Parvati’s Biggest Moves on Survivor – Number 1: Double Idol Play
To this point, every entry has been from Parvati’s winning season of Micronesia. Her best move out of her four seasons, however, came from Heroes vs Villains, where she finished as the runner-up.
Parvati went into Heroes vs Villains as the biggest threat and was targeted from the jump by literally everyone. She managed to avoid elimination and at one point, found the Hidden Immunity Idol and knew she was going to have to use it wisely.
Before the Heroes and Villains had merged, J.T. had given Russell his Hidden Immunity Idol to use to vote out Parvati at the next tribal council. Obviously that didn’t happen because Russell and Parvati were aligned, but the Heroes didn’t know that.
When the tribes merged, it was five Heroes and five Villains squaring off with the two sides naturally going against each other still. Russell gave Parvati the idol to protect her because he didn’t know she had one of her own.
Parvati went to her old pal Amanda, who was on the Heroes tribe, to try and gauge what her thoughts were. Amanda, who has never been a good liar, told Parvati to play the idol for herself (“You better play that thing”). Parvati saw through the BS and knew Amanda was lying to her.
That conversation led to Parvati making not only the best move in her Survivor career, but one of the best moves EVER in Survivor history.
Before the votes were read, Parvati alerted Jeff Probst that she had an idol she’d like to play and gave it to Sandra. You could tell the Heroes were relieved in that moment and thought it was a wasted idol.
Well, Parv wasn’t done.
She also gave an idol to Jerri, which immediately caused the Heroes to face the facts – They were done for. Their five votes for Jerri were negated and J.T. was sent home.
Parvati was able to take out a huge threat and gain the trust of Sandra, who had been wavering prior to that tribal council. Her and the Villains were able to take control of the game from this point on.
More often than that, big moves are forgotten about just a few years after a season airs, but it’s telling that Parvati’s double idol play is still brought up, even ten years later. It’s iconic.