Mike White Says He Was “Blindside” by Survivor 50 Elimination

Comparing Christian’s game play to “the playground,” Mike still doesn’t understand why he decided to stick with the ladies.

“It was like, ‘Really you want to play with Emily and not me?’ he told the morning show hosts. “I'm fine. Like I feel like I would be fun to have to play the game with. It wasn't so much betrayal.” 

As for Christan’s decision blowing the chance of a cameo on the forthcoming season of The White Lotus? Mike admits he already had some screentime in season three.

“He showed up to Thailand in last season and got himself on the show,” Mike, 55, quipped. “So, I guess maybe he got his cameo and was like screw it.”  

To that end, Mike admitted he was naive to think that the contestants wouldn’t let his notoriety from the beloved HBO series impact the way they saw him in the game. 

“I guess in my head, I thought maybe I could escape White Lotus,” he said. “I thought that I could escape that identity of it and play the game with a bunch of people who don’t care about that and it turned out like, ‘Yeah I am that guy.’ I think when you become kind of famous in some way, you always want to know how people will react to you when you’re free of all that.”

“I guess I still had this fantasy of being able to shed that,” he added. “And then you go and you realize, it’s baked into you. It’s part of the deal.” 

Since his exit from Fiji, White Lotus has been in the forefront as Mike is on location in the South of France for season four, which counts Chris Messina, Helena Bonham Carter,  Steve Coogan and AJ Michalka among its ensemble cast. 

As for what fans can expect from the star-studded season? Something new.

“There’s so many more people in it,” he teased. “And there’s going to be different than any of the other seasons. I think it’s going to be pretty fun.”