Mike White got candid about the Survivor fan base, as the acclaimed director returns for his second run on the reality TV show.
Appearing on Jimmy Fallon’s Tonight Show, White explained why he decided to join Survivor 50: In the Hands of the Fans, a season commemorating 25 years of the show, while giving special power to the fans. This time around, fans were provided the opportunity to vote on key elements for the show. But this power, as White jokes, became dangerous.
“The fans—they suck,” White said. “Because the fans are, like, cruel.”
“No, the fans are great!” Fallon responded.
White called them “sadistic,” but sarcastically added, “I mean, I love fans. Thank you, fans.”
White is no stranger to the process. His first stint on the show was during its 37th season, Survivor: David vs. Goliath, which aired in 2018.
This time, the White Lotus creator is among 23 other players fighting it out in the wilderness of Fiji once again.
White explained that he didn’t want to “miss out on something that could be super cool.”
“I never thought it would work with my schedule, but then when I found out the dates, I was like, ‘I actually could go,’” he said. “That would be so gnarly to go again.” He explained that he had “a great time the first time” but that it’s easy to “forget how actually totally hellish” it can be.
But White was so intent on participating again that he texted Jeff Probst, the longtime Survivor host, to ask whether he could join the show’s 50th season.
Probst said it was “the fastest yes.”
White was so keen to compete once again that he even changed the production schedule of the highly-anticipated fourth season of The White Lotus. The upcoming segment of the HBO satirical drama, set in France this time, will start filming in April.
Probst said it was entirely White’s decision, telling Variety, “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.’”
Probst said that this latest season is “unlike anything” they have done before. “For the first time ever,” he said in a statement prior to the season’s release, “Our loyal fans will take control, deciding key elements of the game, from twists to idols to advantages.”
The latest season of Survivor, which White told Fallon is a “cultural milestone,” premiered on February 25 on CBS.
