Every Survivor Cameo You Missed In The White Lotus

In the spring of 2018, Hollywood writer and director Mike White — then known for penning movies like "School of Rock" and creating shows like "Enlightened" — did something surprising: he competed on the CBS reality TV show "Survivor" during its 37th season. Titled "David vs. Goliath," the season pitted underdogs, the Davids, against social and physical heavyweights, the Goliaths; White, an original Goliath, made it to the end of the game but ultimately lost out to former David player Nick Wilson. (Considering that Wilson got into some weird political spheres after winning, I personally still feel slighted that White didn't win, but whatever.) 

Still, "Survivor" was the gift that kept on giving for White. Not only is he now close personal friends with longtime "Survivor" host Jeff Probst — who once said he would happily make White a producer on the reality competition show and said he sometimes asks him for input on seasons and challenges — but the concept of a bunch of strangers trying to survive in a tropical paradise undoubtedly inspired White's award-winning anthology series "The White Lotus." (Also, if it surprises you that White was a Goliath, Probst spoke to Kelefa Sanneh for a New Yorker profile of White and said, "There were a couple of people who said, 'Is he a David or a Goliath?' I said, 'Are you kidding? Good luck winning an argument with Mike White.'")

Sure, nobody on "The White Lotus" is ever roughing it in their beachfront habitats, but the social game of "Survivor" is the most intriguing part of the entire enterprise, and the intricacies of dealing with the people around you are front and center in "The White Lotus." With that in mind, it's not totally surprising that White has cast a handful of "David vs. Goliath" castmates in small cameo roles across three seasons of "The White Lotus" — and here's a list of every cameo so far.

Season 1 of "The White Lotus," which kicked off in 2021, is set on the incredibly beautiful Hawai'ian island of Maui — and features Alec Merlino, an original Goliath tribe member from "David vs. Goliath," as a bartender and server named Hutch. Hutch doesn't do a whole lot, but he does float around in the background with the rest of the staff, including the resort's manager Armond (Murray Bartlett), and staffer Dillon (Lukas Gage).

As for Merlino's time on Survivor, he actually didn't initially form an alliance with White, and after a tribe swap happened early in the season, Merlino ended up separated from most of his former fellow Goliaths. Merlino ultimately made it to the merge — which, for the uninitiated, is when the two tribes combine into one and each player begins competing individually — and formed a cross-tribal alliance that did end up involving White. Though Merlino made an impact by blindsiding another Goliath player, Natalie Azoqa, he was voted out unanimously after losing an individual immunity challenge and became the fourth member of the jury. At least he got to hang out with White for a while in Maui later on!

Angelina Keeley and Kara Kay both competed right alongside Mike White on "David vs. Goliath" from the very beginning on the Goliath tribe, and incredibly, the two traveled with him all the way to the end of the game; Kay became the final member of the jury, and Keeley was one of the three finalists alongside White and Nick Wilson. (Keeley received zero votes to White's three, making her the 2nd runner-up.) Apparently, before season 2 of "The White Lotus" started filming on location in Sicily, White got brunch with his friends Keeley and Kay and said he wanted them involved with the project.

In an interview with Vulture after the series premiere, Keeley revealed that she was "frazzled" and "running late" to meet White when he said he wanted them to appear in cameos on the series. "Why would he let us goofballs anywhere near his set?" Keeley laughed. "Mike was front row to some of the worst acting moments of my life on Survivor: 'jacketgate' and the fake idol." (Keeley is referring to both a fake planted immunity idol that tricked her during her season and "jacketgate," one of the entire series' most memorable moments, refers to the time that a freezing cold Keeley begged fellow Goliath Natalie Cole for her jacket after Cole was voted out. We'll circle back to Cole in a second.)

"Pretty early on we knew there was American Woman No. 1 and American Woman No. 2," Kay said, chiming in to say she thought they'd just be background actors. "Then we got a draft of the script and realized, oh we have lines, we're going to say something. We're going to be acting." Act they did, alongside star Meghann Fahy in a brief scene at the beginning of the season premiere — and not only did they do a good job, it was a fun in-joke for "Survivor" fans.

Season 3 of "The White Lotus" takes place in Thailand and brings Natasha Rothwell, who helped lead season 1 as the Maui resort's spa manager Belinda, back on board as her character trains with the staff in Southeast Asia. While she's eating dinner at the resort, Belinda waves at a woman who sits down at a nearby table with her companion; the woman is "David vs. Goliath" player Natalie Cole, who was a Goliath alongside Mike White, and the man with her is Carl Boudreaux, an original David. Cole was voted out of the Goliath tribe on day 15 out of 39 — refusing to relinquish her jacket to a very cold and wet Angelina Keeley — and Boudreaux was the 10th person voted out and the fifth member of the jury.

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly after the third season premiered on HBO, the prickly Cole — whose less-than-ideal attitude didn't make her particularly popular at the Goliath camp — said she was genuinely surprised to get the call from White for a cameo. Why? She just didn't think he liked her. "The fact that he could look beyond the way he felt about me in Fiji and ask me to come do a part speaks volumes about him as a person," Cole said to the outlet. "Initially, he thought he was never going to speak to me again." Clearly, there's no bad blood between Cole and White ... although she does say in the interview that at least some jokes were made about "the jacket."

"The White Lotus" drops new episodes on HBO and Max every Sunday night at 9 P.M. EST, and all seasons of "Survivor," including "David vs. Goliath," are available on Paramount+ now.