Some things are just worth pausing your hit TV show for.
When The White Lotus creator Mike White, 55, texted Survivor host Jeff Probst asking to be in the show’s 50th season, Probst responded as quickly as he could.
“That was the fastest yes,” Probst, 64, told Vanity Fair.
Probst said he was hesitant to reach out to White, who nearly won the game show in 2018, because of White’s popular HBO show. But it was White, who recently completed an awards campaign in which his show received 23 Emmy nominations, who offered to delay his own show.
“It was Mike who called me and said, ‘Just saying, if you end up ever doing something where you need returning players, I want to play again,’” Probst said. “That was before White Lotus hit. And I thought, ‘Well, that’ll never happen.’ And then when we started talking about 50, Mike texted and said, ‘If you’re doing returning players for 50, please consider me.’”
Earlier this year, Variety announced that The White Lotus Season 4 would begin shooting in April, more than two years after the previous season’s production began. Probst wanted to clear himself of any blame.
“So I just want to be clear, we did not go ask Mike White, ‘please change your White Lotus schedule.’ He said, ‘I will change my White Lotus schedule if you’ll have me.’
White is no stranger to extended production timelines.
Fans of his show waited 14 months between the first and second seasons, and more than two years between the second and third seasons. If the trend continues, White Lotus viewers can expect to wait another 15 months before the show returns.
But for White, returning to Fiji was a rare opportunity to step away from his show.
“I honestly felt like I needed to do something where I wasn’t thinking about the show. I needed a real break from it. Survivor felt like something where I would be completely focused on the game, totally engaged, and it would be a nice break for my own headspace," White told Men’s Health earlier this week. “Obviously, I’m into the show—it’s my show—but you can only consume so much of one thing. I like birthday cake, but I don’t eat birthday cake every meal."
Two years before creating White Lotus, White finished as runner-up on Survivor: David vs. Goliath. He has cited the experience as an inspiration for plot points in his show.
“I feel like I haven’t really had time in the last five years. I feel like I’ve had my finger in an electric socket for five years, and to just pull it out and take stock a little bit,” White told Men’s Health. “And I know it’s a weird way to get a vacation, but I think even for every player there’s a lot of reflective time. I just don’t think if you go to the Four Seasons in Tahiti that you’re gonna have the same kind of thing that you’re getting here.”
He will return for Survivor 50, which premieres on CBS on February 25.
