Like the program itself, Richard Hatch, a Rhode Island corporate trainer and the least likable of the Survivor castaways, successfully defied the odds -- and, in the process, captured the $1 million top prize on the hit reality show Wednesday night.

Earlier in the day, Bloomberg News reported that the Las Vegas Hilton had tapped Kelly Wiglesworth to win at 2-1 odds, followed by truck driver Susan Hawk at 4-1, Retired Navy Seal Rudy Boesch at 5-2 and Hatch at 5-1. The online Hollywood Stock Exchange, where people trade virtual shares in showbiz celebrities, movies and the like, figured Boesch's stock to be worth the most; Hatch's, the least.

A poll by CBS.com had Boesch winning with the most votes, 53.2 percent, Hatch receiving the fewest, 11.8 percent. Hatch himself said during an interview on The Early Show with Bryant Gumbel this morning (Thursday) that as the final vote was being cast, "I actually was trying to get myself ready for not getting it. I was pretty sure that I might not win. ... I was surprised when I won."

Source: Studio Briefing