Christian Hubicki Talks The White Lotus Season 3

[00:00:03] Hey everybody, what's going on? Rob Ciccerino back here for some bonus coverage here, talking about Season 3 of The White Lotus with a man who's an international traveler himself, Josh Wiggler. Josh, how are you? I'm doing quite well, Rob. How are you today? I'm thrilled. Chuffed to bits because we are here with one of the stars of The White Lotus Season 3. Did you catch him? And of course... No, of course we didn't. We did a whole ass recap.

[00:00:31] And we did, embarrassingly, two idiots right here because we did not catch this man along with his amazing partner, Emily. It's Dr. Christian Hubicki. Hey there, it's good to be here. I appreciate your reaching out. I was genuinely curious if anyone would notice and it turns out at least one person did. We were very busy on Sunday night.

[00:00:59] We had been dared. Normally, Rob and I, we both podcast a lot, but it's a little weird when we podcast together. But people were asking us, hey, do you want to podcast together real quick? We're like, I don't know. We were very worried about it. And we were on ecstasy, so please forgive us that we missed some things. We were raging pretty hard. Rob had a hell of a monologue that he delivered to me on Sunday night.

[00:01:29] But in case you missed it... I've seen it on a t-shirt. Christian and Emily, would you say that was the moon party that you were at? Yeah, it was at that Cafe Del Mor. I guess it must be a whole holiday thing that goes on around the island in general that was happening all over the place. We were not subject to squirt guns, though, which I counted as a win. Okay. Oh, man, I think you would have done fine in a squirt gun battle. So cool. So Christian, could you tell us about how your trip to Taiwan was?

[00:01:59] Can I just quickly interject for the people who listen to the White Lotus podcast that aren't here from Survivor? We take for granted that there are a lot of people who listen to this podcast who are indeed Survivor fans, but there are also a lot of people who do not know Survivor that well. And Christian, just like Godfather Carl and Natalie early in the season, was once on Survivor with Mike White. So that is the connection.

[00:02:23] And in this past episode, in a blink where you'll miss it capacity to the point that Survivor know-it-all Rob Sesternino and recovering Survivor temporary know-it-all Josh Wigler completely missed that Christian was even in the episode. But the Survivor detectives of the internet clocked it. And here we are today. That's the background on what's going on. If you're listening to this in our Survivor podcast feed, did you know Josh and I cover the White Lotus? Yes. And for the rest of our coverage. Also, a very important thing to point out.

[00:02:53] Head on over to WemoscriptedTV.com. Yes. Please hit subscribe. Like and subscribe and tell your friends so that we can continue covering shows like The White Lotus here on RHAP. Okay. I tried to infuse a few extra H's in there. It didn't work. Okay. It's fine. Christian Hubecky. So here's Christian. Hello. Do you want to give us your story of how you ended up in The White Lotus? Yeah, sure.

[00:03:21] It's a kind of a crazy story of happenstance. I mean, a lot of people knew. I think it was all over the place that the great Natalie Cole and Carl Boudreau were going to be on this season. And Mike had cast them with a specific creative vision in mind. And it's like, it's fantastic.

[00:03:39] And so what – but it was kind of wild in that we – Emily and I were already planning a trip to Japan right around May of last year. So about 10 months ago, we were planning a trip to go out in May because I actually happened to have a conference in Yokohama in Japan. We – me and a student had one of our papers accepted for the International Conference of Robotics and Automation.

[00:04:06] It's a cool paper on an algorithm that allowed robots to sort of walk and roll in a very interesting and predictable way. Anyway, probably not what the White Lotus audience is here to hear about. But we were all interested in – We don't want to hear about robots. Robots. They're too scary. They're made of metal. I don't like them. You're going to take over the world. Skynet. I live for your Parker Posey impressions, by the way. In our house, we do love those.

[00:04:38] Like, love to invest in show, all that business. But like so – The T-1000. So we had – we're planning a trip out there and I had just gotten – Wait, did somebody say to T-1000? My son, let's keep him away. We'll get to him in a moment, by the way. Chris is like, can I tell my story, idiots? You're pinging off like all these stories that I'm going to get to. It's interesting. So it's like, oh, yeah, I forgot. There is that little element. But like there is –

[00:05:06] So we decided to plan on a trip for like two weeks and we're like, hey, we'll spend a week at the conference, then a week, you know, tooling around Japan, doing some other stuff. And as we're planning this trip, just out of – randomly, out of nowhere – and this is something that like will happen every once in a great while where you'll get a text from Mike White. And it will be about something completely random. Speak for yourself. Yeah.

[00:05:29] And it happened to be like he was hanging out with one of his actor friends whose daughter, for some reason, could do an impression of me. Wow. Apparently – So you taped this young woman doing an impression of me and sent it to me. I was like, oh, okay. That's funny. Ha-ha. I realized – Was it good? I'm told it was good. I'm not a good – I'm told – Yeah, yeah. Emily said it looked good. It looked good. And I think that – So at that point, I was like, wait.

[00:05:59] They're filming in Thailand while we are in Japan for this trip. You know, maybe – And Mike has kind of given out sort of like – At one point, he sort of gave out like a general invite to people from the cast like, hey, if you happen to be around when I'm filming on White Lotus, this is like after season one. Knock on the door. Yeah. He's like, yeah, knock on the door. Say hi. Right? You know, come on by. So it's like, hey, we've never – We've been – We did have been to Japan. And Emily taught English there for a year, and we love Japan. But we've never been to Thailand.

[00:06:27] And I was like, hey, what if we just went to Phuket? What if we like – Because that's the way you get to Phuket is actually through Japan. There's almost no direct flights there. So we're like, hey, what if we went there? And just – We'd spend a week tooling around Japan, doing the kind of like the high-frequency lifestyle, going around on trains and stuff from place to place. Josh, I'm sure you would have not relate this in any way. I can't relate to it. Not at all. Not at all. And then we just kind of like resort spa it up for another week in Phuket.

[00:06:56] And while we're there, we'll visit Mike. And we'll see what happens. And so I thought that by Mike. He's like, oh, yeah, sure. Just let me know when. And he sort of like teased the idea of maybe I'll drop you in the show. Now, I know enough about TV how noncommittal that can be. Like shooting schedules are what they are. But it's like, hey, Emily, why don't we just go? We hang out. Maybe we see the set but keep expectations low, right? Who knows what will happen? And so we book the trip out there.

[00:07:25] We fly out there. We stay just downhill from where the White Lotus was being filmed in Phuket. So they were at the Rosewood, which is a really swanky place. We were downhill a little bit, but it was still very nice. And we got there. A holiday in Phuket. Holiday in Phuket. It was very nice. It was very – and like – and so we kind of got both aspects of this vacation. Kind of this run around, you know, Japan sort of thing. And also kind of this spa it up kind of vacation. So it was great. And it's sort of my celebration and part of – that I had gotten tenure.

[00:07:54] And we got to finally go back to Japan and the East Asia. So that was fun. And – How long were you in Asia for this whole experience? Two weeks. Two weeks. So one week Japan, one week Thailand basically. And so we were basically there for a week for Thailand. And Mike said, hey, I just got off of a long shoot. Why don't we just get dinner tonight? And so that's the first time I'd seen Mike in a very, very long time. Emily and I went up to where – he was up at the Rosewood where they filmed the White Lotus.

[00:08:23] And he was like – the poor guy had been shooting all day. So it was very nice that he even met with us. And so we said hi. And he was telling us about the show, what was going on. Had a nice quick dinner because I know he definitely, definitely wanted to go to bed. And on the way back to – on the way back to like we were leaving the hotel, we run into – like, oh. Mike's like, oh, this is Patrick. And I'm like, Patrick. And I'm always like, Schwarzenegger. Like she knows her people. I was like, oh, oh, okay. Josh, you can't do an impression, can you?

[00:08:53] No, certainly. You cannot. And so – and it was just like, oh, hi. This is Patrick. Oh, this is Christian. And he's on the season – on Survivor season with me. And it was just the briefest of little interactions with Patrick Schwarzenegger that I got to see. Well, it was cool. So the rest of the week – What was he like? What was Patrick like? As douchey as Saxon? No. I mean he had like the purely like nice guy sort of face. Like it really was the first time where I saw like an actor before I saw them play the role that they played.

[00:09:20] And I was like, oh, oh, that's what – You need to do things. That's what actors do. That's what actors do. So – and Mike was like, oh, don't worry. We'll fit you in the show somehow. Like, oh, okay. Sounds good. And we assumed we'd be extras. We had not been sent any scripts. So we assumed there would be no lines. And that's fine. You know, if we could drop them in the show, it's great. Right. And so we spent – Carl and Natalie had a month's long experience. Their courtship for the show. They had to sign all sorts of stuff.

[00:09:50] Carl said he had lines that he had to learn. This is like the fast-forward version of this. Absolutely. This was – we were going to be extras. You know? And so like, okay. That's great. And we didn't even – we wasn't even sure what scene we'd be extras in because the filming schedule was getting shuffled around. They had filmed the – they were going to – that week he was saying, oh, we're going to film the arrival scene, the famous arrival scene. That's like a full day of shooting on the ocean. And that had to be like pushed back because of storms. So like, okay.

[00:10:16] So we're seeing the days kind of tick back and we're like, well, we leave Phuket in a week. We may never actually get to be on the show. Like we just got to understand that. And so low expectations. We're just hanging out at the spa. We go around Phuket just doing the vacation thing. And occasionally we get an update and be like, Christian, what's your neck size? It's like in case you're a – what was it? Who are the people around a hotel who help you carry your stuff? Bellhop.

[00:10:46] Bellhop. Bellhop a concierge. Yeah. So maybe you work with Gaytok. Yeah, yeah, exactly. So like the idea is like, hey, I was going to be some kind of bellhop around the White Lotus. It's like, okay, here are my sizes and I'm conversing with this – Fabian's protege. Yeah, something like that and it's like – and then the shooting schedule gets pushed back and they're like, okay, no, we'll put you in a different scene and it will be at this cafe. And we'll have you and Emily just be extras in the background. I'm like, okay, perfect, fine, whatever.

[00:11:14] Our goal was not to bother anybody. Like the minimally – like just seeing the sheer scope of what was going on, like I was like, this is crazy. We don't want Mike White to shuffle around his whole schedule for little old us. So like don't bother anyone was the mantra. So eventually the last day we're in Phuket, like literally we were going to fly out late that night on a red eye back to Japan to then go back home. It's finally the day of shooting that was going to happen.

[00:11:42] So if that got rained out, we wouldn't have been on the show at all. And so we had like a 9.30 call time and a little van comes and picks us up from our hotel. A couple of people who are on the production crew kind of got picked up along with us and were driving us down to where the shoot was down at this cafe. At which point we're kind of getting little dribble hints of like the plot as they're talking with each other. Like the only thing I heard, they're like, oh, you know, they're shooting the – they're shooting the robbery scene.

[00:12:12] I'm like, oh, there's a robbery. There's a robbery. It was like the scene. But otherwise I know very little. And we show up and thankfully, thankfully we get dropped off like with a bunch of extras at this cafe. Me and Emily are like, where do we go? We definitely don't want to be walking around and say, excuse me, excuse me, we know Mike White. Please tell us what to do. Thankfully we bump into Mike White. It's like, oh, you guys are here. It's great. It's like – and it's like, yeah, so here's the scene.

[00:12:38] There are these three women that they're going on like kind of like a get-together tour and like – and they want to have fun. And they have a health butler and this health butler takes them around and they're going to get into more – they're going to get into more than they bargained for at this thing. So now we've seen what they bargained for on the show, so I'm giving away nothing. And so that was started the shoot of the day. So that's how we got there. So it's onto the island for shooting.

[00:13:04] So let me ask you, having been on Survivor, is this your first non-survivor TV set that you're on? Yes. I mean the only other TV shoots I've done are for like Science Channel things. Sure, sure. Like Science Channel people come out and that's a very different thing, right? A hundred percent. Like you're getting interviewed. Yeah. And like I knew enough that like I know they're long. Like TV shoots are long and boring. Like I was telling Emily this. And Emily lives in LA, grew up in LA, so she would actually see some shoots as well.

[00:13:33] So she knows what they're like. But like we know they're long and boring. And so we were aware of that. I didn't quite expect how long an intricate, a scripted show of this caliber was going to be. And so we came in outfits. We were told to bring in clubbing outfits, which of course, as you can imagine, I have many in my wardrobe. Many. So the night before we had to go into town and buy some clubbing outfits, our closest approximation thereof. Did you go to a Jim Thompson? I don't know what those are.

[00:14:02] Jim Thompson is a very well-known person in Thailand history. I don't want to go as far as to say that Jim Thompson and the character that Walton Goggins is searching for right now are analogs of each other. But there's some parallels, certainly, in that story. And also he was like a silk magnate. And so you can get all sorts of silk clothes from the Jim Thompson line. It's true. Yeah. Oh, interesting.

[00:14:32] So it's a – I didn't know silk was magnetic at all. But regardless, I think – Well, even the scientists learned something. Yeah, learned something. So when it comes to – so that's how we got there. And so we show up and they point us toward like the extras tent. And so like we're – so to get made up. So we did the whole makeup thing. I actually – Josh, I don't know if you have – I actually texted you some images from the shoot. Yeah.

[00:14:57] So like the – so like we went back and they said, oh, okay. This is what you got? That's great. We don't have to make you up as Russians. I'm like, what? It's like – Russians. It's like Russians. So at that point we realized, oh, this scene, it's a bunch of – this is like a Russian club with a bunch of Russians. And it's like, okay, I'm not sure how one gets made up as a Russian. But so we – so we basically have this just – this extras garb that we have just – yeah. Tell us about your character. Yes.

[00:15:26] So my character – Did you have a name? I wish I did. So I think that what I was going for is that, Emily, we're going to be the dorkiest people at the coolest club in Thailand. That's like – that's like this. That's going to be our thing. Like maybe – I was LBH number three. That was my name. Okay. You don't have the right look for the – The LBH? Oh, okay. Well, the – Too much hair. So I mean – too much hair.

[00:15:56] That's funny. And when it comes to getting – so we're like, okay, we're just going to be in the background of a scene. We'll just follow direction and we'll go. So we get made up. We get – I've got some images, by the way, for the video version of this podcast. So yeah. So this is actually where we got placed in our scene. So if you might remember, recall that there was a scene where the three women meet the – where they meet the three guys when they show up. That's like the bar. Like right behind us is where they all kind of met right there.

[00:16:22] So we were in a shot for that, but like we knew we weren't on camera for it. So like that's just – that's us. That's in our looks for the image right here. And we got made up at the makeup tent. And those people are professionals. Like I just – the sheer scope of all of different camera angles, all of the trucks, like the off – like kind of the off-campus like tents of like where the wardrobe is. And there were like hundreds of extras it seemed being poured into this. It was just a massive operation.

[00:16:52] And so we start filming – and this is part of the story here. So we start filming, and right as we start filming, rain. Okay? And we're like Leslie Bibb and Michelle Moynihan and Carrie Coons all have to be kind of shuttled off to the green room for – because it starts raining. And then a lot of – me and the rest of the extras with Emily are just like hanging out on this cabana, and it's like all this rain. And I'm like we have no idea how long we're going to be there for.

[00:17:22] So Emily's kind of a hair-me. We're getting hosed down. We're getting hosed down. So like we're dry, but I think that – so I'm going to be like I got to get Emily to someplace other than this. So I'm going to go find an umbrella. So I run out to go find an umbrella, and I come back and get it and escort Emily to one of the other overhangs off camera. And Mike kind of catches us. He's like, hey, you guys, why don't you go in the green room? I'm like the green room, like with the actual like famous people?

[00:17:52] I'm like, oh, yeah, come on. Go in there. So we go in, and sure enough, you have the three principal cast, and so you had the three women. You get to hang out with Carrie Coon? Hang out is a strong word. Again, primary one, don't bother anyone. And they're just sitting in the middle of the room in their chairs with their names on them, and they're reading their phones. And I'm like, I'm not going up and talking to them. So Emily and I, we kind of shuttle around the back and sit down. And who comes up to us but Valentin? His name's Arnis.

[00:18:22] And it's like – His name's Arnis? Close enough. Arnis. Oh, my gosh. And he comes up. It's like, hi, I'm Chris. He's like, I'm Arnis, and he had his girlfriend there. So we were striking up a conversation with Valentin. He's like, what do you guys do? What are you doing here? And so we tell him, and somehow, of course, I ended up giving a lecture on robot control that somehow got – actually that worked in the conversation somehow. He's like, what do you do? Which is the most dangerous question to ask me. For those audience members who don't know me, I'm a robotics professor.

[00:18:50] So I'm so sorry to Arnis. But he was such a nice guy. He was so nice. And we were talking with him, and I'm tapped on the shoulder by a producer. And they said, we need to dry you. I'm like, excuse me? I was like, yeah, for continuity. You weren't wet in the shot.

[00:19:07] So what you have in that image there, Josh, is me being dried so that way I am dry for the next shot, which was only mildly humiliating as I was standing in front of Kerry Coons, Michelle Moynihan, and Leslie Bibb being dried so I wouldn't ruin the shot. So I failed in my mission to not bother anyone. But you succeeded in your mission to be the uncool guest. Yes. Yes, I did.

[00:19:36] Christian, were these your own party clothes, or was this costume? We bought this at downtown Thailand. So we were given some general instructions for what to wear as extras. Were you given budget? Did you have to pay to play? Did you pay to play on the White Lotus, Christian? You got to start somewhere. You got to start somewhere in this. But I think that— You have to be questionable. Yeah, well, I think that as extras, you get an extras paycheck.

[00:20:04] I think the only challenge was we left the hotel, so I don't think—we never got a check. So whatever. It's fine. At this point, it's probably sitting in the concierge. To be clear, we had a great time. We had a fantastic time. So once the weather cleared up, they put us in a shot, and they set up a shot where we were—actually made air, where we were right in front of that burning logo for the cafe.

[00:20:31] And Mike's like, okay, you know, he kind of situated us in a spot where we would be seen, and he was like, hey—and they would play music, and we would dance, which is one of the more—as you can tell, I'm a natural. I'm a natural at this. So we did a couple takes where I'd dance, and one thing was to raise the roof just now. Yeah, yes. The roof, you know, as an engineer, I know how to do that. And so what I did is— I thought you would know how to do the robot.

[00:20:56] You know, it's a common stereotype among us robotics professors that we are trying to use the public. Thank you, Josh, for bringing that up. I apologize. No, it's okay. And I think that—and so ultimately, I think one of the last takes is like, you know what I'm going to do? I'm just going to talk to Emily. Like, we're sitting right there. I'm just going to talk to her. And I thought that that was a much more natural thing for us to kind of begin talking to each other. And that's the shot that made the air, and that was great. Do you remember what you were talking about? Like, so this is unofficial dialogue. This is not actual dialogue that makes it to air.

[00:21:26] It's certainly not dialogue written by Mike White. And in fact, it sounds like you ad-libbed on The White Lotus. You know, it's one of my many skills, Josh, is the ability to ad-libbed here. Which I don't know if that was like crossing any kind of—there was no stripes in place or anything. The WJ line here? I'm a scab. Yeah, the Phuket line. But what do you remember talking to Emily about? What were you guys discussing? Well, you don't— You look very emphatic, like very gestury in the shot.

[00:21:56] Well, that's something you got to do all the time. I mean, like, again, the kind of shoots I'm used to are either me starving on an island, which, you know, there's that. But number two— You get rained on, they evacuate you to somewhere else. So this is like nothing new for you. That's all normal. The green room that you all go to where they feed you hamburgers and Snickers bars. You know, I think this might still be under NDA, Josh. So if you could just wipe that from the pond. Yeah, I already burned the bridge, so I don't care.

[00:22:20] No, and I think that—so the other kind of shoot that I do are these robotic shoots where, like, you—typically it'll be, like, me with a student, with a robot, and, like, we're, like, talking with each other as if I'm teaching them. And the thing you do, at least that I do, is I say, hey, look at this gesture I'm doing. Isn't it great? You're certainly learning a lot when I do this thing. And so I—that's the way I do my acting. So those, you know, looking for my acting advice, there you go.

[00:22:45] An old friend of mine called this theater hands once, that you, like, you have to have, like, theater arms and theater hands. It's, like, just, like, wild gesticulation to really add some emphasis. Yeah. So, I mean, so that's what we do as, you know, professors. The more we wave our arms, the less the students get disengaged, I think. I think YouTubers figured this out as well. They just kind of, like, it's like, whoa! And they also talk really fast. But, yeah, I mean, that—so we filmed that scene, and we filmed the nightclub dancing scene thereafter.

[00:23:14] And I think the thing that was, like, amazing to me is all the different takes that they would do where they'd set— I didn't understand how, like, a single camera show operated. Like, when people talk about, like, The Office, they talk about it as, like, is that a multi-camera show? Is that the phrase for it? I was like, why is a multi-camera—no, really, there's only one camera. And they have to—if you want a shot from a different angle, they have to reset up the whole thing, do another take from that angle. And, like, oh my God, it was so much.

[00:23:42] And just seeing how that translated to, like, the little monitors and, like, the way that it had all these filters on it, it was—all the details were incredible. I was amazed by all of the work that went into what was just a couple of seconds of footage. Welcome to Frosta Feierabend-Tip. Faster than the delivery service from— Oh, no love to cook. — to— Hey, already done. For example with Frosta Butter Chicken. 100% free from adds.

[00:24:12] Only with natural ingredients. After the Frosta Reinheitsgebot. Kurz— Mm, voll lecker. Null-cünstlich. Frosta's dishes. And you can save it. Christian, have you had any takes about the White Lotus as a viewer through five episodes? Well, I mean, I love the White Lotus in general. I mean, obviously, I was going to watch it when it came back out. It came out in, what, 2021? Yeah. When the first season came out. Like, oh, Mike says, we're running—here's the show.

[00:24:42] I was like, hey, we'll put it on. And, of course, you're going to watch it because, you know, you know the guy. But it was—I find the character— You didn't watch it for Alec Merlino? Of course. Well, I mean, that's always a bonus, you know, whenever you get Alec Merlino. So we're always on the lookout for our friends from the show who are on there. And, I mean, Alec had a multi-episode part. Mm-hmm. A great irony, for those who know the Survivor lore, is Alec has a decent amount of dialogue,

[00:25:08] and you have none, which is not how it went during your final showdown together. There is some irony in that. And I'll tell you, let's sort of make sure this is all out there. It's like, look, I couldn't be happier with what was on television. Like, one, I didn't want to learn any lines. Only lines I know how to deliver are the ones I think of. That's all. You know, I'm not an actor. So I'm like, that's a lot of pressure I wouldn't want. And I kind of loved how subtle it was.

[00:25:35] And actually, I was like, when it happened, Emily and I were watching this weekend, I was like, I kind of love this. It would be so funny if eventually people were like, oh, come back weeks later. I was like, wait, was that Christian? Was that Emily? But Survivor's News. How many minutes later was it? I think I started getting tagged within about, I'd say about 10 minutes. Yeah. And so once one person noticed. But I couldn't be happier. It was subtle.

[00:26:05] And frankly, it was commensurate with the amount of time that we spent there. We came on the set for a day and Mike was kind enough to just kind of slot us in, given how busy he was. Like, he's running a whole operation. And like, I mean, if you meet the guy, like, he has this way about him where he's like, it's almost like, oh, you know, I'm not sure if I'm taking this thing very seriously or, you know, whatever. He has that. But he's running a multimillion dollar operation. And it's interesting to see that side of him.

[00:26:36] And we kept filming late into the night. And eventually we're like, we got to get to the airport. We're about to leave. So, like, we're doing these clubbing scenes. And so we said our goodbyes really quick to Mike and left and realized we never took a single photo with him the entire time we were there. That's a bomb. So, no, but we were, but I was thrilled. We got to see the set for a day. I got to be embarrassed in front of Leslie Bibb. And, you know, what more could I want from the experience?

[00:27:05] And Emily had a great time. And so, yeah, fun time. Have you been studying the narrative of the show? Are you invested in the who's going to get got of it all? Where are you at with trying to decode? Any theory breaking that you've been trying to do here, Christian? I mean, things become a little clearer over time. But in only – insofar as Mike has been dictating the pace of that, or the show has been dictating the pace.

[00:27:32] Like, there's – like, I would say – and I have no inside information. Literally, I told you all the things that I learned that the robbery scene. These women get into some kind of mischief. And there's a health butler. Right. Arnest was very nice. Right. And I didn't think that you were going to – after Mike put you on the show, then you would come on a podcast to spoil the White Lotus. You're curious. With your inside information. Sure. Absolutely. I was making that clear to the audience. This comes from – I'm not even having to hold back on what I know when I'm speculating.

[00:28:01] This is all complete ignorance. Maybe, though, you have a little extra rope having once upon a time cast a million-dollar vote for Mike White. I feel like you should be allowed to do almost anything you want in Mike's book. I mean – Short of coming on to a podcast and spoiling his television program. Well, I mean, just looking at it as a viewer, there's a couple things. Like, I mean, obviously, I originally don't like Walton Goggins, and you're coming to – I come to like him more.

[00:28:25] Or the story that I actually look at that I'm actually most scared about is one of – I forget who's Walton Goggins' girlfriend's character's name. Chelsea. Chelsea. Chelsea. She's so likable. What's your character arc going to be? That makes me kind of scared. How do you start off of a likable person who's very well-intentioned, and where do you end up as a consequence? It doesn't mean she has to be the one who takes the bullet.

[00:28:52] But she's being tempted to be like, hey, let's get away from these old guys. Like, what happens to her as a consequence? She's the one I'm most character arc scared for of all these people. Yeah. I had a thought recently. What if we're so – because Rob and I, Rob, we're talking about, like, who's going to die, and there's been some concern it could be Chelsea. There's a lot on the show that sort of, like, points to they're talking about death around her.

[00:29:20] But last time we were kind of talking about it wouldn't be, you know, it wouldn't be tragicomic enough. You know, it would just be tragic to lose that character. Could she be involved in some kind of, like, is, like, the line that she's going to have to cross – does she have to, like, put Chloe down or something like that? Does she and Chloe, do they have to become ops in some sort of deadly way?

[00:29:46] I don't necessarily think that that has to be the case. You know, like, go back and look at, like, Aubrey Plaza's character last season where, you know, she could just be somebody who, like, has her relationship tested in some way and comes out with some new – her and Walton Goggins have, like, some new understanding about their relationship after that.

[00:30:09] I don't know if she necessarily needs to perform some sort of, like, horrific deed or to have something – some trauma happen to her. But she has said that bad things happen in threes. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, there's always – I mean, there's always a lot of symbolism to varying degrees of subtlety in Mike's stuff. I mean, there's the – I forget what the name of the three monkeys, the Ceno Evil, Ceno Evil Monkeys.

[00:30:37] Like, he obviously literally frames a shot on one of those ceramic monkeys. But also, like, I saw some coverage that, like, on the boat inn. Yes, I saw this too. We saw this too? Yeah, like, where the three children each have, like, their own little Ceno Evil thing. You texted it to me today. Really? Oh, my gosh. Yes. Wow. I mean, it's – that's, like – there's a lot going on in his shows. I mean, in terms of, like – I mean, Mike, in terms of trying to realize, like, what he's up to – Look at the Abby on the White Lotus.

[00:31:05] When the day comes when we get to, like, White Lotus 12 and, like, we've run out of David versus Goliath, people to put on the show. Oh, yeah. I think that she would be a good fit. And, I mean, Mike's an enigma. I mean, it's very hard to say – to figure out what Mike likes or doesn't like in a specific way. It's, like, it's very hard to figure out.

[00:31:28] But, like, I think there's little predicting as to what he wants on a given season, what he wants for a character arc. Like, I don't think anyone saw that monologue from Sam Rockwell coming this episode, you know, for instance. So there's – like, it is interesting to see where he takes things. I mean, I was – I think I had – What if you had shown up to Phuket and he had said, all right, I've got a banger for you. Get ready. You're going to read this whole thing. Well, I –

[00:32:01] An absolute banger for you, Christian. I think I would fear for my job, actually, if I had – but, like – but it is funny. I actually love that, like, we're in, like, this episode because this episode is, like, very memorable. And, like, in a lot of ways, like, it's so funny. Like, I – like, it just makes for a funny story. Like, oh, yeah, we have, like, a three-second cameo on this thing. But if you're in Not Safe for Work stuff, you know, maybe stop after the first, you know, 12 minutes or so because it goes –

[00:32:27] It's, like, one of the more, like, intense kind of content episodes, like this side of Game of Thrones of the kind of stuff that they do and talk about. But, like, it's – but I think that that's par for the course for Mike. You don't know where he's going to go with something. And I think that for a – the show for which there's a core mystery element, that's what you need. Does it track with your experience of playing Survivor with Mike? Like, I know that Mike was, like, sometimes hard to pin down, and that was one of the things that you talk about when you voted for him,

[00:32:56] that you thought that he played, like, a really genius next-level game. But even just, like, conversationally, would he – was he a surprising figure out there on the beach where, like, you just weren't ever really sure what was going to come from him next? Yes, absolutely. Like, he – I don't know ways to categorize comedy. But, like, there is a way that he steers a conversation that keeps you off balance. Like, some things made air.

[00:33:24] Like, I was talking to him one time and, like – and in the middle of the conversation, he's like, ugh, I have beard hate right now. And he walks off. And what motivated him to say that and do that? I have beard hate? Beard hate. He's scratching his beard. He's like, I hate my beard. I have beard hate at the moment. And it was just so off the wall. They were like – so it's hard to track where a conversation is going to go with him. And I think that that's – again, I don't know the man that well.

[00:33:53] But I think that it's certainly not surprising that his show is plotted in the way that it is, the way that I've experienced conversations with him. But also, it doesn't surprise you that the show – I believe you would agree that the show has some significant survivor DNA. Like, you view the White Lotus a little bit differently if you are a survivor fan, I think, and you know that Mike White is a survivor person.

[00:34:17] I can imagine that happening doubly if you were a survivor player and specifically a survivor player with Mike White, that you can see some of the structure of that show infused in this one. I mean Mike himself has talked about survivor in his interviews as being murder. You know, it's fun murder. I think he's talked about in interviews. So like that's not surprising. And even the format, right? I think – you know, I'm really into the show.

[00:34:48] I mean it's not – I don't think that it's great because I don't think it would be a show that I would naturally gravitate to turn on and try if I had not known about the connection here. And it's very engrossing. It's just these scenes of the – anyway, whatever. But like the – but the format each season is similar. And I've seen people talk about it. It's like, oh, it's the same sort of thing. It's going to be someone who's dead. It's like, yeah, that's what survivor is like. There's always – it's the same thing. People are going to get voted out. There's going to be one person left at the end. It's the same thing. But it's the journey along the way that's interesting.

[00:35:18] So that's unsurprising. So in a way, it makes him intriguing because like you think you got a line on what he likes and is interesting. But the way that he gets there is very whitey in, if you will, in the way he gets there, in a way that's surprising. So I'm glad he kind of settled on this murder mystery element because if it's a bit of a mystery, that plays into his own mystique. All right.

[00:35:46] Only three episodes left and it's really heating up. I can't wait to see where it's going to go. Do you have any predictions, Christian? I mean I could have predicted that Kenny was going to flip on him. I'm not sure why though. Like he didn't think that that was going to happen. I mean that's very survivor. Somebody always flips, right? Somebody always flips. I mean I'm of the camp that Belinda won't be killed. I think that's a little too – She has immunity, right?

[00:36:16] I think so. She wins final immunity so her son doesn't need to worry so much. But I mean I am not of the kind to make a specific prediction as to which the person is going to die. I think like you said, Rob, I think it would be tragic if – I forget the character's name. Chelsea. Chelsea – that would be tragic, a little too dark. I think her downfall, if she had one, it would be of her own making and choices and not a stray bullet I would think.

[00:36:43] But I actually was surprised when she got bit by the snake. I was like that there's sort of a jump scare in that, like a snake and a jump scare. Normally I don't remember that from Mike White's show, so it's a bit of a twist there. Yeah, that's why I'm worried. That's why I'm scared. Who should be the next from your cast to go on the White Lotus? Well, I know Gabby's a huge fan of the White Lotus. I know she's a huge fan and has always been. It's right up her alley. The interplay of relationships is exactly what she's into.

[00:37:12] And obviously Davey – Where's Davey? Do you want to play with me? Mike, do you want to play with me? So I think that – and I twirl on a stick on the beach maybe. I can imagine either of those things happening. But look, the thing I've learned is that, look, Mike comes up with what he comes up with. And I'm just lucky that I happened to be passing by. Yeah. And so we got to have this little experience, and it was a great bit of fun. Who's his closest friend from your cast, do you think? Mike? Yeah.

[00:37:42] That's a good question. That's a good question. I think that – I mean he did – I'm assuming he had Alec on his show for so many – like he was – I think Alec was on set with him the entire Maui shoot. Yeah. He's got to be pretty close with Alec. Yeah. I mean here's another like maybe a story that might explain some of the White Lotus. I think I've told it to – maybe you before, Rob, but apologies if I hadn't.

[00:38:09] So Mike, after our season, went back to Fiji. And he took like a handful of us with him to Fiji. I was lucky to be one of those people. And we went to – in Fiji to the floating pizza platform, Cloud9, that Josh – Yeah. You've been – It's pretty good. It's pretty good. Pretty good. Wood-fired pizza on a wooden pizza platform in the middle of the ocean. What could go wrong? What could go wrong with that, Josh?

[00:38:36] All those millennials really ruined that for the rest of the Fiji contestants. They blew it on the first Fiji season. But now everyone gets bad pizza. But that was the best pizza in the land. It was really good. It was good. It was good. So we went to this place. Is it a restaurant? It's not a survivor reward? It's a restaurant. No, it's a restaurant. It's real. But like Brett LaBelle like puked all over the place or something. I don't know. Like they caused all sorts of mischief. And they were never invited back. It's – oh, is that why? That's the story. I don't know if it was Brett.

[00:39:06] I don't know what happened. It's unconfirmed. Unconfirmed. It's unconfirmed. Anagans occurred. I don't mean to blast Brett. But I'll never forget like there was – like we were on this platform and like – and you had to take a boat on and off. So if you want to leave the restaurant, you have to wait for a boat to come and you have to jump on the boat to come and get off, right? And so we had our fill. We were about ready to go, but we had to wait for a boat.

[00:39:30] And I remember we were up on like on the deck of this and like there was a bunch of Instagram – like wannabe Instagram models posing around the boat, taking all these shots. And they're kind of getting up like right in like Mike's space and he's sitting there just like trying to just drink like a Mai Tai or something like that. I could just see the disdain on his face for the situation he was in at the moment. And he said, Christian, this is what hell is. Hell is being on vacation and being stuck with people you hate.

[00:40:00] And so I was like – and this was before the White Lotus came out. So like I feel like there's a little bit of that DNA in the White Lotus. This point for the White Lotus to some extent appears to be survivor and maybe that immediate trip, the return to the Holy Land, right? To go back to Fiji and then to have that form of experience. It isn't like that pure survivor land experience anymore.

[00:40:26] Now you're getting to see the Jacqueline Lemons of the world at work and having some things to say about that in the canvas that Mike has chosen for himself. Yeah. I mean so – I mean I couldn't be more thrilled for the guy. His show is – I think it's number one streaming show in the world right now or something close to that depending upon the ratings. Something like that. So it's doing great and I couldn't be happier for him.

[00:40:51] Now, Christian, a lot of the actors in the show have had to do nude scenes. If Mike had said, okay, Christian, I have a role for you but it involves – you need to do full frontal. Would you have walked off the set? But he'd have to talk me into it I think. But I've done Stranger – no, I haven't done Stranger Things than that. Wow. You're coming to Netflix now. Wow. First Max, now Netflix. Cameo. Wow. He's in the background. I don't know.

[00:41:21] Max is on Stranger Things too. There's something – I think if you go – anyone who goes on the show, there's an element of adventurousness to it. Yes. While everyone has their lines that they won't cross. It's like I'm not – who knows? Who knows until you're there, right? Yeah. You can walk up to the edge and see what's on the other side. How deep down does this rabbit hole go? Put me on the spot here, Rob. Yeah. Yeah. It would be a tough question. It would be – look, it would be a tough question. Look, I have no –

[00:41:51] I'd only go on the show if I was doing full frontal. I think that's the only way I would say yes. And I think that – I think that thankfully for someone like me who does not have acting aspirations, it was just a fun little diversion. But like for someone who's really like, you know what? This is my chance to break into the business. Christian, you're not an actor. You don't need to do full frontal and be one of these prostitutes. What are your values? You have values. You keep your clothes on. You keep your clothes on.

[00:42:22] But yeah, so that's the story. Munity. So that's the story. And so like through happenstance, we were in that – we were as close as we were going to get to that part of the world. And so we got to hang out in Phuket for a bit and then come back. It's awesome. And no one knew about it until Sunday, which was great. That's great. Yeah. That's awesome. That's so much fun. What a fun time. It's so fun to see you on the show.

[00:42:50] And thank you for sharing your story with us. Thank you very much for having me. I just – you know, I hope that everyone enjoys the season. You know, Emily and I, we brought so much to the scene, of course. Yes. We appreciate that you – I was pretty out. I mean a lot of people were saying that like, oh, season three, what a slow burn. And then I think that this episode ramped it up for a lot of people. So you could take some credit if you want. Yep. Yep.

[00:43:18] You know, me and secondarily Sam Rockwell. I think me – actually, no. Emily, me, Sam Rockwell. I think we'll be the ranking right here. Yeah, the big three. All right. Christian, anything else you want to tell people to check out? Anything you're doing? I mean, not in particular. I'm just professoring up. Hey, Blood on the Clock Tower is going to be live on Saturday afternoon on RHAP. That's right. Thanks very much for reminding me. It's been a long time coming. So we will be releasing the third episode of Blood on the Clock Tower.

[00:43:48] Survivors play Blood on the Clock Tower. Quite a fun episode. So feel free to check it out. We'll release it on Saturday, I believe. Yeah. Watch RHAP.com to check out our YouTube channel. Indeed. Indeed. But other than that, just trying to muscle through the semester. Just one day at a time until the semester's over. Okay. You're almost there. All right. Josh, what's coming up for you? Busy Severance week, right? Yes, that's right. Severance finale. You're a Severance guy, Christian?

[00:44:16] We are waiting for it to be much further along than I'm going to binge it. So we've been waiting. So yeah. Interesting. Mystery shows, like multi-season long mystery shows. I've been burned one too many times. So I'm waiting until people say- What a level of self-control. Yep. Yep. Yep. It's also not my business. You're a podcast in business. You have no choice in the matter. You got to check out all these things like instantly. Yeah, that's true. But I'm thrilled to do it, especially with Severance as it is getting darn close to the

[00:44:45] end of the line, as in it's at the end of the line. It's the finale this week. We got a final episode here with a lot of business still to accomplish. Myself and the doctors, Amanda and Melissa, will be recapping it. We'll get some theories and feedback. We're working on a bonus episode or two. So a lot going on behind the scenes as we are closing Severance out. And so much else happening on WeKnowScriptedTV.com. Yellow Jackets is getting relatively close to the end of the line.

[00:45:12] Here, obviously, White Lotus is getting close to the finish line as well. The Last of Us will be on the other side of that. Andor is coming back in April. Are you an Andor person, Christian? I have not. Or we've been – Or we've been – Or we've been – I'm more – I have been a Star Wars person in a little bit. So I think I need something to – You got burned by Mando. Yeah, I did. Yeah, I did. Mando's what did it? It didn't happen sooner than Mando? Mando was the last chance they – Was the last chance that they had. The Last Jedi.

[00:45:41] Yeah, yeah. Was it because of what they did with the Boba Vett? Oh, no. In general, like – I don't want to talk – I don't want to talk badly about Star Wars. But it's – Yeah, I think that the first season of Mandalorian was wonderful. You feel like he'd be a big Grogu guy. You know, Grogu's fine. He's cute. Oh, my God. He's fine. He doesn't need a name. You're out on Baby Yoda? Call him Baby Yoda. You cowards. His name is Baby Yoda. Just call him that. That's – Grogu's okay. Rob loves Grogu. Grogu the name –

[00:46:11] Rob does a killer Grogu impression, actually. I do? Yeah. Now you're on the spot. You're doing it right now. Oh, if he doesn't talk? Oh. Okay, I see what you did. No, so – Andor is continuing. I hear good things. You'd love it. You'd love it. All right. Well, even if Christian's not watching it, you can check it all out here. We know scriptedtv.com. Josh, anything else? No. Of course, we're going to be resuming our patron-only Survivor Heroes vs. Villains coverage next week.

[00:46:41] We had an off week thanks to 15 years ago, March Madness giving us a week off. We didn't know at the time, but thanks. Thanks, basketball gods. All right. But we'll be back with a double boot coming soon. All right. And, of course, episode six of The White Lotus is coming up on Sunday. Take care, everybody. Have a good one. Bye. Bye.