Mike White, Meghann Fahy break down The White Lotus season 2 premiere and those Survivor cameos

Sydney Bucksbaum
·5 min read
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Warning: This article contains spoilers about Sunday's season 2 premiere of The White Lotus.

Earlier this year, Survivor: David vs. Goliath cast members Mike White, Angelina Keeley, and Kara Kay reunited on a beach four years after they battled one another for $1 million on the CBS reality show. But this reunion couldn't have been any more different than their 39 days out on the islands of Fiji: They were filming the opening scene of season 2 of White's HBO comedic satire The White Lotus at a gorgeous luxury resort in Italy.

White enlisted Keeley and Kay for cameos in the first scene alongside season 2 star Meghann Fahy, who plays wealthy housewife Daphne Babcock. The premiere kicks off with Daphne cheerfully introducing herself to the two women on the beach, telling them she's getting in one last moment at the beach before her flight home. She takes a dip in the ocean, but her tranquil swim is ruined almost immediately when something brushes against her in the water, and she's horrified to realize it's a dead body.

The White Lotus
The White Lotus

Fabio Lovino/HBO Meghann Fahy in 'The White Lotus'

Soon the beach is overrun with police dragging the body out of the water, and the manager of the Sicilian branch of The White Lotus, Valentina (Sabrina Impacciatore), learns that even more bodies have been discovered in the ocean. The premiere then jumps back a week as Daphne and the rest of the guests arrive to The White Lotus, unaware of what's about to unfold for them all.

Below, EW spoke with White and Fahy about those Survivor cameos, that opening scene, and more.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: First of all, Mike, congratulations on your three Emmy wins — your acceptance speech about Survivor was a fun treat.

MIKE WHITE: [Laughs] Thanks! Backstage I was like, "Oh s---, I won again? Oh no, my career's over. I'll be kicked to the curb." It really is like Survivor and I need to beg, "Don't vote me off the island."

And it was great seeing your fellow Survivor: David vs. Goliath cast members in the very first scene of the season 2 premiere.

WHITE: Awesome. You recognized them? That's cool.

Oh yeah, immediately. Aside from Angelina and Kara, are there going to be more Survivor cameos this season?

WHITE: Well, I'm sad to say that's it. Just getting them out to Sicily — I mean, Angelina is about to have a baby in like five days. She was pregnant so that was a feat just getting them out there. That's it for this season. But I'll let them know Entertainment Weekly immediately spotted them!

Meghann, what was it like having the honor of being the cast member who gets to kick off the season with the dead body mystery with Angelina and Kara?

MEGHANN FAHY: That was the most exciting component, because I had watched that whole season of Survivor when I got to Italy. [Laughs] So when Mike told me that that's who I was going to be doing that scene with, I literally was fangirling. I couldn't believe it. Those women are so lovely and wonderful and we had a blast. The water stuff was a little bit trickier. It was cool, though — I had never shot anything in the ocean before so I was loving it. But yeah, it gets a little cold after a while, obviously. When I first read the pilot and I saw that was the first scene, the opening of the season, I just thought, "Holy s---. That's really cool. My mom's going to freak out." That's the first thing that I thought, actually.

Is your mom a big White Lotus fan?

FAHY: Yeah. My whole family watched the first season and they are just beside themselves. They can't wait to see me in this season.

When you met Angelina and Kara, were you asking them questions about Survivor?

FAHY: I had so many questions. I really tried Googling first, because I haven't really watched Survivor until that season and a lot of my friends were like, "It's the best season. If you're going to watch one season, it should be that season." And I had so many questions. I was like, "Wait a minute, you really don't have toothbrushes?" And they're like, "No. We pooped in the ocean and we didn't have toothbrushes." [Laughs] So yeah, I had a hundred questions and they answered all of them for me.

Were you constantly asking Mike questions about Survivor throughout filming too?

FAHY: Yeah, I was. I had finished the season by the time we shot the scene with the two girls, but I was watching it while we were shooting the rest of the season so I would go up to the set and I'd be like, "I just watched this episode last night. What happened at this point?" [Laughs] I think he also really enjoys talking about it so I was like, I don't feel like I'm annoying him. I feel like he's happy to talk about it. Me and Adam DiMarco, who played Albie, we watched it together and we both would go to set separately and just ask Mike questions. And sometimes Adam would come back, we'd be hanging out, and he'd be like, "Today I asked Mike this question. Guess what I found out?" And I'd be like, "Oh my God, no way!" We were just having this whole little Survivor study all season.

What are you most excited for people to see from you this season?

FAHY: [Laughs] The coolest thing that Daphne gets to do is, unfortunately, really top secret. You won't know until the finale, but it's pretty cool.

The White Lotus airs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on HBO and HBO Max.

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