,
Keith Richards is a busy guy. He's a legend.
He's not going to stand around on set for 12
hours while the crew sets up the lighting and
checks the camera angles. No, the stars have
stand -ins. Yeah, they need a stand -in. Someone
who looks like him, moves like him, embodies
that specific weathered vibe so the lighting
looks right. And who do they hire? Richard Donato.
It's just perfect. If you close your eyes right
now and picture Keith Richards, you know, the
headband, the heavy eyeliner, that rugged I've
lived a thousand lives look, and then you look
at a picture of Dick Donato. It's the same picture.
The resemblance is striking. It tells us so much
about his aesthetic. He did not look like the
typical reality contestant. Not at all. In 2007,
the casting for these shows was often very rigid.
You had clean -cut college grads, aspiring models,
people who looked like they belonged in a clothing
catalog. Yeah, the typical pretty people. Right.
But Donato had this gritty, authentic, rock and
roll edge. He looked like he belonged on a tour
bus, not locked in a suburban house set. It gave
him an immediate cool factor. He stood out visually
before he even opened his mouth. But looking
at our notes here, that connection to the rock
world also got him into a bit of trouble in L
.A., didn't it? It did. There were accusations,
which happen a lot in Los Angeles social circles,
that Donato was a name dropper. Oh, the cardinal
sin of Hollywood. Exactly. People accused him
of lying about meeting or dating celebrities
just to make himself seem more important to the
scene. Just a way of saying he's a poser. Yes.
It undermines his authenticity. It's people saying,
oh, you say you know so -and -so. Prove it. Right,
calling his bluff. But he had a pretty good character
witness come to his defense on this one, didn't
he? He did. And it was a witness that carries
a ton of weight in that specific rock subculture.
Who stepped up for him? Dizzy Reed. The keyboardist
for Guns N' Roses. The very same. Dizzy Reed
actually went on record to clear this up. What
did he say? He stated explicitly that Donato
is not a name -dropper. But he went a step further
than that. It wasn't just a simple defense. No,
it was much stronger. Our sources quote Reid
as saying that Donato doesn't drop names. Yeah.
Rather, people drop his name. Wow. That is an
absolute power move. It really is. When a member
of Guns N' Roses says, no, you guys are lucky
to know him, that completely cements your status.
It validated his entire persona. It proved that
he wasn't just some fan on the periphery looking
in. He was a legitimate figure in that rock scene.
He had the respect of the very people he was
emulating. Exactly. So we have the look. We have
the industry connections. We have the attitude.
Now let's talk about that name. Evil Dick. It's
iconic. It sounds like something a wrestling
promoter would come up with in a boardroom. It's
so catchy and descriptive. You would think a
producer pitched it to him. Reality TV is heavily
produced and they love to brand people. They
love to give contestants distinct roles to play.
The hero, the villain, the flirt. Exactly. But
in this case, the brand was entirely self -made.
The producers didn't give him that nickname.
Really? Where did it come from? The nickname
Evil Dick. actually originated from an email
address that Donato had created for himself long
before he ever applied for the show. He literally
gave it to himself. Effectively, yes. He created
the handle for his digital life and it just stuck
with him. I love the irony of that. He chooses
this handle, presumably just to be edgy or maybe
funny in his emails, maybe a warning like, don't
mess with me. And it ends up becoming the way
millions of people refer to him nationally. It's
like he manifested his own destiny with that
email account. He really did. And it speaks to
a very high level of self -awareness. He knew
exactly who he was. He wasn't trying to go on
TV and be nice guy Richard. No, he was fully
comfortable with evil. And that comfort with
being the antagonist is what made him such a
formidable player. He wasn't fighting against
his edit on the show. He was leaning into it
because he had already defined himself that way
for years. That is a great point. He walked in
already wearing the costume. So he enters Big
Brother 8 in 2007. And this is really the main
event of his public life. He doesn't just participate.
He dominates the entire narrative of the season.
He makes history in several distinct ways. First,
we really have to look at the demographics of
his win. Okay, let's look at the numbers. Donato
won Big Brother 8 at the age of 44. Now, in the
real world, 44 is arguably your prime. But in
reality, TV years. That is practically ancient.
It is statistically very significant. These shows,
especially social strategy games like... big
brother, skew heavily towards people in their
early 20s. Yeah, people who have nothing to lose
and want to be on TV. Right. They have the physical
stamina for the endurance challenges and often
they are more socially malleable. They want to
make friends. They want to be liked. They want
to be popular. And at 44, Donato became the show's
oldest winner. A record that really stands out
in the franchise history. He was like the old
man Logan of the house. He had life experience
that the 22 -year -olds just couldn't comprehend.
He probably looked at their petty drama and thought,
I've managed bars in Hollywood, this is nothing.
Precisely. He had a much thicker skin. But, we
have to note, he didn't go into that house alone.
And this is the twist that makes Season 8 so
legendary in the reality TV community. The Donato
duo. His daughter, Danielle Donato. And she was
on the completely other end of the age spectrum,
wasn't she? Yes. She actually turned 21 while
they were competing on the show. So imagine this
context for a second. You are turning 21. It's
a huge milestone. You are in a house with cameras
on you 24 hours a day, completely cut off from
the outside world. And your dad is there. Living
in the same room. And your dad is evil dick.
It is a unique pressure cooker of a situation.
And our sources indicate it wasn't exactly a
happy family vacation. No, there was a lot of
tension. There was deep complexity there. Old
family wounds, current tensions playing out on
camera, but purely from a game perspective. Their
performance together was unprecedented. How did
they end up finishing the season? They are the
only family member pair to win the American Big
Brother program's top two prizes in the same
competition. They completely swept the board
first and second place. Dick won the grand prize
and Danielle was the runner up. That is incredible
dominance. Usually alliances crumble or the rest
of the House targets a pair because they are
too strong and obviously won't vote against each
other. Exactly. But they managed to survive every
single eviction vote to make it to the very end
together. And to round out those stats, while
Dick became the oldest winner, Danielle is noted
as the youngest person to win one of the top
two prizes. So they captured both extreme ends
of the demographic spectrum. They had the youth
appeal and the physical prowess on her end and
the wisdom or at least the aggressive strategy
of age on his end. It's a reality TV dynasty.
But let's go back to that villain idea. Because
you don't get nicknamed Evil Dick and just play
a quiet, polite, under -the -radar game. You
don't just float to the end. No, absolutely not.
He was incredibly aggressive. He was loud. There
are famous scenes of him waking people up by
banging pots and pans together. Total psychological
warfare. He made life miserable for his opponents.
And the fascinating thing is, the industry rewarded
him for it. This is where the awards history
becomes very telling about the pop culture climate
of 2007. Yeah, tell me about the hardware. What
did he actually take home besides the price check?
There was an event called the Fox Reality Really
Awards. The Really Awards. That is so perfectly
mid -2000s. I can practically see the low -rise
jeans and flip phones from here. It was definitely
a different era. But Donato swept these awards.
He won the Golden Rialettini. The Golden Realatini.
Incredible name. And that was for what category?
For favorite reality performer. Which basically
translates to most entertaining. The person the
audience just couldn't look away from. Yes. But
look at the other categories he was in. He was
nominated for, and based on the historical records,
likely one favorite villain. Okay, so he's the
favorite overall performer. A and D, the favorite
villain. It gets better. He was also nominated
for favorite potty mouth. Favorite potty mouth.
I completely forgot that was even a category
back then. It really reflects the censorship
standards of the time. The bleeps were treated
as part of the comedy and the fun of the broadcast.
Right. The more bleeps, the better the TV. And
finally, he was nominated for Best Fight. Who
was the fight with? It was for a specific confrontation
with a contestant named Jen Johnson. Oh, I remember
that one. It was intensely personal and just
constant bickering. So think about that overall
profile for a second. He's winning favorite performer.
while simultaneously winning for being a villain
with a potty mouth who gets into the best fights.
That is a very specific, aggressive niche to
carve out for yourself. He isn't winning congeniality.
He isn't winning best strategist. He's winning
for being a chaos agent. And look at who he beat
out for these awards. He wasn't competing against
unknown people. Not at all. He was up against
Sanjaya Malikar from American Idol. Oh, Sanjaya.
With the hair. He was absolutely massive back
then. He was on the cover of every tabloid magazine.
He was a true cultural phenomenon that year.
And Donato beat him. He was also up against New
York. Tiffany Pollard from Flavor of Love. Who
is arguably the queen of reality TV drama. She
practically invented a whole genre of reactions.
Exactly. Beating the York in a popularity contest
is no small feat. It places him firmly in the
highest pantheon of 2000s reality stars. And
the broader media confirmed this status, right?
You mentioned a specific list from TV Guide in
our sources. Yes. A couple of years later, in
2009, TV Guide put out a definitive list of evil
reality TV villains. And who made the cut on
that list? The absolute heavyweights of the genre.
Simon Cowell. The ultimate mean judge. Gordon
Ramsay. The screaming chef. And right there sitting
next to them, Evil Dick Donato. That completely
elevates him. He's not just a game show contestant
anymore. He's an archetype. He is, to Big Brother,
what Simon Cowell was to American Idol. He is
the standard bearer for being evil on television.
Which raises a really fascinating question about
audience psychology. Why do we vote for the villain?
Yeah, why? Why didn't the public vote for the
nice, quiet person to win the fan -favorite awards?
Why did we actively want the potty mouth who
banged pots and pans to get the glory? I think
it marks a noticeable shift in how the public
consumed reality TV. By 2007, audiences were
savvy. They knew how the sausage was made in
the editing room. They weren't looking for a
documentary anymore. Right. They rewarded gameplay.
They rewarded raw entertainment value. And Donato,
with his constant aggression and his conflict,
was undeniably entertaining. Yeah. He drove the
narrative forward every single week. And in the
economy of attention, the person who drives the
narrative wins the check. That's exactly it.
That makes total sense. We stopped looking for
a moral role model and started looking for a
compelling protagonist. And he was definitely
the protagonist of that season, even if he was
a deeply jagged one. Precisely. He gave the audience
a show. Now, speaking of the check it. Let's
talk about the money, because there is a very
interesting story in the sources about the economics
of his win. Moving into section three, the prize.
Right. So he wins the grand prize, $500 ,000.
What was his stated plan for that money? According
to his public statements at the time, he planned
to use a portion of that money to pay for his
daughter Danielle's college education. Which,
you have to admit, is a very noble, fatherly
thing to do. It's like, I'm going to be the villain
on TV, I'm going to crush everyone emotionally
so my kid can go to school. It humanizes him
a lot. It does humanize him. Yeah. But here's
where it gets tricky with the actual mechanics
of the game rules. Oh, the fine print. I love
the fine print of game shows. Most of these shows...
Big Brother included, have very strict rules
banning the direct splitting of prize winnings
between contestants. Right, because you can't
go into the house on day one and whisper, hey,
if I win, I'll give you half the cash, so let's
just team up. That's collusion. breaks the entire
integrity of the game. If everyone agrees to
split the money, it doesn't matter who actually
wins the final vote. Exactly. You cannot cut
a deal on the prize money. It has to remain highly
competitive. So technically speaking, he couldn't
just write his daughter a check for half the
winnings and call it a split. Right. But. He's
her dad. Yeah. So how do you navigate that legally
within the show's framework? You find the loophole.
The dad loophole. Basically, yes. The rules strictly
ban splitting winnings as a game mechanic or
a bribe, but they don't ban a father from buying
gifts for his daughter or paying for her tuition.
Oh, I see. I'm not giving you half the prize
money as a fellow contestant. I'm just being
a generous father in the real world. Exactly.
And the sources confirm he did exactly that.
In a later episode, specifically an appearance
on March 19, 2008, during Big Brother 9 -12,
Donato came back and revealed exactly what that
spending spree looked like. What did he end up
buying her? He took Danielle to Europe. Nice.
A European vacation is a great way to bond after
locking yourselves in a house for three months.
And he also bought her a red car. A red car.
Very specific detail. It shows that he followed
through on his intent. He successfully navigated
the strict rules against collusion to ensure
that the Donato duo both tangibly benefited from
the overall victory. It really blurs the line,
though, doesn't it, between in -game strategy
and real -life obligation. Like, were they in
alliance because they were playing a brilliant
strategic game, or were they in alliance simply
because they share DNA and real -world bank accounts?
That's the unique feature of having family members
playing in the same game. When you play with
family, the basic economic incentives totally
shift. Because the money goes to the same place
regardless. Right. If I win, we win. That fundamentally
changes how you play. It might actually explain
why they were so incredibly dominant that season.
House. They had a foundational level of trust
and a shared financial goal that two random strangers
meeting on day one could never match. Even if
they hated each other in the moment, they knew
the money was staying in the family. That's a
really great point. Even if they were fighting
personally, which they did, their financial interests
were perfectly aligned the entire time. Exactly.
So let's fast forward a bit in the timeline.
We've had the victory. We've had the red car.
We've had the big European vacation. Now we move
to section four, the return. Season 13. The year
is 2011. The producers decide to bring back a
theme called dynamic duos. And naturally, if
you're bringing back famous duos, you absolutely
have to call Dick and Danielle. It was a highly
anticipated return for the franchise. The fans
were clamoring to see them play again. But the
personal context had changed dramatically since
2007. How so? What happened between them? Well,
reports indicated that prior to season 13, Dick
and Danielle had not spoken to each other for
three years. Wait, three years? Three years of
complete silence. So they went from winning the
show together, going to Europe, buying cars,
to total estrangement. That is what the reports
from the Times say. So when they walked into
the house in 2011, the tension wasn't just about
the game anymore. It wasn't just can we pull
off a second win? No, it was deeply, deeply personal.
The audience was tuned in specifically to see
if they would reconcile on camera or if they
would completely implode. That is absolute TV
gold. That is the exact kind of real world drama
producers dream of capturing. But we didn't actually
get to see much of it play out, did we? No, we
didn't. And this is where the story takes a very
sharp, very serious turn. Walk us through what
happened. Dick left the house abruptly on day
six. Day six. The game has barely even started.
They probably haven't even unpacked their bags
yet. Barely. And the initial explanation given
to the public and to the other house guests was
incredibly vague. He simply cited personal reasons.
The classic PR catch -all. Personal reasons.
And he stated that something bad had happened
to someone close to him. Which usually implies
a family emergency on the outside. Everyone assumes
a relative is sick or there's been a tragedy
back home. That is what everyone assumed. And
it effectively deflected attention away from
himself. But, as we later learned, that was a
cover story. It wasn't someone else who was sick.
No. The personal reason was actually a severe
medical emergency involving Dick himself. And
this is, I mean... This is one of those moments
where the reality of the real world violently
crashes into reality TV. It is. The show's medical
staff, as part of their standard procedure, conducts
routine blood testing on all contestants. Just
to make sure everyone is healthy enough to be
locked in a house. Exactly. They screen for everything,
and the medical staff discovered he was HIV positive.
Wow. And they delivered the news to him while
he was inside the house. Specifically... In the
diary room. Wait, let's pause on that image for
a second. He's sitting in the diary room. Yes,
the show's confessional booth. The diary room
is where you go to complain about someone eating
your peanut butter. It's where you plot your
sneaky strategy. It's fundamentally a game space.
It's a television set. And in that highly artificial
space, a doctor or production staff deliver the
news that he was HIV positive. I can't even imagine
the intense cognitive dissonance of that moment.
You are in full game mode. You're thinking about
vetoes and alliances. You're thinking about winning
the money again. And suddenly you get a diagnosis
that changes the rest of your life. It is a profound
intersection of the trivial and the vital. The
game instantly becomes irrelevant. That completely
explains the immediate departure. He couldn't
stay. He couldn't play. Of course not. So he
leaves. He tells everyone it's a family emergency.
And then he just goes quiet. For a while, yes.
Donato kept the diagnosis private from the public
from 2011 until 2014. That's three years of carrying
that heavy secret. Three years. Dealing with
the reality of the diagnosis, dealing with getting
into treatment, and dealing with the immense
public stigma that still surrounds it. He eventually
decided to go public, though. And, true to his
career, he didn't do it via a standard press
release. He didn't just tweet it out. How did
he do it? He did it on reality television. Really?
Where did he reveal it? On season five of VH1's
Couples Therapy, he was on with Dr. Jen Berman.
Couples Therapy, that's an interesting choice.
Was he explicitly there to talk about the diagnosis?
It seemed to be the venue he deliberately chose
to control his own narrative. On October 1st,
2014, he revealed on the show that he had been
living with HIV since 2011. Did he go into detail
about how it happened? Because I feel like with
a public figure, especially someone known as
a villain with a very cultivated rock and roll
image, the public speculation must have been
rampant. He was actually very candid about it.
He told People magazine around the same time
that he doesn't know the exact moment of contraction.
Which is common, right? The virus can be dormant
for a long time. Yes, very common. But he did
offer a specific speculation. He stated he suspects
it occurred during unprotected sex with a stripper
in Las Vegas. In Vegas. After what he described
as a long night of drinking. It's a very gritty
detail. It fits the rock and roll lifestyle image
he projected. But it's also just it's a very
human mistake. It completely strips away the
evildicta persona and reveals the deep human
vulnerability underneath. It's not cool or edgy
anymore. It's just a stark medical reality. It
shows that the lifestyle he projected had very.
real world risks. Absolutely. And I think that's
what makes this final part of the story so compelling
to look at. You have this guy who is portrayed
as completely invincible in the game. He was
Teflon. He couldn't be evicted. He won the money.
He fought everyone. And then a routine blood
test reminds everyone that he's just a biological
organism like the rest of us. It also brings
up a fascinating issue regarding reality TV production
ethics and public health. If not for being cast
on Big Brother 13, if not for that specific routine
screening mandate. He might not have known his
status until he was much sicker. That's a crazy
thought. The show might have actually saved his
life or at least significantly extended it by
catching the virus early. It's very possible.
Early detection is absolutely key with HIV management.
The show inadvertently acted as a lifesaver.
So he comes out publicly as HIV positive in 2014.
How does this change his overall legacy? Because
up until that moment, he's primarily known as
the villain. Does he become an advocate? He does,
largely simply by being visible. He is listed
in our biographical sources as a prominent person
living with HIV AIDS. By being a public figure,
a winner, a tough guy, a villain living openly
with the virus, he challenges the traditional
stigma. Yeah, he doesn't fit the expected mold.
Right. He isn't the stereotypical victim image.
He's evil dick. He's still loud, he's still highly
opinionated online, but he's actively managing
a chronic condition. It adds so much texture
to his story. It makes him completely three -dimensional.
It really does. It forces the audience to look
back and see him not just as a flat character
in a game, but as a man surviving a very difficult
reality. So let's try to pull all these diverse
threads together because this has been quite
a journey. We have the Keith Richards stand -in
from the movie set. The Los Angeles bar manager.
The father who drags his estranged daughter to
a shared victory. The potty mouth award winner.
And finally, the man living with HIV who found
out in a fake diary room. It is a trajectory
that could only possibly happen in the 21st century.
It is uniquely tied to modern media. It really
is. From a literal standing in someone else's
shadow to becoming the absolute main character.
And we have to remember the central duality here.
We call him evil. We literally gave him physical
awards for being a villain. We cheered when he
fought with people. But the prize money went
to his kid's college tuition. And his dramatic
exit was due to a very private medical crisis.
It really challenges that label, doesn't it?
The word villain. It does. In the isolated bubble
of the game, he was the antagonist. But in the
meta -narrative of his actual life, he's a much
more complex protagonist. He is flawed, certainly,
but he is incredibly resilient. It makes you
wonder about the very nature of these shows we
watch. We cast these real people as characters,
the villain, the sweetheart, the brain. But they
are still people. And real life, you know, viruses,
estranged daughters, aging, it doesn't care about
the script the producers wrote. The reality of
the real world inevitably crashes the party.
No matter how well you play the game inside the
house, you cannot control the biology or the
complex relationships outside of it. And maybe
that's the ultimate takeaway of Richard Donato
for us. You can win the game. You can win the
prize money. You can even win the title of best
villain on television. But at the end of the
day, you're still just a guy who has to deal
with what life throws at you. And sometimes what
life throws at you is vastly harder than any
head of household competition. Ain't that the
truth? What stands out to me the most is that
despite the villain moniker, his story is fundamentally
about survival. Surviving the game, surviving
the intense public scrutiny, and now surviving
the diagnosis. He's a survivor. Evil Dick, the
survivor. It has a nice ring to it, honestly.
It fits perfectly. Well, that is a lot to process.
From the Pirates of the Caribbean set, to the
Big Brother house, to the couples therapy couch.
What a journey. A truly unique slice of pop culture
history. We want to thank you for listening to
this deep dive into the life and game of Dick
Donato. It's a story that reminds us that behind
every character on TV, there's a whole lot of
unscripted reality. Indeed there is. We'll leave
you with this final thought to mull over. In
the age of reality TV, we love the villain. We
actively vote for them. We give them awards.
But how much of that villain is a performance
and how much is the actual person? And does it
even matter once the cameras finally stop rolling?
Something to really think about. Thanks for joining
us. We'll catch you on the next Deep Dive. Goodbye.