Survivor 50 is the most highly anticipated season of the series since Winners at War in 2020, but that's also the reason why the greatest Survivor player of all time, Parvati Shallow, wasn't invited to be part of the cast.
Jeff Probst was asked by Gayle King on the Emmys red carpet about why Parvati, one of the most iconic players of all time, did not get asked to play Survivor 50.
Probst explained that the Survivor team decided to go in a different direction after Parvati and the other winners played the most recent season featuring returning players, Winners at War.
"That's unfortunate that she really didn't know," Probst said. "But the truth was, if you're a Survivor fan, we had just done a season of all winners, and it had Parvati, and it had Rob (Mariano) and Tony (Vlachos), and all these great players. And, we felt like we just saw them, so let's do something different for 50. I had nothing to do with Parvati being good or not good. Parvati just won Australia vs. the World. She's a dominant player."
We've heard similar answers before when Probst has spoken about the Survivor 50 cast. They put together a group of players, some of whom are not considered legends, to get a taste of sorts of 49 seasons of Survivor.
For those out of the loop, the question came a few months after a claim Parvati made on Good Morning America during her book tour for her new book, Nice Girls Don't Win: How I Burned It All Down to Claim My Power.
Ultimately, I can see the situation from both sides. You have Parvati, who has a history with CBS and Survivor, and she has her perspective, and that's not wrong. I'm sure, over the 20 years-ish that she has been associated with the game, that things have happened behind the scenes (and in public) that made her feel a certain way. She's one of the greatest players of all time. I think she's the best Survivor player we've ever seen, especially considering how she's adapted and controlled the game almost every time she played. Parvati has every reason to feel slighted that she was not in the conversation or even approached for Survivor 50 when other players like Boston Rob were approached about the season.
We know that Boston Rob turned down the opportunity to return, so it's definitely interesting that Parvati wasn't approached. We don't know the exact timeline of when these decisions were made, but it does seem like many of the legends were out of the picture early.
So, I understand Probst's reasoning, too. The casting team didn't include many legends, although there are a few, like Cirie Fields, Coach, Ozzy Lusth, and Aubry Bracco, but they also didn't include any players from Winners at War. Survivor 50 is completely different.
It's still weird that they didn't even call Parvati, but it would have been weirder had they not called her AND brought the other Winners at War players back into the mix.
I guess it's good that they didn't, but I think we can all agree that Survivor 50 would be better with Parvati as part of the cast. Unfortunately, she revealed that she's done playing Survivor now after her epic win in Australia vs. the World.
Survivor 50 is going to be a great season. It has all the makings of an incredible game, including the great cast that they put together. I don't think we can blame fans for hoping that some of their favorites were part of that cast, either.