Kara Kay (left) and Angelina Keeley starred in season 37 of Survivor with The White Lotus creator Mike White.
Picture: HBO
To play the game of Survivor, Kara Kay and Angelina Keeley know what it’s like to be caught off guard. But their former fellow tribesman and The White Lotus creator Mike White still managed to shock them when he asked if they would appear in the second season of his show.
For those unfamiliar with the MWCU (Mike White Creative Universe), Kay, Keeley, and White have appeared on Survivor: David vs. Goliath in 2018. They started in the Goliath tribe and the first season of The White Lotus actually featured another castmate in Alec Merlino, who played a bartender in the Hawaiian locale. So how did Kay and Keeley go from an island full of rationed rice and stabbings to paradise in Sicily? As is the case with many big projects, White told his former colleagues about it over brunch last November.
“I was a little frazzled, I was late,” Keeley says. “As I sat down, he said, ‘I’m putting you both in white lotus.’ I was like, ‘Oh that’s funny, let’s get some mimosas and lattes.’ Why would he let us blunder anywhere near his set? Mike was front and center in some of the worst acting moments of my life on Survivor: jacket and the false idol.
Eventually, White convinced them he wasn’t bluffing and that they would fly to Italy in the coming months.
The season opens with Kay and Keeley chatting with Meghann Fahy’s Daphne about their vacation in Italy before Daphne plunges into the water – and runs into a dead body. “Pretty soon, we knew there was American Woman #1 and American Woman #2. He kept saying opening scene; I was like, Maybe we’re in the background, waving, drinking cocktails“, says Kay. “Then we had a draft of the script and directed, oh we have lines, let’s say something. We will be acting.”
Although the two had some nerves during their non-reality debut, they were welcomed on set with open arms. Fahy invited them to line up on her hotel balcony the day before filming, and Kay and Keeley picked out several outfits for the costume department to approve, which was key to making them feel comfortable (especially for Keeley , who was four months pregnant at the time). The only expectation was that they looked like ‘wealthy travellers’ – they made their choice online by sorting top to bottom and googling ‘where do the 1% get their swimsuits’ .
And in “Angelina’s true form,” Keeley negotiated. Originally, the wardrobe wanted to put a huge hat on her, which she wasn’t sure about; when White dropped by to check on the two before the cameras rolled, she expressed her doubts about the headgear and The White Lotus Honcho agreed that she should kill the look.
Although the couple had no lines after the body was discovered, they were yet to tap into their acting skills. Kay took a low-key, shocked approach to the moment, but Keeley’s performance was… something else. “I was wiping away a fake tear like I was at a funeral. Mike came in as ‘Angelina, that’s why you’re perfect for reality TV. You’re so over the top,'” she laughs. , more shock.”
During the new season premiere, White noted that there were “some Survivor woven into the show,” thematically. Kay thinks the social play aspect plays into interpersonal relationships at the Sicilian resort: “It’s a lot of how people treat other people and how we’re all basically human.” And in Keeley’s eyes, the guiding principle is through winning. “Survivor is to win by being cunning and strong,” she says. “In white lotus one, winning is all about money and socio-economic levels. With white lotus second, it is about sexual politics and power.
The Goliath duo sees the current trend of survivors appearing in The White Lotus like Easter eggs, a bridge between White’s various creative wells. It is clear that deep friendships have been formed on the beaches of Fiji; When White traveled to Hawaii last September, Kay and Merlino arrived (as did White’s adorable pooch Peanut). To help celebrate season one’s 10 Emmy wins, she baked him a heart-shaped Banoffee pie adorned with lit candles.
But when asked which alumni they would like to see join a potential white lotus season three both return to this specific Survivor timidity.
“Oh my God, it’s like Survivor once again. I plead the fifth,” Kay says. “It’s up to Mike to decide, I’m going to let his creative genius take over,” adds Keeley.
The game never ends.
When castaway Natalie Cole was voted out, Keeley repeatedly asked if she could have her jacket after feigning shock during the vote. The moment has become a fan favorite in Survivor traditions.
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