Mike White's 5 Best Survivor Moments Ranked

Mike White is known as the writer and creator of "The White Lotus," an HBO drama series that follows wealthy people on their vacations at the titular luxury resort. However, before "The White Lotus" debuted in 2021, reality competition fans knew White from "The Amazing Race" and "Survivor." He competed on the former in Season 14 and Season 18 with his father, and he later appeared on one of the best seasons of "Survivor," Season 37: David & Goliath. 

He was a strong competitor as a member of the Goliath tribe, making it to the final three and becoming the runner-up with three votes from the jury. White enjoyed himself so much that he's back for "Survivor 50" alongside fellow "David & Goliath" cast members Angelina Keeley and Christian Hubicki. "The first time I played, I wanted to have a great experience. I was afraid I'd get voted out early," White told The Hollywood Reporter. "This time around, I've already had the great 'Survivor' experience so I'm feeling less fearful."

We recommend rewatching Season 37 to get a feel for how White plays the game and see how he made it to Day 39 on "Survivor" the first time around. In watching his time on Fiji's Mamanuca Islands, his humor and personality shine through, from funny quotes to challenge wins. Here are White's top five moments from "Survivor" Season 37.

Mike White has several great quotes from his first season on "Survivor." One of his best is when he's talking about Natalie, a fellow Golaith tribe member (and Jabeni tribe member after the swap). On Goliath, she shows her strength by immediately taking charge, directing her fellow castaways on how to build shelter, start fires, and cook food. Effectively, she is the de facto leader at camp.

This doesn't sit well with her fellow contestants, especially because she doesn't participate in these activities and often scrutinizes how others carry them out. It isn't a great first impression, and impressions are everything on "Survivor." When members of the David tribe move into the Goliath-turned-Jabeni camp, White doesn't hold back in voicing his thoughts on living with Natalie, and it results in one of his best moments as Natalie and Lyrsa (a former David) argue about when to cook eggs.

"She has, like, a master's in ungraciousness," White tells Lyrsa after Natalie walks away. He continues on in a confessional. "Whenever the tribe is trying to make an important decision, Natalie's voice is the loudest and the most intractable and it just starts to wear on your nerves," he says. "I'm ready to have a little of 'Survivor' without Natalie." It's not only the most vocal he is about another player, but it shows his humor in a great way.

While Mike White doesn't make many sweeping moves during his first season on "Survivor," instead preferring to watch from afar to see what decisions work best for him, in Episode 5 he does make a major play. He tells Nick — someone he is in the Rockstar alliance with and the individual who would go on to win "Survivor" that year – that he wants Natalie gone.

Nick is on board, and White pushes him to talk to Angelina about voting for Natalie at tribal council, telling him to offer a trade or whatever he needs to. "Nick and I both feel like Natalie's gotta go, and I wanna figure out how I can do that with the Goliaths feeling good about me," White says in a confessional. "So I'm just hoping Nick can get Angelina on board."

This moment shows that Mike has come to play, and play smart. He wants someone gone, but he doesn't want it to look like he's the one calling the shots, so he has Nick do the dirty work for him. Then, if it were to cause a negative ripple effect, he looks clean to his fellow Goliaths, helping him maintain his original tribal alliance despite the tribe swap. It's a win-win for him.

When the castaways arrive on the island, they're greeted by a cyclone on their first night. It's cold and damp, and they don't have a ton of time to make shelter. The cyclone gets so bad that all three tribes evacuate from the island due to safety concerns for a couple of days. This was a wise decision, because the storm is so severe that it destroys all the camps, caving in the shelters.

At Goliath's first tribal council in Episode 3, the group talks about the cyclone, and Mike White makes everyone laugh with his discussion of what he's using as a pillow. "I just remember, at one point, I'm lying in the mud, there's a cyclone going on, and I have a little basket as my pillow, and I twist it a little ways, and I'm like 'Oh, this is more comfortable,'" he chuckles. "And I was like, 'Wow, my standards have gone so low that I could actually think that's comfortable.'"

The thought makes the whole group giggle, cementing that White is going to be the one for funny anecdotes and lines throughout the season. While this isn't his first quip (that belongs to him calling Christian "Big Bang Theory" in the first episode), it's easily his funniest comment about life on the island.

Mike White helps his team secure a win for a burger meal in Episode 9 thanks to his quick combination solving skills. The challenge has a bit of everything, including crawling under a net and solving a snake puzzle. Despite the opposite team trying to steal the numbers off of his completed lock, he doesn't let the challenge get to him, figuring out the combination pretty quickly. While White does forget to cover the numbers, the other team doesn't see them.

By solving the lock as fast as he does, especially when the puzzle is based purely on luck and trying numbers until you find the correct set, his team has extra time to finish the final part of the challenge comfortably, securing their win. It's a big moment, as the merged tribe is running low on rice. In fact, Angelina has to negotiate for more rice in the following episode, voluntarily sitting out of the immunity challenge to make sure they get enough rice for the rest of the game.

By Episode 12, the contestants are in a single tribe and several double-crosses result in surprise eliminations, like Gabby going home after Christian plays his immunity idol in Episode 11. Immunity is more important than ever at this point, but the castaways are over 30 days in and the immunity challenges aren't as easy as they were on Day 1.

In this immunity challenge, they have to balance balls on a large wooden disk. While holding the disk with one hand and balancing the balls, they also have to stand on a wooden ledge. The challenge requires focus, good balance, and very little movement. If you or the balls fall, you're out. From the start, Mike White looks shaky. His feet move around, and his ball is never entirely still. However, he makes it through the first two rounds, beating out Alison for the win while balancing three balls on his disk.

It's the first and only immunity challenge White wins, and it comes at a crucial time. He is on the fence about which alliance to stick with in the final days, and that makes him vulnerable. If one side thinks he's going against them, they'll put him on the chopping block, and with three people on each side, the vote could work against him. "Being able to win an immunity challenge today was thrilling," White says in a confessional. "And right now I feel like I'm a little less nervous about swinging from the hip because I have this immunity necklace. And now I feel like I can actually do what will serve my game the best." This win sets White up nicely to make it to the final.