As a slight
clarification to
bitter_engineer's post, Richards was never a felon in the book, he was working to get the
ridiculous amounts of prize money because his daughter was
dying of the flu. He was never intended to win in the novel, either, it required hiding from the
Hunters and the people for an entire month (although it did carry a prize of 1 billion New Dollars).
Also, the hunters didn't rely on hidden cameras to find him, instead offering cash prizes to confirmed sightings (100
New Dollars for a
confirmed sighting, 1000 ND for a sighting leading to a kill), and paying by the foot for film of him. Along with offering
prizes for sighting them, they used the game show to make the people hate them, such as using the fact that he killed five young, married
police officers in a fire, while receiving a 100 ND prize for each of them.