How Survivor 50 Led To Season 4 Of The White Lotus, According To Creator Mike White

Don't form any alliances or compete in any immunity challenges if you haven't watched the March 18 episode of "Survivor 50," titled "Knife to the Heart." Spoilers ahead!

"Knife to the Heart" was, without question, one of the worst episodes of "Survivor" in quite some time — to the point where it actually earned a lower IMDb rating than some of the show's most dreadful outings. Part of this was thanks to a lengthy digression involving country superstar Zac Brown spear-fishing for some of the castaways after a combination reward and immunity challenge, which made no sense, sucked, and was boring. The other big thing, though, is that Emmy winner Mike White got voted off the island.

The good news? White told two different outlets, in the wake of his shocking ousting, that his early exit helped him write season 4 of his sort-of anthology series "The White Lotus."

Speaking to Parade after "Knife to the Heart" aired, White admitted that not only did his departure from "Survivor" inspire him, but it gave him time to write. "What I really took away is, after I got eliminated, I had a good three weeks where nobody was bothering me, and everybody thought I was busy. So, I was able to come up with the whole season. So, I don't know if it was inspired by what happened," he admitted. "But it all happened because I got eliminated. You know what I mean? So, in a way, it was like a godsend, because my well had run dry. So, it was nice to feel like, 'Oh, okay, I can do this!'" That's totally fair, and as a fan of both "Survivor" and "The White Lotus," I'm understandably torn. So, what happened to Mike White during "Survivor 50?"

After a tribe swap in the previous episode of "Survivor 50," Mike White ended up reunited with his fellow players from the show's 37th season "David v. Goliath" — Angelina Keeley and Christian Hubicki. (Both of those players have made sneaky little cameos on "The White Lotus," with Angelina getting a speaking role during the season 2 premiere and Christian appearing in a blink-and-you'll-miss-it scene in season 3.) As other players on their tribe tried to oust Angelina, Mike went to the mat for his friend ... and behind his back, Christian orchestrated a "blindside," and Mike was sent home.

Entertainment Weekly's resident "Survivor" expert Dalton Ross sat down with Mike (as he does with all recently booted contestants), and the two got into a deep discussion about Christian's betrayal. After Mike admitted the two apparently former friends haven't spoken since, he said of Christian's daring play, "This is my personal feeling, is that he felt like it wasn't fair that I was even brought back. I think he doesn't think that I deserved to come back because my fame outside of the game brought me back. I feel like he's possessive about his own. [...] Yeah, I wasn't expecting it."

Still, White also told Ross that because he's vegan, he asked to leave the show's proprietary resort Ponderosa, which is where ousted players lie low until the season ends. He was still cut off from society, though, and season 4 of "The White Lotus" started to take shape. "Because I have all this time where people think I'm somewhere else, I'm unreachable, and I could just sit and contemplate and think about what's next," he explained.

By and large, "Survivor 50" (the landmark season subtitled "In the Hands of the Fans") has been really good, largely because it brought back some of the game's best-ever players to outwit, outlast, and outplay each other on remote beaches in Fiji. It feels, after watching "Knife to the Heart," like those good times might largely come to an end, because Mike White is such a great and compelling "Survivor" player.

Obviously, this is great news for fans of "The White Lotus" excited for the fourth season (it's set to take place in France, whereas the series' previous three seasons took place in Hawai'i, Sicily, and Thailand, respectively). Mike, who's won three Emmys to date for the massively popular HBO show, didn't end up sticking around on a deserted island for the full 26 days of gameplay, and as he clearly told two different interviewers, it gave him an unexpected creative spark. Still, without Mike scheming and strategizing with his surprising six-pack abs on a white-sand beach, "Survivor 50" might experience a big downturn in quality. We'll see!

As for Mike, he told Dalton Ross that he's still glad he returned at all. "'Survivor' was perfect for me, even though it didn't turn into what I wanted as far as an experience, within the game," he noted. "It was a nice reset for me, to be honest. So, I was grateful that I got to go back, even though it was not that fun." All's well that ends well, I guess? 

"Survivor 50" airs new episodes on Wednesdays at 8 P.M. EST on CBS, and you can stream "The White Lotus" on HBO Max.