• The White Lotus creator, Mike White, is a huge fan of Survivor
  • He has even competed on the long-running reality show
  • Here are all the easter eggs he has included in his HBO series
The White Lotus season 3 is coming.
The White Lotus season 3 is on HBO now Credit: Imago

The White Lotus is created by Mike White. The showrunner boasts an impressive list of credits. Among these include School of Rock, Dawson’s Creek, Freaks and Geeks and the Englightened.

One thing you might not know about the HBO stalwart is that he loves Survivor. White loves the CBS reality show so much that in 2018, he starred in the 37th season, known as Survivor: David and Goliath and earned second place.

Read more: The White Lotus season 3 episode 2 confirms Oscar winner cameo

Despite missing out on the top spot, White has paid tribute to the Jeff Probst-fronted show on every single series of The White Lotus. Even the most eagle-eyed fan might have missed them, so we thought it would be good to bring them to your attention.

Here are all of Mike White’s Survivor Easter eggs in The White Lotus.

The White Lotus Maui hired some of the Survivor contestants as bartenders

When the show first debuted in 2021, it was set in the Hawaii location of The White Lotus empire. When casting bartenders to serve drinks to the characters played by Sydney Sweeney, Jennifer Coolidge and Jake Lacey, White looked at Survivor’s cast list. He opted to get Alec Merlino and his perfectly styled hair to appear.

Read more: What happened in The White Lotus’ first season?

Survivor contestants got to live La Dolce Vita in season two

Before Meghann Fahy’s character Daphne discovered the dead bodies during what was supposed to be one final swim in Sicily, she had a natter with two of the reality show’s contestants, Angelina Keeley and Kara. Both ladies were part of the last four standing on White’s season.

Of the gig, Kay told Vulture, “A lot of it is how people deal with others and how we’re all human at the root of it. Survivor is about winning by being cunning and strong. In White Lotus One, winning is about money and socioeconomic levels. With White Lotus two, it’s about sexual politics and power.”

The White Lotus got a controversial guest to check in Thailand

The two guests that hotel spa manager-on-tour Belinda clocks and then tells her son how impressed are Black are also Survivor alum.

The couple, who she nods at as they sit down to dinner on her first night in Thailand, are played by Natalie Cole and Carl Boudreaux. During their time on the show, the pair were mortal enemies after one sent the other home.

Recently, Cole explained how they made up at a wedding to Entertainment Weekly, “When we finally caught each other’s eyes, I waved at him, and oh my god, he ran across the room and threw himself into a hug with me and said, ‘I thought you were mad at me!’ And I said, ‘No, when I first came off [the show] I was, but it’s a game, and I recognise that, and I’m cool.”

“The fact that he could look beyond the way he felt about me in Fiji and ask me to come do a part speaks volumes about him as a person … Initially, he thought he was never going to speak to me again!,” she continued.

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Clara Hill
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