Parvati Unpacks Her DONDI Flirtation with "Kindred Spirit" David Genat (EXCLUSIVE)
"It felt like a gift from the universe that we were placed on that island together," Parvati said of her DONDI ally David.
After weeks of her rivals trying to take her down, reality television legend Parvati Shallow has left Deal or No Deal Island.
Survivor and The Traitors star Parvati led an incredible game on Banker's Island. She flexed her affinity for high-stakes island gameplay by winning immunity nine Temples in a row, all while forming the season's dominant alliance within the first week. Parvati's competition was desperate to send her home but struggled to take her down due to her ace gameplay, so the moment Parvati landed on the chopping block, she took her fate into her own hands and played the Banker. But the odds weren't in her favor, and she struck a bad deal at the last moment.
"It was really sad to go out playing the Banker because it essentially is a fifty-fifty shot," Parvati told NBC Insider following her exit. "And it felt like my strategy had been so on point for this game, every single time until that moment...to fall short right at the end was pretty devastating."
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In our exclusive NBC Insider exit interview with Parvati Shallow, she talks about her all-powerful team-up with Survivor: Australia star David Genat, her "radical" approach to the game, and the fan reaction to her Banker's Island strategy.
Parvati & David’s faux "romantic" tension
While Parvati failed to land that final game against the Banker, her main ally on the island, David Genat, emerged as half of Season 2's final two. Parvati and David instantly connected thanks to their shared Survivor experience, but since their rivals hadn't ever watched the Australian version, the other players assumed they were just very close. While Parvati and David dominated the game as the "mother" and "father" of "The Family" alliance, their rivals began forming opinions about their flirtatious rapport.
But anyone who's ever seen David or Parvati on Survivor knows that all that flirting, giggling, and majestic hair flipping is part of their strategy — and works wonders for distracting the competition.
"First and foremost, every time I play these games, I wanna win," Parvati said. "So that takes precedent over anything else. If I'm really lucky, I get an alliance mate that's a partner, that's really freaking smart, that compliments me, that has skills that I don't have..."
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"I was lucky to have that with David," Parvati continued. "I felt like we instantly connected right away. I knew who he was because I was prepping to go play Australian Survivor. So I'd watched some of his season, and I was like, 'Oh, this guy's really smart.' And he plays like me; he's very kind of flirty and fun and campy and silly and playful, and I love that. And a lot of people take these games really seriously, and they get so intense... But with David, it was always super light and fun."
"So it kind of felt like an escape from the strategy, being able to hang out with [David], because we would just chat about other stuff," Parvati recalled. "But then when other people saw us together, they were like, 'Oh my God, they're so in love with each other.' But I'm like, 'That's my game...' And that's David's game, too. He did that with the girls on his [Survivor] season, but [the Season 2 DONDI players] didn't know that because they didn't watch Australian Survivor."
"So we're just, like, very kindred spirits," Parvati said fondly. "It kind of just worked out. It felt like a gift from the universe that we were placed on that island together."
"Radical acceptance" and not playing DONDI like Boston Rob
When it came to her Banker's Island strategy, Parvati jotted down some notes from Boston Rob's run on Season 1 of DONDI after seeing the controversial reception he got from those who knew him from Survivor. Fearful of experiencing the same backlash, Parvati tried to enter the game with an open mind.
"The way I approached this game was with total acceptance. It felt like radical acceptance," Parvati said. "Whatever happens, I am going to accept and work with. I'm not gonna resist anything. I watched Rob on Season 1 get very vocally criticized and attacked for being on Survivor, and I thought, 'Maybe that will happen to me.'"
RELATED: Boston Rob & Parvati Came Up with This New Competition Series Idea After "A Lot of Adult Cocktails"
But it didn't — everyone who recognized Parvati from Survivor approached her privately to disclose that knowledge, giving Parvati complete control of the narrative and leverage to form alliances.
"Everyone who came up to me came up to me individually. I was like, 'This is really funny,'" Parvati said, laughing. "All of these people know who I am, but they're not telling each other. This is wild... I think I had created enough of a sense of, 'Hey, keep my secret, don't say anything, and we'll run this to the end.' And I was saying that to everybody who came up to me. And they were fine to do it."
While Parvati got lucky to meet Survivor-privvy players who agreed to keep her secret, she knew that the jig would be up eventually due to the sheer number of players who recognized her. So when Big Brother champ Dr. Will Kirby arrived and wasted no time blowing up her spot, Parvati refused to buckle under pressure.
"Because my approach was radical acceptance, I was like, 'Fine, this means nothing.' This isn't gonna change anything about who I'm playing with or what I'm doing," Parvati said. "I'm just gonna move through it and not make a big deal out of it."
"And I've learned this from being a parent," Parvati added, referring to her six-year-old daughter, Ama. "If you don't make it weird, it doesn't get weird. If you make a big deal out of it, it gets really weird, and it turns into a huge snowball big deal... So Dr. Will tried to blow me up, but he couldn't. He didn't have the power."
"Critics are loud": Parvati unpacks her DONDI gameplay
Parvati certainly made the most of her time on DONDI, leaving the game after a nine-episode immunity streak and a valiant game against the Banker.
"It was such a bubble of fun and adventure, and like, it was like stars aligning," Parvati said of her time on Banker's Island, later adding, "So I hold it as its own special little contained golden experience of fun because, beyond that, it's been different. It's always very different to watch the show after having lived through the experience because the show is now being developed through other people's eyes."
"Now it's out in the world, and it's not contained, and people can judge it and have their own opinions," Parvati continued. "And there have been some loud opinions of how I played this game, and I'm like, 'OK, yeah, I see that.' Which — I had that experience every time I've played a game because I show up as an assertive, confident, embodied woman.
"And love it or hate it, some people are triggered by that, and they don't like it," Parvati concluded. "The critics are loud. But when I was out there playing, it was so special and so fun. So I hold it in a very special place in my heart. I really enjoyed it."
Watch Deal or No Deal Island on Tuesdays at 9/8c on NBC and the next day on Peacock.
