Congratulations! You were really emotional in the final episode, for someone who always seems so calm and in control, what brought up all those big feelings for you?<\/p>\n
This has been 17 years in the making for me. It felt like destiny. It felt bigger than me, and having [fellow US competitor] Cirie out there was really meaningful. I\u2019m just a more heart-open person [than when I first competed in Survivor: Cook Islands in 2005], also, now that I\u2019m a mum and have a daughter, certain things will get me. And I wanted that win so badly. When I won the [final] immunity challenge, I was like, \u201cOh, I\u2019m sitting in the final three.\u201d I knew if I didn\u2019t win that, then I was going to be out of the game. But when I won [that challenge], everything that I\u2019d been holding inside for 16 days just came pouring out.<\/p>\n
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Survivor: Australia v The World host Jonathan LaPaglia with Parvati Shallow after she won the final immunity challenge.<\/p>\n
How hard was the final immunity challenge, where you were standing on pegs and holding weights? It looked totally nuts to me, but you looked so zen.<\/p>\n
I am really good at looking zen, but it was excruciating. It was like standing on sharp, pokey nails. I\u2019ve learnt I\u2019m really good at endurance challenges because I\u2019m able to shift the pain and move it to different spots so it doesn\u2019t get too intensely overwhelming in one place. But yeah, it was like torture.<\/p>\n
Why did you want to participate in Survivor: Australia v The World? You have played at the highest level in the US, why bother with us down here?<\/p>\n
I think Australian Survivor gives US Survivor a run for its money. It\u2019s really well produced. It\u2019s an incredible show. It\u2019s so entertaining. Australian Survivor characters are big, entertaining, so fun. And I wanted to play with the Aussies. I wanted to have that experience. When [the producers] reached out to me about playing Australian Survivor v The World, they sent me links to watch \u2026 and I fell in love with these characters, like Kirby, David, Luke, Shonee, George, I knew all of them from watching the show, and I was starstruck by them, in the same way that many of the players were starstruck by me.<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
The Australian cast (from left): George Mladenov, Janine Allis, Luke Toki, Sarah Tilleke, David Genat, Kirby Bentley and Shonee Bowtell.<\/p>\n
You have been voted the best US Survivor player of all time, were you surprised that your name was never written down? They went after some big threats early on, but just seemed to leave you alone.<\/p>\n
Well, the first episode, when the showdown between me and [fellow World player] Rob happened, when Rob was trying to get me, and then I turned the tables and got him, it was incredible. It was poetic because he was saying, \u201cOh, we\u2019re going to have a unanimous vote\u201d, thinking it was going to be against me, but we had a unanimous vote against him, and he got blindsided. That was like magic. These are the moments I live for on Survivor. But I\u2019m surprised no one voted for me because everyone was saying I was the biggest threat, and they were targeting Cirie and trying to weaken me by taking out my right hand. But, I don\u2019t know. I guess the girls knew I had an idol, so maybe they were worried about that.<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
Parvati Shallow is named winner of Survivor: Australia v The World. <\/p>\n
What do you think makes you such a good player?<\/p>\n
It\u2019s really important to know when a conversation is real and when it\u2019s fake because people are lying all the time. So I\u2019m very good at listening, watching. I trust my gut. I trust my instincts. Now at this stage in my life \u2013 I wasn\u2019t always this good at trusting myself \u2013 I\u2019ve come to a place in my self-development that I\u2019m like if I get a hint of a gut instinct, and I\u2019m like, \u201cThese people are going for me\u201d, or I get a weird feeling when I walk up to somebody, I\u2019m like, \u201cOK, this person\u2019s off.\u201d I can tell when someone is being truthful with me versus when they\u2019re not. And I cultivate relationships, I spend time with people and I connect with them on a real level, so I can tell when someone\u2019s acting weird. That\u2019s the most important.<\/p>\n
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How has your game changed from the first time you played Survivor to now?<\/p>\n
I\u2019m less naive. The first time I played, I was really trusting. I took everything at face value and I quickly learnt the hard way that Survivor is a game of betrayal, deceit, manipulation. And being on the receiving end of that betrayal schooled me, and I wasn\u2019t the same after that. I wrote about it in my memoir [Nice Girls Don\u2019t Win: How I Burned It All Down to Claim My Power] because it was so formative for me, and it turned me into a cutthroat Survivor player. So the second time I came back to play [in 2008], I gave myself permission to betray people. And then I realised I was really good at it. I surprised myself that I was good at Survivor because I didn\u2019t understand how I had become so naturally very good at this. I was born in a very high-control spiritual community, so I think I was born and bred into the sort of mindset of a Survivor winner.<\/p>\n
![\"Parvati](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/142964fd4b7d608511a76418c8d24ee40590bca3.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
Parvati Shallow at the final tribal council with Janine Allis and Luke Toki.<\/p>\n
This season only lasted for 16 days \u2013 did that make it easier, because you didn\u2019t have to worry about being hungry \u2013 or harder, because you didn\u2019t have as much time to form relationships?<\/p>\n
It\u2019s both. It\u2019s harder because everything is so fast-paced. I really had to be so solid with my allies to know exactly what was going on and I had to be able to adapt on the fly. But it was also easier in the way that it was shorter, and we weren\u2019t starving to death. Also, I ate all those cookies [that she found in episode five at merge beach], those sandy cookies. You didn\u2019t see it on the show, but I was eating them all the time, just gritty, sandy cookies.<\/p>\n
Who was your favourite Australian player?<\/p>\n
Luke and Janine were incredible. Luke sent me home from the auction, and truly, that very same day, we were chatting and hanging out and bantering because he\u2019s so funny. And I instantly forgave him. And Janine is so likable and so authentic, she just makes you want to trust her and hang out and spend time with her. I really loved Shonee and related to her on such a deep level because she left her baby to come out [and play]. I did the same thing for Winners at War [in 2019]. I left my 10-month-old at home to go play. It\u2019s a very hard game to play when you\u2019re a new mum because you\u2019re in that space of nurturing and giving of yourself and loving everyone and Survivor is, \u201cNo, you have to take for yourself and kill the people you love.\u201d It\u2019s really tricky to make that switch as a new mum, so I had a lot of respect for her.<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
Jonathan LaPaglia has been replaced as Australian Survivor host by David Genat. <\/p>\n
You played with David Genet on Deal or No Deal Island<\/a> as well as Australia v The World. What do you think of him as a player, and how do you think he will go as the new host of Australian Survivor<\/a>?<\/p>\n He and I just have a very similar mindset. He\u2019s such a good listener. You don\u2019t come across very many men, especially in the world of reality television, who have the capacity to listen to a woman and partner with a woman in a way that they don\u2019t have to be the head honcho. And I appreciated that. David\u2019s incredible, he\u2019s magnetic, he\u2019s very charismatic. He knows the game in and out. He\u2019s going to be a great host.<\/p>\n Would you ever host US Survivor? There\u2019s always chat about host Jeff Probst stepping down, especially as he\u2019s coming up to his 50th season…<\/a><\/p>\n Yeah, let\u2019s put a let\u2019s put a woman in charge! Maybe the greatest of all time. Let\u2019s put her in charge. If Jeff wanted to step down, I would gladly take the torch.<\/p>\n Now \u2013 serious question \u2013 everyone on Survivor is always sunburnt. Do they not give you suncream out there?<\/p>\n Loading<\/p>\n I know, it\u2019s just so hot. That\u2019s why I had that scarf at immunity challenges because my chest gets so burned, it\u2019s the part of my body that just fries. We do have sunscreen, I think. We get sunscreen before challenges. The sun is so blazing hot, you\u2019re out there for so long doing those challenges, two, three hours sometimes.<\/p>\n I watched this season with my daughter, who is nearly nine, and we loved that so much of it was run by strong women. <\/p>\n It was so fun. It felt like I was 25 again.<\/p>\n Survivor: Australia v The World is on 10Play.<\/p>\n What did you think of Parvati Shallow\u2019s win? Please tell us your thoughts in the comments below. <\/p>\n