Survivor Winners at War: Episode 13 preview confirms Sandra was voted out before Parvati

Once suspected due to filenames of press photos, the Survivor: Winners at War episode 13 preview gives us definitive proof of the proper boot order.

Most of the time you watch Survivor, you are being manipulated to feel certain ways about certain events as portrayed in a certain method. That’s the entire point of creating a compelling reality television competition program, as there are 936 hours across the 39 days these competitors are playing. To get it down to a focused 17 or 18 to tell the game’s story, you’re going to see things moved around.

Earlier in the season, we saw one of the most explosive episodes of Survivor: Winners at War, with Denise rising up in the legacy standings by pulling off one of the hugest moves in history by using Sandra’s idol against her at the cost of one fire token. It capped off an otherwise straightforward hour where Parvati was voted out by the majority on Sele 2.0 earlier in the episode.

At least, that’s how it was portrayed on television. In reality, there was evidence that suggested Sandra was, in fact, voted out first, as the filenames of the press photos suggested that photos of Sandra’s elimination took place before Parvati’s vote-out. The numbers of a photographer’s photo reel matched against data in a press form are not compelling evidence; the latest preview for Winners at War episode 13 video is.

One of our readers tipped us off to a Survivor Reddit post, highlighting the calendar players made to keep track of the events present throughout the season. It was present in the preview, but the screenshot highlights the days where nothing happens, when certain rewards happened, tribe swaps, the merge, and which players were voted out on what days.

Not only did the calendar display rewards we skipped out on showing on TV (pizza two days before the merge), but it came a day after both Sandra and Parvati were voted out. However, the order shows “S” before “P,” whereas every other elimination is in the proper order. That means even though we saw Parvati voted out before Sandra in episode 6, in reality, Sandra was voted out before Parvati.

Why would they change the boot order for the viewing audience? There are a couple of factors that merge together. For one, both players were voted out on the same night. One of the two players would quit the game entirely, meaning they don’t have the chance to re-enter the game and affect the overall standings. Finally, Sandra’s boot was 1000% more exciting than Parvati’s, as the other was a straightforward 3-2 vote down tribal lines.

It made for a more enthralling finish to that week’s Survivor, and the situation allowed for it to happen. However, it is a stark reminder that not everything you see on television is a 100% accurate representation.

We now have as definitive proof as possible that the show misrepresented the order in which two of the show’s most iconic players were voted out in order to better sell their narrative entertainment. The players are not their edits, and it’s best to be reminded of that at all times.