‘Survivor’ Legend 'Boston' Rob Mariano Has Major Advice for Famous Season 50 Player

“Boston” Rob Mariano won’t be a contestant on the upcoming Survivor 50, but he has advice for one of the most famous returning players. Speaking with Entertainment Tonight in a video interview, the legendary five-time Survivor player said it was “smart casting” to bring back The White Lotus creator Mike White for the milestone all-star season.

“Because obviously White Lotus is, you know, on everybody's mind right now,” Mariano said of the HBO hit, which recently aired its third season. “And from a strategy point of view, who's going to want to vote him out? Everybody's going to be wanting a cameo in the next White Lotus. So if I were him, I would be dangling that up there.”

White, 55, was named as a cast member for the upcoming Survivor 50 alongside fellow Survivor legends Cirie Fields, Ozzy Lusth, Kyle Fraser, and 20 more familiar faces. But amid the massive success of The White Lotus, White is by far the most famous—and wealthiest—returnee.

The actor and producer, who made it to the end of Survivor: David vs Goliath in 2018 but lost to Nick Wilson, previously acknowledged that he doesn’t need the $1 million Survivor grand prize.

“You know, had it been just the title of Survivor winner, it would have been easy to fight for it,” White told Entertainment Weekly at the time. “But because it was about money and a lot of those people… For me, a million dollars is still a lot of money, but it’s not transformative. It wouldn’t be transformative like it is for some other people.”

In 2021, White told The New Yorker he didn’t expect to ever be asked back to Survivor due to his wealth, fame, and friendship with host Jeff Probst. ”I don’t think they want the Hollywood Goliath who knows Probst to win a season. Now that Probst knows I can get to the end, I don’t think he wants there to be a chance of that happening again,” he said.

As for Mariano’s suggestion that White offer a cameo on The White Lotus as a bargaining tool, White did cast fellow David vs. Goliath runner-up Angelina Keeley in a role as a wealthy beach guest on the second season of the HBO anthology series.

 So there’s that.

Survivor 50 will air on CBS in early 2026.