After winning Survivor Australia vs. the World, Parvati Shallow sealed her legacy as, perhaps, the best Survivor player of all time.
In the finale, Parvati bested friend, ally, and Survivor soulmate Cirie Fields, Luke Toki, and Janine Mills, two Survivor: Australia winners, to become the Sole Survivor of Australia vs. The World, one of the most fun and epic seasons of Survivor we've seen in a long time.
Now, there are a lot of great Survivor players out there. Just in the United States, there are at least a dozen players who completely changed the game throughout the show's first 48 seasons. But, lining up the resumes, I don't think there's any question that Parvati Shallow is one of the show's best players, if not the best player the show has ever seen. And, Australia vs. the World was just another example of that.
Parvati has played four seasons of Survivor and one season of Australian Survivor:
- Survivor: Cook Islands
- Survivor: Micronesia
- Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains
- Survivor: Winners are War
- Survivor: Australia vs. the World
Of those five appearances, Parvati has won twice and finished runner-up one time. Three out of five times she's played, Parvati advanced to Final Tribal Council, and she won two of those times? Legendary.
Micronesia, also known as Fans vs. Favorites, was one of the most impressive wins we've ever seen in the series. Parvati joined forces with Cirie, Amanda Kimmel, and Natalie Bolton, aka the Black Widow Brigade, to absolutely run that game. They even convinced Erik Reichenbach to give up his immunity idol at the Final Five. It's one of the most iconic seasons of gameplay we've ever seen, and Parvati was a huge part of that.
It's hard to compare Parvati's two Survivor wins because they are so different, but to me, Parv's performance in Micronesia is up there with the best of the best in the show's history.
In Heroes vs. Villains, Parvati nearly won that season, too. She was essentially two votes short of winning a fan-favorite season. Instead, Sandra Diaz-Twine bested Parvati and Russell Hantz on a 6-3-0 vote. And, that season is so interesting because Parvati probably shouldn't have made it as far as she did. She was targeted from before she made it to the beach by the "Heroes." I don't know if she deserved to beat Sandra that season, but I really do think an easy case could be made. And, how that changes everything! Parvati would have been the first two-time winner in Survivor history, not Sandra.
And, the first time she played in Cook Islands, Parvati was no slouch. She just missed the Final Five. If a couple of things had fallen a little differently for her that season, she could have been sitting at Final Tribal Council in that season, as well.
Winners at War is one of the weirdest seasons of the series from a gameplay perspective because there seemed to be a lot of alliances and major players collectively targeted, Parvati included. Finally, after three incredible runs on the show, the other players learned their lesson not to allow Parvati to get her footing in the game.
To me, Parvati is right there with Sandra and Tony Vlachos. Honestly, her wins might even be more impressive than Tony's Survivor wins. I mean that as no disrespect, either. Tony is clearly one of the best to ever do it, but the way Parvati is able to maneuver with such fluidity in a game that changes so much is her most admirable quality. From a social and strategic perspective, she's the best of the best.
I don't know if we'll ever see Parvati play Survivor again, but after winning twice and no one having won Survivor three times, I really hope we get a chance to see it.