Spoilers for previously aired episodes of Survivor
I was hesitant going into season 50 of Survivor. Season 49 was boring and full of terrible gameplay. I just needed a break. I was weary after Winners at War’s (S40) disappointing boot order. However I had a bit of FOMO about missing a potential Christian Hubicki and Emily Flippen alliance. There was also a lot of cattiness between players in the preseason press around supernerd Christian, so I was intrigued enough to watch it.

We’re four episodes into this season. I’m so glad that I gave it a chance because not only are Christian and Emily giving us incredible TV moments, but we’ve gotten some great moments from Mike White and Ozzy Lusth. On this past week’s episode, Survivor had a full-circle moment when Christian betrayed his OG alliance of Mike White and Angelina Keely in order to protect Emily, who is playing such a messy game that you can’t help but root for her. She is all of us! Christian’s betrayal was wild but not shocking. During his exit press, Mike had a lot to say, including where he now stands with Christian (who had a cameo on White Lotus last season) and how he hoped that he could play a game that was free of any WL comparisons.

The puppet master’s strings were cut and his time on Survivor 50 has ended.

Indeed, White Lotus creator Mike White was sent home during the March 18 episode in a stunning turn of events that saw the season 37 runner-up’s closest ally Christian Hubicki turn against him.

“Honestly I was definitely blindsided cause you know I was friends with the majority of those people on that tribe, previous to coming on the inside,” the Emmy winner told Gayle King, Nate Burleson and Vladimir Duthiers on CBS Mornings March 19. “I thought I was in a good space. I actually don’t even know what happened. I was trying to figure out.”

He added, “I was very confused.”

Mike—who called himself the “Machiavellian puppet master on the show—found himself on the chopping block after he made the last-minute decision to vote off Emily Flippen after his team originally planned to send Angelina Keely home. Christian quickly got wind and went behind Mike’s back, and turned the Vatu tribe against him.

Comparing Christian’s game play to “the playground,” Mike still doesn’t understand why he decided to stick with the ladies.

“It was like, ‘Really you want to play with Emily and not me?’ he told the morning show hosts. “I’m fine. Like I feel like I would be fun to have to play the game with. It wasn’t so much betrayal.”

As for Christian’s decision blowing the chance of a cameo on the forthcoming season of The White Lotus? Mike admits he already had some screentime in season three.

“He showed up to Thailand in last season and got himself on the show,” Mike, 55, quipped. “So, I guess maybe he got his cameo and was like screw it.”

To that end, Mike admitted he was naive to think that the contestants wouldn’t let his notoriety from the beloved HBO series impact the way they saw him in the game.

“I guess in my head, I thought maybe I could escape White Lotus,” he said. “I thought that I could escape that identity of it and play the game with a bunch of people who don’t care about that and it turned out like, ‘Yeah I am that guy.’ I think when you become kind of famous in some way, you always want to know how people will react to you when you’re free of all that.”

“I guess I still had this fantasy of being able to shed that,” he added. “And then you go and you realize, it’s baked into you. It’s part of the deal.”

Since his exit from Fiji, White Lotus has been in the forefront as Mike is on location in the South of France for season four, which counts Chris Messina, Helena Bonham Carter, Steve Coogan and AJ Michalka among its ensemble cast.

As for what fans can expect from the star-studded season? Something new.

“There’s so many more people in it,” he teased. “And there’s going to be different than any of the other seasons. I think it’s going to be pretty fun.”

[From E! News]

Since I have zero chance of ever being cast on White Lotus, I can honestly say that I was bummed to see Mike leave, especially right after Q went home. Q is good entertainment, but Mike knows how to play the game. Before this season started, Jeff Probst revealed that Mike had texted him to ask if he’d be on the season. Yes, that is absolutely him using his Hollywood status to cut the line, but to be fair, I also would use that connection to play Survivor in a heartbeat. That said, Mike should take comfort in the fact that in the end, it wasn’t White Lotus that did him in. It was gameplay, pure and simple. Whether or not it was a good move on Christian’s part remains to be seen.

Mike also told Entertainment Weekly’s Dalton Ross that he hasn’t spoken to Christian since he got voted out. That actually makes me kind of sad to hear, but Mike has a history of getting defensive about his Survivor game and his other projects. He also said that he got permission from Paramount to skip the pre-jury trip, and during that time, he came up with the idea for the upcoming season of White Lotus. I really cannot wait to find out more about that. I’m almost done with Stephen Fishbach’s book, Escape!, which was partially inspired by his time on Survivor. If Mike’s going to incorporate his Survivor experience into the next White Lotus season, then sign me up.