Parvati Shallow has made several appearances on reality shows, but she’s ready to close that chapter of her life for now — with a couple of exceptions.
“I don’t see another show like that for me, unless it’s Dancing With the Stars or Drag Race, I don’t really want to do another show where it’s manipulating and emotional warfare,” Shallow, 41, told Entertainment Weekly in an interview published on Wednesday, February 21. “It’s triggering for me to do that, to be honest. So I’d like to do something that would be more of performance-based, maybe a physical kind of challenge, like Dancing With the Stars.”
Fans first met Shallow when she competed on Survivor: Cook Islands in 2006. She went on to make several appearances within the reality television realm, notably winning 2008’s Survivor Micronesia — Fans vs. Favorites and finishing as the runner-up in 2010’s Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains. Shallow also recently appeared on season 2 of The Traitors.
When asked whether she’d consider joining Survivor again, Shallow replied, “Oh, God, no.”
Shallow joked a Survivor theme that would work for her is “old people vs. young people,” adding with a laugh, “And I’d be the old one. They used to call us old-school. Now they’re just going to call us old people.”
When Shallow was reminded that she previously made a return to reality TV after saying she wouldn’t, she replied, “OK, I know.” (Shallow returned for 2020’s Survivor: Winners at War after seemingly shutting the door on the show.)
“It’s only because I have such a soft spot in my heart for Survivor,” she explained. “It feels like an extended family for me. Seeing Jeff [Probst], seeing the producers, seeing all the camera operators — I know them all so well. They’ve been there through my whole growth trajectory in my life. So I do feel a sense of, it’s a family reunion I can’t miss. It’s twisted and sick, but I kind of love it.”
Shallow noted she’d run into obstacles if she were to return to Survivor, saying, “If I play that game again, people will just try to get me out right away, and it kind of sucks. I want to be able to play. What was fun about The Traitors is they knew my reputation, but they were willing to keep me around.”
While she may not be game to be a contestant on another reality show, Shallow shared she has a new dream — to have a role on the other side.
“I’m looking for my own show to host. I’d like to do that. Alan Cumming is so iconic on The Traitors and he weaves himself into the fabric of the show and he’s such an excellent host,” she said. “I’d like to bring myself into some kind of show where I could do something like Jeff or Alan does, where they weave themselves into the fabric of the show.”
She continued, “They influence it, and they work with the information they’re receiving from the contestants. I play off people really well in the moment, so I think I would be really good at that.”
