'White Lotus' creator asked his 'Survivor' castmates to make a cameo

Before he was at the helm of the year's buzziest show, "The White Lotus" creator Mike White appeared on "Survivor" Season 37 in 2018 (and Season 14 of "The Amazing Race," too). In fact, White nearly won "Survivor," coming in as runner up with Angelina Keeley.

For Season Two of the HBO Max hit show, White blended his reality and scripted TV worlds by asking two of his former "Survivor" castmates, Kara Kay and Keeley, to make cameos on the Sicily-set show.

Speaking to Vulture, Keeley said that White pitched the idea over brunch.

“I was a little frazzled; I was running late,” Keeley told Vulture. “As I sat down, he goes, ‘I’m putting you two in White Lotus.’ I was like, ‘Oh, that’s funny, let’s get some mimosas and lattes.’ Why would he let us goofballs anywhere near his set? Mike was front row to some of the worst acting moments of my life on Survivor: jacketgate and the fake idol.”

"White Lotus" marked Keeley and Kay's first non-reality TV show gigs. Kay told Vulture she assumed they would be background actors. Both were shocked to learn they had been given speaking roles.

“We got a draft of the script and realized, oh we have lines, we’re going to say something. We’re going to be acting,” Kay says.

Kara and Keeley appear in the first episode of Season Two, playing two guests who just arrive to the White Lotus's Sicilian outpost. Daphne (Meghann Fahy) raves all about the hotel. After their conversation, Daphne gets in the water where she finds a dead body.

“I was wiping a fake tear away like I was at a funeral. Mike came up like, ‘Angelina, this is why you’re perfect for reality TV. You’re so over the top,” Keeley told Vulture. “Less grief, more shock.”

The two cast members told Vulture that Fahy helped them chose their outfits and even invited them to practice their lines on her hotel balcony the night before shooting.

Keeley, who was four months pregnant during filming, even used her negotiation skills from "Survivor" to shut down the costume department's suggestion that she wear a large hat.

Kay and Keeley aren’t the first “Survivor” contestants to join "The White Lotus." Hutch, the bartender of Season One's Hawaii resort, was played by Alec Marino, also on Season 37 of "Survivor."

As for their appearance on future "White Lotus" seasons? Keeley and Kay say they have to wait and see.

“Oh my God, it’s like 'Survivor' all over again. I plead the fifth,” Kay told Vulture. “That’s up to Mike."

This article was originally published on TODAY.com