Hatch Defends Himself

August 23 -- After being arrested and charged with domestic assault, Survivor winner Richard Hatch says he used "the least amount of force possible" in an altercation with an ex-boyfriend.

The reality-show contestant said on his Boston radio show yesterday that he was merely trying to keep jealous ex-boyfriend Glenn Boyanowski from forcibly entering his home.

"This guy I was dating is not stable. … He's got an anger problem and many other addictive problems. He'd been working on them, but not well enough. … The judge granted [my] order of protection against him. He knows what happened," said Hatch.

Hatch told Access Hollywood, "I used the least amount of force possible to simply keep him out of my home. Why am I arrested?"

Boyanowski is telling a different story, reports the showbiz program, alleging that Hatch grabbed him around the neck, hit him on the head, kneed him in the mouth, and then pushed him down a flight of stairs.

Although Hatch joked on his show that he had staged the stunt "because [his] 15 minutes are almost up," he told Access Hollywood, "This drama is unnecessary; I don't care it for. I'd rather it not be here, but it's part of this strange world we live in."

Hatch had been set to tape the first gay installment of Blind Date, but producers of the syndicated television show have postponed that episode "until the pending allegations are resolved," according to TV Guide.