Survivor 50 eliminee Mike White is apparently still bitter about his vote-off and believes his supposed longtime friend, Christian Hubicki, conned him.
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Christian -- who had finished Survivor: David vs. Goliath in seventh place and voted for Mike to win -- pointed out how Mike was cunning and strategically brilliant, and so he flipped on his pal and rallied Emily and Stephenie LaGrossa to vote him out on Night 9 of the game.
"I haven't talked to Christian since we were on the island," Mike told People in an interview.
The writer, producer and actor elaborated, "I haven't heard from him, and I haven't seen him. I went to New York for the premiere, but there was a blizzard. There was a party I went to, but you know, we haven't run into each other."
Mike -- who apparently didn't see Christian at Ponderosa because he had decided, for health reasons, he couldn't stay there and asked producers' permission to pay for his own place in Fiji -- suggested there is definitely some bad blood between the former tribemates.
"The game is the game, but I felt like some of it creeped into real life. I felt like I was part of a very long con," Mike admitted, adding, "He didn't have to take me out, but he took me out because he wanted to take me out."
Mike explained how he and Christian remained close friends after they appeared on Survivor: David vs. Goliath. Mike had even invited Christian to make a cameo on The White Lotus' third season.
"Christian and I have gone on vacations together. There's been so many things we did together, talked, we were texting daily -- and we were only out there [on Season 50] two days on the same [beach]... I would never have guessed [he'd get rid of me so fast]," Mike explained.
Mike said if Survivor 50 had been run in a sim lab, he would've trusted the same people and made the same mistakes over and over again.
"[Christian and I] were talking for weeks before [the game started] about how we were going to play to the end, blah blah blah," Mike recalled.
Mike confessed that he definitely "overplayed" in the game because he was in such "good places with everybody," including fellow Survivor: David vs. Goliath alum Angelina Keeley.
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Mike told Entertainment Weekly in a separate interview that he "obviously overestimated" his friendship with Christian.
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"I knew that Christian was worried about being perceived as a part of this trio or something that would hurt his game, but because we'd only been on the same tribe for, like, two days and we'd had so many conversations over the years, [I thought] that maybe we would go back and play together," Mike reasoned.
"And I just didn't think he would do that. I still am, like, kind of surprised, to be honest."
Mike claimed that Christian hasn't even made an attempt to contact him post-game.
"I haven't gotten anything from him," Mike alleged.
Mike said he believes the "gamer" in Christian wanted to "be free" from the perception he was safe, or at least heavily supported by, his former David vs. Goliath alliance.
"I think in [Christian's] mind, I honestly felt like he was annoyed that -- and this is speculative, I don't know the truth -- but, like, I think he was annoyed that Angelina and I were there at all," Mike said.
"And then to be on the same tribe and then I'm trying to keep [Angelina], and I just think there's a multiplicity of things that just made him think that this was the time to make that move."
Mike revealed that Christian never even told him that he had a baby and became a father.
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"He had a watch party during the [episode], and I was like, 'Oh, okay. Well, not only did I overestimate our friendship, but, like, were we ever friends?'"
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Mike suggested that Christian was obsessed with maintaining "the purity" and integrity of Survivor.
"Watching him [on the latest episode], I was like, 'Oh, he wasn't even really struggling with voting me out. He was, like, more sad about... He wasn't wrestling with getting me out,'" Mike recalled.
"So that was a bummer for me because obviously, Survivor is hellish those first couple days. It only gets fun later. So I just got the hellish part, and I didn't get the fun stuff."
Mike went on to share his "personal feeling" about why Christian was able to take him out so quickly and with such ease.
"He felt like it wasn't fair that I was even brought back," Mike noted.
"I think he doesn't think that I deserved to come back because my fame outside of the game brought me back. I feel like he's possessive about his own... Yeah, I wasn't expecting it."
Mike said he didn't even bring his bag to Tribal Council and he was "totally shocked" by his pre-merge elimination.
"It was a classic blindside. I really thought my relationships were... it transcended the game. I figured it was Christian, ultimately, but at the beginning, I was like, 'I don't even know where these votes are coming from!'" Mike said.
Mike claimed he knew Christian had flipped on him when they hugged goodbye at Tribal Council.
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When looking back on his overall experience playing Survivor's milestone 50th season, Mike admitted he didn't even get the chance to have a good time, which is one of the main reasons why Christian's betrayal still "bugs" him.
About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski
