After a hard-fought 16 days battling the elements and her fellow tribemates in Samoa, Parvati Shallow emerged victorious in Sunday night’s finale of Survivor: Australia v The World – earning herself a tidy $250,000 and the title of the World’s Best Survivor Player in the process.
But, in a change from usual proceedings, having filmed the show almost a year ago and with no live finale, three different endings were filmed so as not to spoil the outcome – and the 42-year-old only just found out herself that she won!
“We filmed alternate endings,” Parvati tells WHO. “We had a little chat with the executive producer and the finalists. So me, Luke [Toki] and Janine [Allis] were on that call, and they let us know that I had won then.
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“And it was exciting but, like also, I have so many trust issues from having played Survivor so many times. I was like, ‘I’ll believe it when I see it!’ I still wasn’t 100 per cent convinced until I watched the show, and I was like, ‘OK, it really is me.’ I’ve never done that before.”
With the famed US Survivor contestant residing in LA, the time difference made it too hard to celebrate her win in real time with the show airing in Australia – so instead, she’ll be celebrating today.
“The show aired at 2am my time, so we’re having a party tonight,” she says. “It’s gonna be at a bar in Hollywood. I’m selling my book and signing my book [Nice Girls Don’t Win: How I Burned It All Down to Claim My Power]. I think it’s gonna be really fun.”
Having dominated the competition all season, while fans my have been rooting for Parvati to win, the player – who’s known as the “Black Widow” – says she felt like it was her competition to lose.
“I felt so solid and I was, like, so committed to my redemption story that I told over and over again, and I was anchored in it,” she tells us. “I was like, ‘This is my moment to get my win. I’m in Samoa, it’s like the Gods of the island want me to win this.’
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“I was just so ready for it, and I felt so connected to my mission that I was like, ‘Of course, I’m winning.’ And the final Immunity Challenge being an endurance pain challenge, I’m like, ‘Kass [Bastarache] is out of the game, I got this.’”
Going up against Luke in the final three, Parvati says she knew she had her work cut out for her, being that he’s so beloved.
“I knew it would be harder for me to win because of Luke’s reputation in Australia – he’s beloved, and he’s such a fun person in the game to play with,” she says. “He was scrapping from the bottom the whole time, and he still managed to get to the end being a big threat.
“I was like, ‘OK, I really have my work out for me in this final Tribal, I’m going to have to turn every play that Luke made against him.’ So that’s what I was focused on in the final Tribal.”
Having previously stated that Australia v The World will be her final time competing on the Survivor series, to go out on such a high – having proved herself to be the best player in the world – is something Parvati admits she’s still struggling to comprehend.
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“I don’t even have words for it,” she says. “My body is so excited. I feel like a little kid. I’m really happy. I’ve been just bursting out into tears spontaneously throughout the day because I’m so happy. Yeah, it feels really good.”
While she may not return as a player again, Parvati says she wouldn’t rule out stepping into the shoes as host of the US franchise when the time comes for Jeff Probst to call it a day.
“If Jeff wants to pass the torch to me, I will gladly and with gratitude and humility, accept that torch and I would host Survivor, but I will not be competing on this show ever again. I for sure would say yes and I would host it, and then you could see David [Genat, the new host of Australian Survivor] and I go head-to-head again. I actually would love that!”
As for how she’ll spend her $250,000 prize money, first and foremost, the mum-of-one has holiday plans with her daughter, Ama, 7, on her list.
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“I’m gonna take some trips. I’m going with my daughter to New York for a wedding of a Survivor contestant named Kelly, who is getting married to her soon-to-be wife, Gabby. And I think I’ll spend my money on some first-class plane tickets for me and my daughter, and a really nice luxury hotel room. Beyond that, I don’t know, because I’m not planning that far in advance, and I’m excited to just have some cash.”
By the sounds of it, she might need to set aside some of that money to fund Ama’s ambition to become a future Survivor champion – just like her Mum!
“I don’t think there’s anything I’ll be able to do to stop her [following in my footsteps]. She’s fierce and determined, and she has a mind of her own, and she’s, like, doing Immunity Challenges by herself in the kitchen. She’ll turn a stool on its side, so it rolls, and she’ll stand on it and balance, and she’s, like, ‘Time me.’”
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After surviving Team World’s first Tribal Council and narrowly avoiding returning for a second time after a valiant effort at the Immunity Challenge, Parvati Shallow not only got one step closer to taking out the title of Sole Survivor on Survivor: Australia v The World, but she broke a longstanding Survivor record in the process.
Having surpassed 152 days of game play during her five stints competing, the 42-year-old, who’s known as the “Black Widow”, has now broken “Boston Rob” Mariano’s record for the most days ever played in the worldwide reality competition.
“I think that sets me in a league of my own when it comes to Survivor gamers,” Parvati tells WHO. “I like to consider myself maybe at the top of the mountain here, and it’s really fun, because when I first got cast on Survivor, I never thought I would have the opportunity to have the adventure of a lifetime more than once.
“And when they kept asking me to come back, and I did so well, I’m like, ‘This really has been woven into the fabric of my destiny in this lifetime.’”
Another milestone moment she achieved during Australia v The World – which surprisingly she’d never experienced on the show before – was celebrating her birthday!
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“Yeah, that was great – I almost got blindsided on my birthday,” she reflects with a laugh. “Actually, it’s nice. It’s like, that’s how Survivor is.”
Of her many highlights from filming, the mum-of-one cites a particular Tribal Council in which she had a “special advantage” as her favourite.
“There were so many moments in the game that were really unique and cool and special,” she says.
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“I had one of my most favourite Tribal Councils that I’ve ever been a part of in this season of Survivor. I think the fans will really go crazy for what happens at one of the Tribal Councils, and then interacting with [host] Jonathan [LaPaglia] around a special advantage.”
With so many iterations of the US game under her belt, you would think that Parvati had seen everything Survivor could throw at its contestants. But not so. Indeed, she reveals she found our challenges to be much tougher than she’s used to.
“The challenges on Australian Survivor are very, like, brute strength or torture, medieval torture, endurance challenges,” she says. “I was like, ‘OK, I’m glad I prepared by lifting a lot of heavy weights. Yeah, it’s a little more hardcore than the US.”
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Win or lose this time around, with one win to her name and having accomplished everything she’s set out to, Parvati reveals this will be her last time competing on Survivor.
“I’m retiring from being a contestant on Survivor, like, I’m all set,” she confirms. “I feel like I have completed my run. And it feels really good to go out on this really special, cool, kind of celebratory season.
“It was fun. We had a really good time out there and that doesn’t happen all the time. Sometimes people take these games really seriously and it’s not as fun. But it was a blast.”
