‘The White Lotus’ Creator Mike White is Also an ‘Amazing Race’ and ‘Survivor’ Alum
The White Lotus has become one of the biggest shows to come out of the pandemic. The show’s creator Mike White has earned Emmy Awards for his work on the show, as have stars like Jennifer Coolidge and Murray Bartlett. But White has a history on screen dating back much further than The White Lotus.
Mike White competed on ‘The Amazing Race’
Mike White was an accomplished screenwriter in the 2000s before making the jump to reality TV. In 2009, Mike joined The Amazing Race‘s fourteenth season, competing with his dad, Mel. Together, Mel and Mike traveled several countries, incuding Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Romania, Russia, India, and Thailand. They won one leg of the race in Romania before being eliminated in Thailand, ending the race in sixth place.
A few years later, in 2011, Mel and Mike returned for The Amazing Race: Unfinished Business, an All-Stars season that brought together competitors from previous editions of the show. They were the oldest parent/child team in Amazing Race history to compete, and Mel is the oldest man to compete in Amazing Race history at 70 years old during Unfinished Business.
Mike White competed on ‘Survivor’
After his two stints on The Amazing Race, Mike got back to work on TV and film projects. But in 2018, he took another detour (no pun intended) back to the world of reality TV.
Mike competed on the thirty-seventh season of Survivor, titled David vs. Goliath. The season pit 10 people who have had to overcome obstacles in their lives against 10 people who have achieved great things. Mike was a part of the Goliath group, having an established career behind the camera already. The season was filmed in Fiji’s Mamanuca Islands.
Mike made it all the way to the end of Survivor: David vs. Goliath, but lost the title of Sole Survivor in a jury vote, ending the season as the runner-up.
Mike would maintain a relationship with some of his Survivor castmates and make them a part of The White Lotus. Alec Merlino played a recurring role as a waiter in season 1 of The White Lotus, while Kara Kay and Angelina Keeley made cameo appearances in the season 2 premiere of the show.
Mike White became an Emmy Award winner after being on reality TV
Mike White’s first big break came in 2003 when he was the screenwriter for the hit movie School of Rock. He went on to write and produce another Jack Black flick, Nacho Libre, in 2006. He created and produced the TV series Pasadena as well as the sitcom Cracking Up.
In 2011, he teamed up with Laura Dern to create the show Enlightened. In addition to being the show’s creator, he was also a writer, producer, and director on the two-season series.
In 2016, Nickelodeon launched a School of Rock TV series that ran for three seasons through 2018. Mike returned to the School of Rock universe as a writer on the show.
For his work on The White Lotus, Mike has won two Emmy Awards: a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Limited Series, Movie, or Dramatic Special and a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Limited Series, Movie, or Dramatic Special. The White Lotus itself, meanwhile, won an Emmy for Outstanding Limited Series.
