Natalie Cole, Mike White. Getty Images(2)
Natalie Cole‘s cameo on The White Lotus came as a surprise to Survivor viewers after her complicated past with creator Mike White.
“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 told Entertainment Weekly after the season 3 premiere aired Sunday, February 16. “Initially, he thought he was never going to speak to me again.”
Cole and White, 54, ended up at odds after they both appeared on Survivor in 2018. White, who finished in second place, was the deciding vote to send Cole home after they found themselves on opposing sides of their tribe.
During her interview with EW, Cole said White’s friendship with Goliath tribe member Jeremy Crawford led to tension between them. White ultimately thought Cole was mad at him for years after their stint on the CBS competition show.
Survivor alum and The White Lotus creator Mike White can’t resist drawing parallels between his reality breakout and his hit HBO show. White, 53, was a contestant on Survivor: David vs. Goliath in 2018, where he was runner-up to Nick Wilson in a controversial finish. The White Lotus premiered three years later and was an […]
“I ran into him at Natalia [Azoqa]‘s wedding and he did everything but look at me,” she recalled. “When we finally caught each other’s eyes, I waved at him, and oh, my God, he ran across the room and threw himself into a hug with me and said, ‘I thought you were mad at me!’ And I said, ‘No, when I first came off [the show] I was, but it’s a game, and I recognize that, and I’m cool.’”
Cole and White remained in contact as the executive producer’s HBO show blew up. The White Lotus, which debuted in 2021, focuses on the guests and employees at a fictional resort as they experience a slew of personal ups and downs while on vacation. The anthology series is also known for a mysterious death — or two — that is eventually revealed at the end of each season.
“We had conversations, and then he said, ‘If I get a season 3, you think you’d come be on it?’” Cole continued. “I said, ‘Sure,’ but I didn’t think he was serious, right? Because Mike did not like me on Fiji.”
She added: “I would never call, but Mike called, or texted me, actually, and was like, ‘Remember what we talked about — you being in the show if I got a season 3?’ And then I said, ‘Well, wait a minute, Mike. It was kind of raunchy in season 2.’ I was concerned about it being so graphic with sex organs and all of that.”
White convinced Cole to give the idea a chance. She ultimately appeared alongside fellow Survivor alum Carl Boudreaux as guests at the White Lotus Thailand.
“Then he looped Carl in and told me Carl was going to play my husband. I said, ‘OK, so there’s going to be some humor to this,’” she noted. “Initially when [Mike] and I first talked, it was just going to be a cameo, and then when we talked again, he sent me some lines. And it was quite a few lines, and then when we got there, he increased the lines even more. I found that pretty interesting, that we went from the cameo to me having several lines, and I thought I was going to be in one episode, and then it went to two episodes.”
Cole was pleasantly surprised that her character drew inspiration from her personality on Survivor.
“I’m the type of person that I’ve always been, so he brought my Survivor character back to life,” Cole added. “I was very dismissive, ‘Why are you talking to me?’ Carl is a little bit more quiet than me, I’m the aggressive and outspoken one, and that lent itself to [bringing back our] Survivor thing. I had way more lines than Carl, and I wanted him to speak up because Mike also said we could improvise a bit. I was trying to help Carl but he’s laid back and he continued to be.”
New episodes of The White Lotus air on HBO Sundays at 9 p.m. ET.
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