A month after the finale of The White Lotus has aired, the entire world is still speculating about the series. Which season is the best? Where will the next season take place? How will creator Mike White top himself again?
Every season has turned heads between its surprising twists, larger-than-life characters, and beautiful scenery. But that description sounds like another show that might be surprising: Survivor. Yes, 25 years after Survivor first aired in May 2000, its legacy has found another foothold in inspiring The White Lotus.
Before he created The White Lotus, Mike White had a long history in film and television. He wrote and acted in School of Rock as Ned Schneebly, Jack Black’s bumbling best friend whose lack of setting boundaries leads to the film’s central plot. He also created HBO’s Enlightened, as well as the indie film, Chuck & Buck. But Mike’s influence on television goes further than fiction — his love of reality television led to his direct involvement with Survivor.
Mike White, the creator of ‘The White Lotus’ was also a contestant on ‘Survivor.’
For the White Lotus fans who are unfamiliar with Survivor, it is a reality show in which 16 to 20 strangers are put to the ultimate test: Outwit, Outplay, Outlast. The winner is awarded with $1 million, but unlike many other shows, the players who have been voted out are the same people who choose the winner. So while Survivor was first conceived with the idea that normal people are forced to survive in the wilderness as a tribe while playing against one another, it eventually morphed into a game of social stratagem.
In Season 1, which was filmed in Borneo, the winner was dubbed a villain because of his idea to form an alliance. With just three people voting together to take out other players, they were able to navigate their way to the end. In modern-day Survivor, however, alliances are expected to form and expected to be broken. There are hidden advantages, risks, and throughout the game, players compete in grueling physical and mental challenges. Survivor truly pushes people to their limits as they are removed from the real world, which has their friends, family, and creature comforts, and put into a high-stress situation with very little food and sleep.
As the game has developed through 48 seasons and 25 years, so has the storytelling and editing, which is mainly character-driven as producers find plotlines through the chaos of the game. So naturally, a show like Survivor would appeal to a writer like Mike White, who loves to tell the story of an underdog and finds fascination in different types of relationships.
He always called himself a “superfan” of Survivor, but he still had to go through the traditional casting process, despite his semi-celebrity status. Mike was finally cast in Season 37, David vs. Goliath, which was filmed in TK. He was on the “Goliath” tribe because of his Hollywood success, but as he shared on the show, he felt like a “David” throughout much of his life as a seemingly dorky gay man.
The season, which was full of several electric and memorable players who have yet to return to Survivor, is considered one of the best in the show’s record-breaking history. Without giving away any spoilers, Mike was a favorite of the season between his innate ability to narrate the story of the season, witty and genuine confessionals, and his adaptability in any situation. He lived in his favorite show, and about five years later, the first season of The White Lotus came to fruition.
Between the three seasons of The White Lotus, two elements stand out — the music and the scenery. Whether we’re in Hawaii, Sicily, or Thailand, the visual transitions of wildlife mimic those in Survivor. In fact, Mike even 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.”
At eight years old, I would sing the tribal-themed tune of the Survivor theme song every week, and it still lives rent-free in my head. The title song of The White Lotus is so catchy, with such a driving beat and thematic melody, that people even started watching the show just because of it. Both shows use visual and musical themes to communicate an underlying tension, letting the form drive the function of telling a story of betrayal amidst beauty.
While The White Lotus is a work of fiction, something we can always expect from it is some sort of twist on the way to the ending. In Survivor, we know that people will be voted out until one person is voted the winner. In each season of The White Lotus, we know how it will end, whether with a death or a gunshot or a body bag, but we have no idea how we get there and who is involved.
Mike lets the White Lotus stories unfold and interweave in a way that gives us both a satisfying and surprising ending, which is what Survivor aims to do each season. And while action takes a front seat in both series between Survivor’s challenges and The White Lotus’s murder mysteries, the characters are what drives them.
In Survivor’s 48 seasons, real people have built friendships, relationships, and even families, as well as formed enemies, betrayed one another, and experienced the sting of loss. They were placed into new environments with new people. The host of Survivor, Jeff Probst, often calls Survivor the greatest social experiment. When we strip away life’s luxuries and even basic necessities, put $1 million at stake, and force competitors to rely on each other to survive, what will unfold?
In many ways, The White Lotus is a similar thought experiment, but almost in reverse. We are shown different groups of people at the peak of wealth, able to afford the most luxurious vacation. But with every one of life’s luxuries handed to them, what does this bring out in their interactions? In Season 3, several characters question their relationship with faith and material needs, while others realize how the bonds of friendship are deeper than the insecurities that lead to our flaws. But the pinnacle is when Walton Goggins’ character, TK, has clearly lived his entire life in “survival mode” after being traumatized with the loss of his father at a young age. Even with any luxury any of us could ask for, living in survival mode caused him to make decisions that would eventually lead to the ultimate betrayal.
While The White Lotus is fictional, yet deals with life and death, it easily draws from Survivor’s non-fiction storylines and relationships, which are all informed by the players’ life and death in the game. Mike White took his love of Survivor, and asked, “What if we isolated a group of strangers, but instead of being forced to survive the wilderness, they’re given every luxury imaginable?”
Instead of finding hidden immunity idols, characters discover secrets throughout the resort. Instead of forming and betraying alliances, characters make promises to one another, only for those to unravel throughout each season. Instead of competing in grueling physical and mental challenges, characters are forced to reckon with their own values as they attempt to let loose and enjoy a vacation amidst their own personal struggles outside of the resort.
As seasons of both shows unravel, we learn more about the characters’ true intentions, strategies, and senses of self. They become more in touch with their truths, which can be deadly for some and rewarding for others. So for the Survivor fans out there who have yet to watch The White Lotus, this is your calling to pick up the remote and dial HBO.
Every season has turned heads between its surprising twists, larger-than-life characters, and beautiful scenery. But that description sounds like another show that might be surprising: Survivor. Yes, 25 years after Survivor first aired in May 2000, its legacy has found another foothold in inspiring The White Lotus.
Before he created The White Lotus, Mike White had a long history in film and television. He wrote and acted in School of Rock as Ned Schneebly, Jack Black’s bumbling best friend whose lack of setting boundaries leads to the film’s central plot. He also created HBO’s Enlightened, as well as the indie film, Chuck & Buck. But Mike’s influence on television goes further than fiction — his love of reality television led to his direct involvement with Survivor.
Mike White loved Survivor so much that he went on the show in Season 37.
Mike White, the creator of ‘The White Lotus’ was also a contestant on ‘Survivor.’
For the White Lotus fans who are unfamiliar with Survivor, it is a reality show in which 16 to 20 strangers are put to the ultimate test: Outwit, Outplay, Outlast. The winner is awarded with $1 million, but unlike many other shows, the players who have been voted out are the same people who choose the winner. So while Survivor was first conceived with the idea that normal people are forced to survive in the wilderness as a tribe while playing against one another, it eventually morphed into a game of social stratagem.
In Season 1, which was filmed in Borneo, the winner was dubbed a villain because of his idea to form an alliance. With just three people voting together to take out other players, they were able to navigate their way to the end. In modern-day Survivor, however, alliances are expected to form and expected to be broken. There are hidden advantages, risks, and throughout the game, players compete in grueling physical and mental challenges. Survivor truly pushes people to their limits as they are removed from the real world, which has their friends, family, and creature comforts, and put into a high-stress situation with very little food and sleep.
As the game has developed through 48 seasons and 25 years, so has the storytelling and editing, which is mainly character-driven as producers find plotlines through the chaos of the game. So naturally, a show like Survivor would appeal to a writer like Mike White, who loves to tell the story of an underdog and finds fascination in different types of relationships.
He always called himself a “superfan” of Survivor, but he still had to go through the traditional casting process, despite his semi-celebrity status. Mike was finally cast in Season 37, David vs. Goliath, which was filmed in TK. He was on the “Goliath” tribe because of his Hollywood success, but as he shared on the show, he felt like a “David” throughout much of his life as a seemingly dorky gay man.
The season, which was full of several electric and memorable players who have yet to return to Survivor, is considered one of the best in the show’s record-breaking history. Without giving away any spoilers, Mike was a favorite of the season between his innate ability to narrate the story of the season, witty and genuine confessionals, and his adaptability in any situation. He lived in his favorite show, and about five years later, the first season of The White Lotus came to fruition.
In many ways, The White Lotus shares its DNA with Survivor.
Between the three seasons of The White Lotus, two elements stand out — the music and the scenery. Whether we’re in Hawaii, Sicily, or Thailand, the visual transitions of wildlife mimic those in Survivor. In fact, Mike even 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.”
At eight years old, I would sing the tribal-themed tune of the Survivor theme song every week, and it still lives rent-free in my head. The title song of The White Lotus is so catchy, with such a driving beat and thematic melody, that people even started watching the show just because of it. Both shows use visual and musical themes to communicate an underlying tension, letting the form drive the function of telling a story of betrayal amidst beauty.
While The White Lotus is a work of fiction, something we can always expect from it is some sort of twist on the way to the ending. In Survivor, we know that people will be voted out until one person is voted the winner. In each season of The White Lotus, we know how it will end, whether with a death or a gunshot or a body bag, but we have no idea how we get there and who is involved.
Mike lets the White Lotus stories unfold and interweave in a way that gives us both a satisfying and surprising ending, which is what Survivor aims to do each season. And while action takes a front seat in both series between Survivor’s challenges and The White Lotus’s murder mysteries, the characters are what drives them.
In Survivor’s 48 seasons, real people have built friendships, relationships, and even families, as well as formed enemies, betrayed one another, and experienced the sting of loss. They were placed into new environments with new people. The host of Survivor, Jeff Probst, often calls Survivor the greatest social experiment. When we strip away life’s luxuries and even basic necessities, put $1 million at stake, and force competitors to rely on each other to survive, what will unfold?
In many ways, The White Lotus is a similar thought experiment, but almost in reverse. We are shown different groups of people at the peak of wealth, able to afford the most luxurious vacation. But with every one of life’s luxuries handed to them, what does this bring out in their interactions? In Season 3, several characters question their relationship with faith and material needs, while others realize how the bonds of friendship are deeper than the insecurities that lead to our flaws. But the pinnacle is when Walton Goggins’ character, TK, has clearly lived his entire life in “survival mode” after being traumatized with the loss of his father at a young age. Even with any luxury any of us could ask for, living in survival mode caused him to make decisions that would eventually lead to the ultimate betrayal.
While The White Lotus is fictional, yet deals with life and death, it easily draws from Survivor’s non-fiction storylines and relationships, which are all informed by the players’ life and death in the game. Mike White took his love of Survivor, and asked, “What if we isolated a group of strangers, but instead of being forced to survive the wilderness, they’re given every luxury imaginable?”
Instead of finding hidden immunity idols, characters discover secrets throughout the resort. Instead of forming and betraying alliances, characters make promises to one another, only for those to unravel throughout each season. Instead of competing in grueling physical and mental challenges, characters are forced to reckon with their own values as they attempt to let loose and enjoy a vacation amidst their own personal struggles outside of the resort.
As seasons of both shows unravel, we learn more about the characters’ true intentions, strategies, and senses of self. They become more in touch with their truths, which can be deadly for some and rewarding for others. So for the Survivor fans out there who have yet to watch The White Lotus, this is your calling to pick up the remote and dial HBO.