White Lotus creator Mike White is second-guessing his decision to return for Survivor Season 50. “It’s like childbirth,” he explained. “Not that I have given birth to a child, but you know what I mean.”
“I had such a great time the first time,” he added. “[But] it’s quite hellish. Unless you really want it, and you want to just sit in the dirt, in the mud, and die — starve, basically.”
As the runner-up on Survivor: David vs. Goliath in 2018, Mike was a relative unknown, but now that he’s entered the Hollywood stratosphere with Lotus’ massive success, his fame could work against him.
The White Lotus creator is being honest about Survivor fans
“Survivor 50, that’s a huge deal,” Mike said on his February 25 appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. “It’s a cultural milestone. I don’t want to miss out on something that could be super cool. I never thought it would work with my schedule, but then I found out the dates and I was like, ‘I actually could go.’ That would be so gnarly to go again.”
Yet this season will be different. As Jimmy pointed out, this season of Survivor is subtitled “In the Hands of the Fans.” Fans were able to vote on different aspects of the game, prompting Mike to say, “The fans, they suck.”
“The fans are sadistic,” he continued. “I mean, great. Thanks, fans. I love fans … Thank you, fans.”
The writer/producer went on to say that Survivor is “really hard.” I don’t think anybody who’s watched it would argue with that.
“The hardest parts [of the show] were the parts that there were no cameras,” Mike admitted. “As long as there were cameras, I was like, ‘Oh, OK.’ … I’m suffering, but people are going to watch this suffering.”
“It’s the moments where you’re waiting to go to a challenge, and … you’re just in the dirt, you’re like, ‘Why did I do this?’” he added. “I need cameras to suffer.”
In a clip from the show, host Jeff Probst asked why he chose to return to Survivor, following his White Lotus success.
“I have major FOMO issues,” he confessed. “And I was like, ‘If you guys are going to be down there, I’m going to be down here too.’ I want a front-row seat.”
Survivor Season 50 airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on CBS. It streams the next day on Paramount+.
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