'White Lotus' Creator Mike White Slated for a Return to Reality TV on 50th Season of 'Survivor'

"The White Lotus" writer-director Mike White doesn't just write stories about clashing characters on exotic outings; he competes on reality shows that are, in a way, not that much different.

White, 54, appeared on two seasons of "The Amazing Race" with his father Mel (a onetime ghostwriter for religious right figures like Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell; Mel came out as gay in the mid-1990s). He followed that up with a stint on "Survivor" in that show's 37th season (in 2018), placing second (the winner was Nick Wilson).

Now White is returning to the island-set competition reality show, which boasts conditions markedly less plush than the pampering that guests at the fictional "White Lotus" resorts enjoy. Subtitled "In the Hands of the Fans," the Season 50 edition of the show is stocked with competitors from past seasons, including several fourth- and fifth-time contestants.

@cbssurvivor It's official. #Survivor50 here we go 🔥 . . . #Survivor #cast #announcement
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"Mike, after he finished playing, said, 'I want to play again,'" The Hollywood Reporter quoted "Survivor" executive producer Jeff Probst (who also hosts the show) telling CBS Mornings about White's casting.

Probst all but wrote off that possibility with the enormous success of "The White Lotus," but White was determined to compete again. Probst recalled that White "kept texting and saying, 'Look, I'm serious. If you ever do anything where you have returning players, I want to play again.'" That's exactly what's happening with the show's upcoming 50th season.

White explained his obsession with the show to The New Yorker in a 2021 interview, THR recalled, telling the magazine, "'Survivor' is the only show I really devotedly watch, even though I get frustrated with it."

"I still feel like, even on the most contrived reality show, the people are human and they're more interesting than some of the most well-scripted drama," the filmmaker and TV creator went on to add. "And for me, as a writer of drama, I aspire to do what reality television already does: To create characters that are surprising and dimensional and do weird shit and capture your attention."

White had offered the thought that he would not be brought back to "Survivor," which only demonstrates that TV, like life, is full of surprises.

"Probst is like, 'Let's be real - you're never going to go on the show again,'" White told the New Yorker. "I was like, 'Really? Why?' We are friends.... I think the fact that we've become close is probably why he says that."

Added the runner-up: "Now that Probst knows I can get to the end, I don't think he wants there to be a chance of that happening again."

And yet, here we are. How will Mike White fare on the new season of "Survivor?"