The White Lotus creator Mike White joins the cast of Survivor 50
White is one of 24 returning Survivor players who will compete in the show's 50th season, expected to air in Spring 2026
By Gary Grimes
Mike White, best known as the writer and creator of The White Lotus, is set to return to reality television as he has been announced as joining the cast of Survivor‘s upcoming 50th season.
White, who also wrote and starred in the 2003 Jack Black comedy School of Rock, previously competed on legendary reality show’s 37th season, Survivor: David vs. Goliath, which is regarded to be one of the show’s best.
In fact, he has straddled the worlds of TV/film writing and reality television for most of his career, having also competed on two seasons of The Amazing Race, whilst having also co-created the Laura Dern-fronted dramedy Enlighted for HBO.
The Emmy Award-winning writer is one of 24 returning Survivor players who will complete the cast of this milestone anniversary series, which also boasts the likes of Season 45 winner Dee Valladares and Season 46’s Charlie Davis, as well as veteran players like Colby Donaldson, who competed in Seasons 2, 8 and 20, and Stephenie LaGrossa Kendrick, featured in Seasons 10, 11 and 20.
White eventually placed runner-up in Survivor: David vs. Goliath, and was regarded as being a key strategic force in the season.
The White Lotus creator, who identifies as bisexual, has admitted that his love for Survivor has influenced how he makes his hit HBO series, which has featured many queer storylines over the years and helped to raise the profile of stars like Jennifer Coolidge, Murray Bartlett, Lukas Gage and Sydney Sweeney.
“Survivor is not that dissimilar, which is a lot of times just people kind of kvetching about who’s tending the fire, or they’re hangry because they haven’t had anything to eat—but then the music is making it feel like this is going to end up bad for somebody,” White previously told NPR.
“You have these transitions of sharks in the water. I was like, ‘We do that in White Lotus.’ I have to cop to being influenced by Survivor and these shows where you have a device that makes it feel like it’s a built-in cliff-hanger.”
White has also had many of his David vs. Goliath castmates make cameos in the background of The White Lotus as hotel guests lounging by the pool or working behind the bar.
The 50th season of Survivor is expected to air in Spring 2026 on CBS and streaming on Paramount+.