Following a 6-1 jury vote, US Survivor legend Parvati Shallow has been crowned the winner of Survivor: Australia V The World. But Parvati, who was up against Australians Luke Toki and Janine Allis in the final tribal council, admits in an exclusive interview with TV WEEK that she was surprised that she got as many votes as she did.
“I was like, ‘God, these Aussies are probably going to stick together,’” she says. “So I was concerned about that.
“Kirby [Bentley], she was heartbroken when I voted her out. We had just promised each other never to write each other’s names down. So I was like, ‘Oh, God. I better show up at this final tribal and convince them that this was good gameplay, and you want to vote for the person who played the game the best.’
“Thankfully, they really did. And I feel so grateful to them for that. It’s very touching.”
So was there a flirty vibe going on with Kirby?
“Yeah, totally!” she laughs. “It was really fun.”
Parvati cemented her place in the final three by winning the last individual immunity, outlasting Luke by standing on pegs and holding weights for one hour and 48 minutes. She managed to look calm and relaxed the whole time, and puts that down to all the yoga she’s done in her life.
“I trust that I can just go into some kind of place inside of me that is beyond pain,” she explains. “And it just gets me through.
“My dad was a yogi who did that kind of practice as well. He would meditate for six, seven hours and go into these trance states. So I think I just inherited that ability.
“It was painful, don’t get me wrong. It was excruciating. It felt like knives were going into the bottoms of my feet. But I would have stayed there until I died.”
So how does it feel for Parvati to be crowned the world champion of Survivor, after having played the game five times over two decades?
“It feels like I’m healing my 29-year-old self who lost Heroes vs Villains,” she says. “And it feels like this kind of cosmic gift that I’ve been given, to give my younger self a really big hug and support and celebration and victory that she wanted so badly at the time and was so devastated around the loss.
“It’s like myself now at 42 is holding my 29-year-old self and being like, ‘I got you, girl.’ And now I’m like, ‘Ooh, what else can we do together?’”
Parvati says she’s stayed in touch with all of the Australian players she met on Australia V The World – “Kirby and I talk on FaceTime” – and she’s a big supporter of David Genat, who she competed with on Deal Or No Deal Island in the US. She believes David will be an “extraordinary” host of Australian Survivor.
“David has such charisma, and the camera loves him,” she adds.
“I’m really curious to watch a former contestant step into the role of host and see what happens and what that does to the contestants. Because I know, as a contestant, Jonathan [LaPaglia] or Jeff [Probst], the hosts of Survivor Australia and US Survivor, they’re part of the game.
“David will influence the game because he has experience being a contestant, and I think it will up-level the gameplay from the contestants because they’re going to see him and want to impress him. That’s just my take.
“I’m excited to watch the next season of Australian Survivor.”
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