Mike White

Michael Christopher "Mike" White is the Runner-Up of 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, ultimately losing 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.
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 The 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 manged 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 both 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.

When the Tribe Switch occurred Mike along with Natalie and Goliath Angelina Keeley were moved to the new Jabeni tribe and they were joined by David 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 on 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 apart of a cross tribal alliance with fellow Goliaths Alec Merlino and Alison Raybould, and David members Nick, Christian Hubicki and Gabby Pascuzzi. At Tribal Council he contributed to former David Elizabeth Nolan's unanimous elimination. On Day 21, he realized that Christian was the biggest threat to win the game, and with that he told the former Goliath's that Christian should be the next target. He voted against Christian at Tribal Council, but when former David Davie Rickenbacker played his idol on Christian former Goliath John Hennigan was blindsided. He voted against Christian again on night 25, but former Goliath 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 met his boyfriend at the Loved One's visit. After Angelina and Nick won the Loved One's 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 eight 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, and 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. After Nick won the Final Immunity Challenge he revealed to the others that he would save Angelina, and Mike and former Goliath Kara Kay would have to make fire. While Mike practiced for the challenge he did not feelgood 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 got no votes, but lost to Nick who won the title of Sole Survivor with the other seven votes.

Voting History

Mike's Voting History
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

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Trivia

Mike previously competed with his father, Mel, on two seasons of another CBS primetime reality television series, The Amazing Race.^[2]
- Mike is the third former The Amazing Race contestant to cross over to Survivor, following Nadiya and Natalie Anderson, who competed in Survivor: San Juan del Sur.
Mike is the oldest man to compete on Survivor: David vs. Goliath.
Jeff Probst stated that it was Mike who discouraged him from bringing back Redemption Island for Survivor: San Juan del Sur.^[3]^[4]
Mike is the highest-ranking member of the original Goliath tribe.
Mike is currently the only person to win the fire-making challenge since its introduction as the modified format, and not go on to win the game.