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Emmy Award-winning creator is trading luxury resort drama for tribal council strategy, returning to after his breakout second-place finish during Season 37 launched him to Hollywood stardom.
White headlines a cast of 24 returning players for the reality competition's milestone , host Jeff Probst announced Wednesday on "CBS Mornings."
Probst revealed he believed White could have won his original season.
"I was there the night of the finale of Mike's season, and I thought he was going to win the game, and I felt like he sabotaged it a little bit," he said. "This is the guy that writes and directs White Lotus, which studies human behavior in the most fascinating way. He gets 'Survivor.'"
And while White has been busy writing the Emmy Award-winning show, he always kept "Survivor" in the back of his mind.
"Mike, after he finished playing, said, 'I want to play again.' And that was before 'The White Lotus.' Then 'The White Lotus' hit, and I thought, he'll never play again. But he kept texting and saying, 'I'm serious. If you do anything where you have returning players, I want to play again," said Probst.
The cast represents contestants from 19 different seasons, including two players from the upcoming Season 49 set to premiere this fall. Season 45 winner Dee Valladares and Season 46's Charlie Davis are among the recent alumni selected for the anniversary season.
Veteran players Colby Donaldson, who competed in Seasons 2, 8 and 20, and Stephenie LaGrossa Kendrick, featured in Seasons 10, 11 and 20, will return after extended absences from the competition.
"We've done a lot of themes: heroes, villains, game changers, fans versus favorites, all winners," Probst said. "We've never said let's just taste a little of everything. That's why we put this group together, is every flavor, every era, every type of personality, and then when you let the fans be in charge of all of the creative, all of the game design, it really is up in the air for the first time since Season One."
"Survivor" premiered in May 2000 and has become one of television's longest-running reality competitions. The 50th season is expected to air in Spring 2026 on CBS and streaming on Paramount+.
