Mike White talks 'Survivor': 'Survivor' is "a slow-burn, psychological torture game," unlike 'The Amazing Race' (Exclusive)

Mike White finished as the runner-up of Survivor: David vs. Goliath behind winner Nick Wilson during Wednesday night's three-hour finale event of Survivor Season 37 on CBS.


Mike, a 47-year-old filmmaker from San Diego, CA, who currently resides in Los Angeles, CA and previously competed on The Amazing Race, lost the $1 million grand prize to Nick, a 27-year-old public defender from Williamsburg, KY, via a 7-3 jury vote. 

Nick received jury votes from Elizabeth Olson, John Hennigan, Dan Rengering, Alec Merlino, Carl Boudreaux, Davie Rickenbacker, and Gabby Pascuzzi.

And Christian Hubicki, Alison Raybould, and Kara Kay cast their votes for Mike to be victorious.

The other member of the Final 3 was Angelina Keeley, a 28-year-old financial consultant from Sparks, NV, who currently resides in San Clemente, CA. She didn't receive a single jury vote.


Kara Kay finished the game in fourth place after she lost the fire-starting challenge to Mike. Alison Raybould claimed fifth place, and Davie Rickenbacker placed sixth.

During an exclusive interview with Reality TV World on Thursday, Mike talked about his Survivor experience. Click here to read the first half of what he had to say. Below is the second half of our interview.

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Reality TV World: At Final 6, you called Davie "a beast." So did you really think Davie would win if he got to the end, or were you just saying that because you didn't want Nick to have any David allies left?

Mike White: Well, I knew they had a Final 2 deal with each other. It was kind of like they had a bromance and I wanted Nick to myself. (Laughs) It was just like Davie was close with Kara and his social game was, I don't know, impinging mine in a sense.


And so, I felt like if he went on an immunity run, he would come for me. He wasn't going to let me get to the end, you know, if it was his game toward the end.

So he had been somebody I was trying to target and get out for a while, but he just won immunity or had an idol or whatever. So, the minute I felt like he didn't have that, yeah, I pushed him hard to get him out. I do think he would have won had he gone to the end.

Reality TV World: Oh, you do?! By how many votes, do you think?

Mike White: I mean, if it was between him and Nick, I think they both would have had strong [cases]. If it was the two of them, I don't know for sure he would've won, but I definitely felt like he [had a chance]. He played a flashy game!

Nick played a flashy game when you watch the show, but on the island, it didn't seem as flashy as Davie's, and so, I kept saying that to Nick -- but Nick still wanted to keep him around. I think Nick felt like he could beat him at the end, but I kept trying to say he couldn't. And I'm not sure.


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Reality TV World: Nick has taken a little heat for playing an emotional, personal game. He was very upset with Christian over the Carl vote, for example. So were you worried your alliance with Nick would be destroyed if you went ahead with the Davie vote at Final 6? Maybe you felt you had no other choice at the time?

Mike White: At the point where [Nick] didn't have Davie, he didn't trust Kara, he didn't trust Alison. He was close with Angelina, but I just felt like even if I broke my word with him, he would still need me and, you know, still be closer to me than those two other chicks, because he just wasn't.

So, I just felt like, "He's going to be mad at me, but he really doesn't have anywhere else to go."

Reality TV World: What was your reaction when you found out that Kara had once conspired to get you out -- and seemingly almost succeeded in doing so? I don't know where that fell apart. She began making moves right after you told her about Angelina's idol.


Mike White: Yeah, I mean, I didn't even know about that until I watched the show last night! For me, I always thought it was Alison coming for me, and that's kind of why I was b-tchy with her. (Laughs) Because I feel like I had kept her in the game for five votes!

I had worked so hard to keep her around when there were so many times it would've been easier to just vote her out. And so, I started hearing that she was coming for me and trying to convince Nick to vote me, and I was like, "Really?! Really? Okay."

But I actually feel like the way they showed it made it seem like it was Kara's idea, but I don't think Kara ever really would have voted for me. So, I think actually Alison flipped Nick and he would've voted for me.

I mean, that's at least what he tells me and what Kara told me too, and I think Alison as well, that Kara was really never going to vote for me. So Nick then just went with Alison.

I think Kara in that moment was doing what I would kind of do sometimes, which was, like, "Well, what are you going to do?!" I think Kara also didn't want Alison gunning for her.


If you have a day out there when someone is afraid of going home, they're going to come up with something [to turn things around]. I think Kara was just being smart and being like, "Well, that would be your target. If you're going to try to make something happen, go for Mike."

It was almost instant because it was just the four of us. You know, we knew Angelina had an idol and Nick had immunity. So there's only three of us left, and it's either me or Kara.

So I think Kara was just trying to put in Alison's head, "Go for Mike," just to make sure Alison wouldn't try to do the reverse and try to get her out.

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Reality TV World: You admitted your comments about Alison were "b-tchy." Does that mean you don't stand behind what you said about Alison having played a "B+ game?" (Laughs)

Mike White: (Laughs) I was trolling her. I just feel like she was so terrified of -- I mean, I felt like she wanted to win, but Alison, she is awesome. She's probably one of my best friends out of the game, but she does have this feeling of kind of like the straight-A student who is afraid of not getting the A.


She wants to get to Final Tribal for, like, her grades or her report card or something. (Laughs) I was just trolling her. I don't know, I was just so mad at the time she was trying to get me voted out! I was just a little b-tch. I don't know.

Reality TV World: How did competing on Survivor compare to The Amazing Race? Which is more difficult? And do you have any interest in completing the "CBS Reality Show Trifecta" by doing Big Brother next?

Mike White: Well, they were both awesome experiences. The Amazing Race, it was such a highlight of my life, especially doing that with my dad. But I think of it as a much more stressful game. It's just fanatic, like you never stop and Survivor is more, like, a slow-burn, psychological torture game. (Laughs)

But they were both so fun. I feel like Survivor plays more to my strengths in a sense because I feel like, in a way, there is luck but you can control the game a little bit more if you approach it the right away.

I think The Amazing Race, a lot of it is like, "Did you get on the right bus?" Some of it is out of your control. You get a bad taxi driver and you're done, you know what I mean?

But as far as Big Brother, no, I would never do Big Brother. To be on a soundstage in Burbank for weeks, I mean, part of the appeal of doing these other shows is getting out of L.A. and having an adventure somewhere exotic. That part of it is what's appealing to me.


To read more interviews with the Final 6 castaways of Survivor: David vs. Goliath, click here to visit our Survivor: David vs. Goliath show page.

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