"Oh, so burning the sock "threw them off kilter." Okay. I missed that."

Well, it did. From their interviews we see that it caused Betsy to question Liz and Mike to think everyone was dumb (unless they are saying what CBS wants them to say):

Interviewer: Now you mentioned Russell dumping out the water. Also, he burned Jaison and Marisa’s socks. Was there any clue this kind of sabotage was going on?

Betsy Bolan: I had no idea, and I had a pair of socks missing too! Russell’s plan did work, because I was aggravated with Liz because I thought she was wearing my socks.

Mike: People were drying their socks on a stick, and I said “Don’t put them over the fire or they’ll burn.” And they did. And I said, “I told you, jerks.” I thought the wind was blowing them in.

OK, I'll give you that "oil tycoon" and villain is a fortuitous match but there are slimy folks in the oil business.

About Hatch being the only "villain" to have won; it may depend on your definition of villain but Brian, Chris, Todd and Parvati did more backstabbing than Hatch ever did. I don't consider any of them villains, just good schemers but that's another story.

(Strangely, JT lied and backstabbed as much as all of them but no one calls him a villain. His southern charm was really powerful.)