Mike White

Michael Christopher "Mike" White is a contestant from Survivor: David vs. Goliath.

Mike played a generally strong social and low-key game throughout, appearing non-threatening. However, towards the end of the game, he played more aggressively, orchestrating a series of blindsides against numerous threats, most notably Christian Hubicki, and winning the fire-making tiebreaker challenge on Night 38. However, his strategic game was seen as weaker compared to that of Nick Wilson, and he ultimately lost in the Final Tribal Council to Nick in a 7-3-0 vote, finishing as runner-up.

Profile[]

Retrieved from CBS.com

Age: 47
Hometown: San Diego
Current residence: Los Angeles
Occupation: Filmmaker
Hobbies: Travel, wine enthusiast, and water sports.
Pet peeves: I'm impatient with bigots.
Three words to describe you: Curious/funny, dynamic, and imaginative.
What's your personal claim to fame? I've accomplished a lot in my career and was able to make a lot of movies.
Who or what is your inspiration in life? I think of George Plimpton, a great writer who also wanted to experience the things he was writing about. He was fearless, inquisitive and enlightened.
If you could have three things on the island what would they be and why? An eye mask to sleep. A good book; something fat. A SeaBob for the ocean!
Which Survivor contestant are you most like? Jonathan Penner was a good storyteller and Rob from Amazon had a good read on people.
What's your reason for being on Survivor? My primary motivation is playing the game. I've always, always wanted to play and see how I would do. Secondary is the absurd challenge of it all.
Why do you think you'll "survive" Survivor? I have the desire. I know the game. I am a student of human psychology, like what people say and how they behave.^[1]

Survivor[]

Mike started on the Goliath tribe. He put a target on his back on the first day by looking for a Hidden Immunity Idol while the rest of the tribe was at camp. Despite that, he managed to improve his standing over the next few days with his social game. He even bonded with Jeremy Crawford. When Goliath's lost immunity on Day 9, Natalie Cole and Jeremy were the targets. While Mike wanted to keep Jeremy he joined the rest of the tribe in unanimously voting him out at Tribal Council.

At the tribe switch occurred, Mike, along with Natalie and Angelina Keeley, was moved to the new Jabeni tribe, and they were joined by former David tribe members Nick Wilson and Lyrsa Torres. Over the next few days, he grew frustrated with Natalie's bossiness and aggressive personality. When Jabeni lost immunity on Day 15, Natalie and Angelina targeted Lyrsa, while Nick and Lyrsa targeted Natalie leaving Mike as the swing vote. Fed up with Natalie, he cast the deciding vote against Natalie. When Jabeni lost immunity on Day 17, Mike became conflicted about whether to vote out Lyrsa or Angelina. While not trusting Angelina he did not want to upset the Goliath's by voting out another Goliath. At Tribal Council both he and Nick voted out Lyrsa.

When the merge occurred, Mike became a part of a cross-tribal alliance with fellow former Goliaths Alec Merlino and Alison Raybould, and former David members Nick, Christian Hubicki and Gabby Pascuzzi. At Tribal Council, he contributed to Elizabeth Olson's unanimous elimination. On Day 21, he realized that Christian was the biggest threat to win the game, telling the former Goliaths that Christian should be the next target. He voted against Christian at Tribal Council, but when Davie Rickenbacker played his idol on Christian, John Hennigan was blindsided. He voted against Christian again on night 25, but Dan Rengering was blindsided. On night 28, he contributed to Alec's unanimous 9-1 elimination. On Day 30, he found himself as a swing vote between two groups: Christian and Gabby, who wanted former David Carl Boudreaux out; and Carl's group, who wanted Alison out. Mike sided with Christian resulting in Carl's elimination. On Day 31, he reunited with his boyfriend at the Loved One's visit. After Angelina and Nick won the Loved Ones Challenge, they chose to share the reward with Mike and Davie. On the trip, Angelina and Nick, proposed a final 4 alliance which Mike agreed to.

In the last 8 days, Mike began playing more aggressively and orchestrating eliminations. On Day 32, he suggested to Nick and Angelina that they put some votes on Gabby in case Christian had an idol. At Tribal Council, Christian played his idol, while Mike's and Angelina's votes blindsided Gabby. On Day 35, he won immunity, and that night he organized Christian's elimination. While Nick and Gabby wanted Alison out on Day 36, Mike wanted Davie out for being too big of a threat to win the game. That night, Mike successfully organized Davie's elimination.

Following Davie's elimination, an angry Nick confronted Mike and Angelina over Davie's blindside, but Mike assured him that he was with him. On Day 37, Mike contributed to Alison's unanimous 4-1 elimination though he received a vote from Alison. Nick, after winning the Final Immunity Challenge, revealed to the others that he would save Angelina, while Mike and Kara Kay would have to make fire. Though Mike practiced for the challenge, he did not feel good about his chances. At Tribal Council, however, Mike defeated Kara to join Nick and Angelina in the finals.

During the Final Tribal Council, Mike talked about his social game and said that, while he tried to come across as a weak player for most of the game, he came strong near the end by orchestrating the late votes, and he was commended for his social game. He ended up receiving votes from Alison, Kara and Christian, which allowed him to become the runner-up. He defeated Angelina, who received none of the votes, but lost to Nick, who won the title of Sole Survivor with the other seven votes.

Episode	Tribe Affiliation	Challenge	Challenge Type	Sit-Out?	Result
1	Goliath	Open	Reward	Yes	Lost
1		Matchbox 25	Immunity	No	Won
2		Another Brick in the Wall	Reward/Immunity	No	Won
3		Tangled Up in Blue	Reward/Immunity	No	Lost
4	Jabeni	Blind Barrow	Reward/Immunity	No	2nd
5		Ball-istic Missiles	Reward	No	2nd
5		A Bridge You Must Cross	Immunity	No	Lost
6		Carry On	Reward	No	2nd
6		Dishwalla	Immunity	No	Lost
Tribes Merged, Day 18
7	Kalokalo	Ring Leader	Immunity		Lost
8		Raise the Roof	Reward		Lost
8		Don't Buoy Me Love	Immunity		Lost
9		All Mixed Up	Reward	No	Won
9		Roll Away the Dew	Immunity		Lost
10		Back in Slack	Reward		Won
		Uncomfortably Numb	Immunity	No	Lost
		Beastie Buoys	Reward	No	Won
		Word Forward	Immunity	No	Lost
11		Ringo Starz	Reward		Invited
11		A Hand Out	Immunity		Lost
12		Pole Dancing	Reward		Lost
12		Rollerball	Immunity		Won
13		Step Brothers	Reward/Immunity		Invited¹
		Vertigo	Immunity		Lost
		Simmotion	Immunity		Lost
Runner-Up, Day 39
Notes: ^1 Nick shared his reward with Mike.

Episode	Mike's Votes	Voted Against Mike
1	Goliath Tribe Immune
2	Goliath Tribe Immune
3	Jeremy	-
4	Jabeni Tribe Immune
5	Natalie	-
6	Lyrsa	-
7	Elizabeth	-
8	~~Christian~~¹	-
9	Christian	-
10	Alec	-
10	Carl	-
11	Gabby	-
12	~~Davie~~²	Individual Immunity
13	Davie	-
13	Alison	Alison
Jury Votes for Mike	Alison, Christian, Kara
Runner-Up, Day 39

^1 In "You Get What You Give", Davie used a Hidden Immunity Idol on Christian, negating Mike's vote against him.
^2 In "Are You Feeling Lucky?", Davie used a Hidden Immunity Idol, negating Mike's vote against him.

Post-Survivor[]

In 2020, Mike wrote the screenplay for the movie The One and Only Ivan, which won "Outstanding Visual Effects – Theatrical Feature" in the 2020 Hollywood Post Alliance Awards^[2] and "Outstanding Animated Character in a Photoreal Feature" in the 2021 Visual Effects Society Awards.^[3] The film also received nominations in the 2021 Academy Awards, British Academy Film Awards, and Hollywood Music in Media Awards.
In 2021, Mike created, wrote and directed the comedy television miniseries The White Lotus.^[4] His castmates Alec, Angelina, and Kara made guest appearances.
- In 2022, Mike was nominated for two Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Directing for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie and Outstanding Writing for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie.^[5]
In 2023, Mike wrote the screenplay for the Illumination film Migration.

Trivia[]

Mike previously competed on The Amazing Race 14 and The Amazing Race: Unfinished Business with his father, Mel White.^[6] They finished 6th and 10th respectively.
- Mike is the third former The Amazing Race contestant to cross over to Survivor, following Nadiya and Natalie Anderson, who competed in San Juan del Sur.
Mike is the oldest man to compete on David vs. Goliath.
Mike has discouraged Jeff Probst from bringing back a twist on two separate occasions.
- Jeff Probst stated that it was Mike who discouraged him from bringing back Redemption Island for San Juan del Sur.^[7]^[8]
- Jeff Probst also stated that it was Mike who discouraged him from bringing back Fire Tokens for Survivor 41.^[9]
Since its introduction as the modified format, Mike is the first person to win the fire-making challenge and not go on to win the game.
- He would be followed by Dean Kowalski in Island of the Idols, Deshawn Radden in Survivor 41, Mike Turner in Survivor 42, Heidi Lagares-Greenblatt in Survivor 44, and Jake O'Kane in Survivor 45.