When Mike White first joined “Survivor” in Season 37, aka “Survivor: David vs. Goliath,” he wasn’t exactly a household name in Hollywood. He was an actor and filmmaker, with certainly a few titles under his belt, but he had nowhere the same influence he has now.
After all, ever since the first season of “The White Lotus” in 2021, White has been behind one of the biggest TV phenomenas in the past few years. But, as he joins the all-star cast of “Survivor” season 50, he’s hoping to keep his Emmy-winning show out of the spotlight.
Mike White Wants to Steer Clear of ‘The White Lotus’
CBSIn a recent interview with Parade, White opened up about wanting to keep the star-studded TV show out of the competition show.
“I mean, honestly, being here, I don’t really want to think about White Lotus,” he told the outet. “I don’t want to talk about White Lotus. I don’t really see myself dangling that.”
According to White, he wants to keep the subject away partly because he doesn’t know how his other contestants would react. Would they be interested in the show? Or cast him out for his fame?
“The truth is, I don’t really know what anyone’s perception of me is,” he admitted. “So, yeah, maybe people will be nicer to me because of it, or maybe people will have some kind of beef about that or something, or thinking, ‘Why is he here?’ It’s hard to know.”
“If I assume, it’ll probably not be necessarily a bad thing,” he continued. “But I could also see it be like, ‘We don’t know who to vote for. Oh, Mike doesn’t need the money. Maybe just get rid of him. He’ll be fine.’”
Mike White Already Has Alliances in Mind for ‘Survivor 50’
Speaking to People before Season 50’s filming began, White revealed that he was hopeful his “David vs. Goliath” co-stars, Angelina Keeley and Christian Hubicki, would “want to play with me.”
While his relationship with fellow finalist Keeley is all-but a shoo-in, given their tight-knit alliance on their original season, White’s position with Hubicki is a bit more precarious.
“I did vote Christian out,” White admitted, but revealed that he’s stayed friends with the robotics professor outside of the game, even offering Hubicki a cameo in Season 3 of “The White Lotus.”
“There’s your ‘Survivor’ relationship, and then there’s your out of game relationship,” White said.
Despite his intentions to maintain a tight three-person alliance with his “David vs. Goliath” co-stars, however, White confirmed he’ll be focused on making it to the end of the competition, no matter what it takes.
“I want to play with [Christian and Angelina], but I’m not going down with that ship,” he argued. “I am going to play my own game.”
Fans of “Survivor” and “The White Lotus” can catch Mike White and the rest of the milestone season’s record-breaking cast storm the beaches of Fiji once more during the highly-anticipated premiere of “Survivor 50: In the Hands of the Fans” on Wednesday, February 25 at 8:00pm ET, exclusively on CBS.
