Exclusive: Parvati Shallow talks about 'Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains'

Parvati Shallow claims she knew that Russell Hantz' decision to take Sandra Diaz-Twine to Survivor: Heroes vs Villains' final Tribal Council was the final nail in both of their coffins.


She was right, as Sandra defeated both Parvati and Russell during Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains' finale broadcast on Sunday night after she received six of the nine jury votes, with Parvati receiving the other three.

On Monday, Parvati talked to Reality TV World about why she knew Sandra would win; why she couldn't convince Russell that Sandra was such a huge threat; if she knew about Russell before the game started; and why she feels aligning with Russell was a good decision.

Reality TV World: Unlike Russell, you seemed to recognize Sandra as a threat to secure enough jury votes to win if she made the Final 3. What was it about Sandra that you thought gave her the edge over you during the final Tribal?

Parvati Shallow: Sandra has friends on the jury that were really campaigning for her at Ponderosa.


I knew [Courtney Yates] was all Sandra all the way, and I also knew that Sandra was like best friends with [Candice Woodcock] -- they live in the same hometown. So I knew basically whichever way those girls were gonna vote, they were gonna vote for Sandra. She had [Rupert Boneham] wrapped around her finger. Sandra had a lot of people that were pulling for her.

Reality TV World: Why do you think Russell had such a hard time seeing Sandra as a threat?

Parvati Shallow: Because Russell has a hard time seeing past his ego. It's extremely large. (laughing)

Reality TV World: It's as simple as that?

Parvati Shallow: Yeah. It's completely straight forward. I spelled it out for him. I told him exactly what was going on and he believed that he could win against anyone. He was like, "I'm going to take Sandra because I've been dragging her this whole time. She ain't done nothing." I'm like, "You're ridiculous. Do you not see how the jury starts smiling every time Sandra talks? You don't see them start laughing every time she says something? They love her. You're crazy."


Whenever [Jerri Manthey] would say something they would roll their eyes and groan. I'm like, "I want to take Jerri."

Reality TV World: So you think you would have won if Russell took Jerri?

Parvati Shallow: I wanted Jerri. I was trying to convince Russell to take me and Jerri to the Final 3.

Reality TV World: Were you surprised that Russell decided to take you to the Final 3? At that point were you confident that you were going to win, or did you see no scenario where you could win if Sandra was there?

Parvati Shallow: If Sandra was there I didn't think that I was going to win at all. I knew if Sandra wasn't there I probably would have had Courtney's vote and maybe could have swung a few other votes my way. Jerri probably would have been some tough competition too. But with Sandra, I knew she just edged me out. She had all those people. She was good at her final Tribal.


The fact that Russell took her was kind of like sealing both of our death warrants in the end.

Reality TV World: Why do you think Russell decided to take you over Jerri?

Parvati Shallow: I don't know. (laughing)

Really, Russell and I were playing from Day 1. Maybe -- maybe -- deep down in the blackness of his black little munchkin heart he had a little sparkle of a glimmer of loyalty and goodness and he brought me because we had been aligned since the first day. But maybe that's just me fantasizing. (laughing)

I honestly don't know. Maybe it was because Sandra and I were both former winners and he thought he'd have a better chance going up against two former winners.


Reality TV World: Was there ever a time when you considered blindsiding Russell, or did you see him as someone who would be easy to beat during the final Tribal and thus want to keep him around?

Parvati Shallow: Russell got on my last nerve. There were a million times I thought about getting rid of him. But for me, it's always that logic wins over emotion. I know that I can get through anything in an allotted amount of time, and 39 days was the longest amount of time I would have to put up with Russell. So I did because I realized in the end I could beat him.

Reality TV World: Just to be clear, if you would have won that final Immunity Challenge you would have taken Russell and Jerri with you?

Parvati Shallow: Yes.

Reality TV World: There's been a lot of talk about whether it was fair or not for Russell to get to play the game without anyone having gotten to seen his season first...


Parvati Shallow: I mean, the game's not fair. Everyone's going to whine about something.

Reality TV World: Do you think he would have had any chance of making it so far if you guys had all seen his Samoa season before Heroes vs. Villains was filmed?

Parvati Shallow: Who knows. Everyone saw me in Micronesia and was trying to get me out since the first day and they couldn't. So who knows. People probably would have targeted him and it might have taken some of the heat of me, but people were targeting him regardless.

Reality TV World: During her exit interviews, [Jessica "Sugar" Kiper] made some comments that have sparked a lot of speculation and rumors that even though he season hadn't aired, you somehow knew about Russell or had some contact with him through "the Survivor grapevine" before the game started...

Parvati Shallow: That's ridiculous. She would do anything to keep her name in the news. She was the first person voted off and she wants to extend her 15 minutes or get her picture taken or something.

No. That's the most ridiculous thing I ever heard. I don't even go to any of the Survivor events. I'm never involved in Survivor unless I'm playing the game or at the finale. So honestly, it's just a ludicrous claim that anyone could even say that.


Reality TV World: Do you think you still would have aligned with Russell if you had seen his Samoa season first?

Parvati Shallow: If he would have aligned with me, yeah. No one else would align with me.

Reality TV World: Based on what was shown on TV last night, Russell seemed to be consider blindsiding Sandra at the Tribal Council when [Colby Donaldson] was eliminated.  Were you aware of that at the time?

Parvati Shallow: Well I knew Russell was thinking about trying to get rid of Sandra. I knew that Jerri -- if she had a brain in her head -- wasn't going to do that.

Reality TV World: Is that something you would have been open to?

Parvati Shallow: No way. I knew we needed to get rid of Colby -- hands down -- because Colby would have swept the jury vote.


Reality TV World: During her exit interviews, [Amanda Kimmel] said that "a lot of things" that she didn't elaborate on had made her lose her interest and passion for the game out there and she'll never play Survivor again. Do you have any idea what she was talking about -- do you think any of it might have involved you and the way you were kind of able to use your prior relationship with her to take control of the game?

Parvati Shallow: Amanda's had a tough time on Survivor. She's played a lot of times and lot of days. I think the longer you stay in the game, the more you play, the darker and darker it gets. You start seeing this seediness in human nature. It's just like, "Ugh" -- not pretty. It makes you kind of feel like you don't want to be a part of it.

For Amanda, I think her last straw was giving that [Hidden Immunity Idol clue back to Danielle DiLorenzo]. That sealed her fate. I think she regretted not working with me and having [James "J.T." Thomas"] voted out. I think she regretted how she made a bunch of mistakes and her game was unraveling.

I've never seen Amanda do this, but she just laid down and died. She laid down in that shelter for the remainder of the day after we got back from that challenge and didn't try to talk to anyone. She just kind of read her letters and checked out.

Reality TV World: Do you think you would have made it as far as you did if [Tyson Apostol] hadn't ruined [Rob "Boston Rob" Mariano's] plan and freaked out and voted himself off?

Parvati Shallow: I don't know. That night, it was either me or Russell and the votes were going to be split between us. Russell still was giving me the idol knowing that the votes were going to be split -- knowing that he was probably going to go home. He still gave me the idol. So without Russell, I would have been without a serious line of defense.


So I'm not sure I would have lasted. I think I would have had to pull a rabbit out of a hat to stay in the game at that point.






About The Author: Christopher Rocchio