The White Lotus creator Mike White surprised Survivor viewers with an update on the next chapter of the HBO series on Wednesday.
Just before Survivor crowned its 50th winner on Wednesday, White, a two-time former contestant, called in to the show’s live finale broadcast to reveal that two current contestants will appear in the upcoming season.
“Everybody’s invited,” White, 55, told Survivor host Jeff Probst via a video call, “but there are gonna be two contestants that we’re flying out to be in the show. And they are Charlie [Davis] and Kamilla [Karthigesu].”
White, Davis, and Karthigesu lasted less than half of the game show’s 50th season, being voted out fourth, sixth, and seventh, respectively.
While Survivor cameos have become a mainstay of The White Lotus since its first season, as White has consistently incorporated contestant cameos into the show, Wednesday marked the first time he’s announced who will appear.
Six of White’s Survivor: David vs. Goliath co-contestants joined the drama in its first three seasons, including Alec Merlino, Angelina Keeley, Kara Kay, Natalie Cole, Carl Boudreaux, and Chris Hubicki, who returned for Survivor: 50 alongside White.
Much like their runs on Survivor, Davis and Karthigesu’s White Lotus appearances will likely be brief.
White, who delayed filming his Emmy-winning show to participate in the game show for a second time, wrote the script for Season 4 immediately after being voted off.
“It took a day to nurse my wounds, but then after that I got to work,” he said during the finale. “Nobody knew where I was. I didn’t have a phone. So just being able to write White Lotus Season 4 was a gift in itself. So thank you."
White said in an interview with CBS Mornings in March that he was disappointed to be voted off so early in the season, and by Hubicki. “Honestly, I was definitely blindsided,” he said at the time. “I was very confused, I guess I’m not as good a Survivor player as I thought I was.”
White’s Wednesday reveal was briefly upstaged by an embarrassing blunder by Probst, 64, who accidentally revealed that fan-favorite contestant Rizo “Rizgod” Velovic had lost the final fire-making challenge before the footage was broadcast—leaving the contestants and audience speechless.
“I’m not even sure what’s happened,” Probst then said, visibly confused, before the show cut to an impromptu commercial break. When it returned, the host tried to play off the mistake as “the last twist of the season,” dubbing it “a peek into the future.”
“I love doing live television,” he quipped.
The White Lotus‘s fourth season had a blunder of its own ahead of its upcoming season, when Oscar nominee Helena Bonham Carter abruptly exited the show after just one week of filming. Her last-minute cast departure left the show scrambling to find a new actress after her and White’s visions for the character “did not align once on set.”
The “creative differences” arose out of White’s “demand for a boisterous performance,” according to Variety.
Bonham Carter was swiftly replaced by Oscar-winner Laura Dern, 59, who worked with White on two previous projects—Year of the Dog and Enlightenment. Dern joins a star-studded cast featuring Steve Coogan, Kumail Nanjiani, Max Greenfield, and fellow Oscar winner Ben Kingsley.
The White Lotus Season 4 has not yet set an official release date.
