"Totally deserved": When The White Lotus star Murray Bartlett opened up about an infamous scene involving his Season 1 character

The White Lotus has featured several out-of-the-box ideas over the years that have left the audience stunned. One of the most astonishing events that happened in the HBO comedy-drama was in the Season 1 finale, when Armond defecated on one of the hotel guests’ luggage.

The guest, Shane, had been getting on the hotel manager’s nerves all through the season, and it all came down to this one moment, which had never been portrayed on television before. Murray Bartlett, the actor who impressed everyone with his stellar portrayal of Armond, talked about the infamous scene on Jimmy Kimmel Live! In February 2022.

When the host pointed out how Shane certainly deserved the treatment for being insufferable, Armond agreed and added that the moment was totally unexpected for viewers, and even he had never imagined he would be performing such a scene on television:

“It is totally deserved. And it’s yeah…It’s not the thing that you expect to see on TV, and it’s certainly not the thing that you expect to watch yourself do on TV. It’s quite a confronting thing for me to watch. Very realistic, isn’t it?”

When Murray Bartlett talked about Armond’s infamous scene in The White Lotus Season 1

During the interview, Murray Bartlett also revealed that the art designers of The White Lotus had initially created a prop for the scene; however, the team eventually decided to use CGI to depict the p**p. The actor said that when he watched the scene, he was shocked by how realistic it looked.

“I mean, when I was watching it, I was taken aback as well because I was, you know, in my sort of audience mode and was like that looks so real, did I actually do that?”

Talking about how the much-talked-about prop was created initially by the prop department of The White Lotus, Bartlett said:

“I have to tell you that the props department was very excited to create the p**p. There was practical p**p, and then they decided to go with CGI, not because the p**p didn't look good. And because the p**p looked good, I said to the prop guy how did you, sort of joking you know, ‘This looks amazing, how did you guys do that?’”

The actor continued,

“He spent about three minutes explaining how he did it: the different chocolate bars, the honey, the kind of the things. I was like, okay, maybe too much information, but they did an amazing job.”

The scene remains one of the most controversial but also one of the most unforgettable moments of The White Lotus, which made the audience realize how the series creator, Mike White, was not shying away from pushing boundaries on television.

There was a constant tussle between Armond and Shane in The White Lotus Season 1. While the hotel manager put up a facade to deal with the guests, Shane behaved like a spoiled man who made sure Armond had a tough time for messing up his booking and not providing him with his desired room.

At the end, Armond crumbled under pressure and came up with the unorthodox idea to seek revenge on Shane by defecating on his luggage. Things did not end up well for Armond eventually, but he did become a fan-favorite character.

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The White Lotus is available to stream on Max.

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