Australian Survivor: Australia Vs The World has made history overnight, crowning their first openly queer woman as the winner of their eleventh season.

Australian Survivor: Australia Vs The World Winner Makes Queer Television History

American contestant Parvati Shallow walked away with the title of Sole Survivor and $250,000 in a 6 – 1 – 0 vote against fellow competitors Luke Toki and Janine Allis.

Her win makes her the third American player to win the game twice and also makes her the only openly queer women to win either the American or US version of the show.

Parvati Shallow celebrates historic Survivor win

It’s hard to believe Survivor first aired twenty years ago, with their 49th season about to air the franchise as spawned across the globe, including the hugely popular Australian Survivor, now in the 11th season of their current iteration.

This iconic television show has introduced the world to some of the most popular characters in reality tv who are loved around the world.

With a diverse range of winners across the seasons in both America and Australia it is remarkable however that an openly queer woman has never managed to walk away with the title of Sole Survivor, until now.

Earlier this year bisexual contestant Myles Kuah became the first queer person to win an Australian season, meanwhile in American the very first season was won by openly gay man Richard Hatch, followed by Todd Herzog in season fifteen and Yam Yam in season 44. Season 41 winner Erika Casupanan came out in 2024 as did Parvati Shallow in the same year, however both identified publicly as heterosexual at the time of their seasons airing. There are claims online that season 46 winner Kenzie Petty is bisexual and was openly queer at the time of winning, however this does not appear to be substantiated, only speculated.

 

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To mark the tenth season of Australian Survivor producers setup the ultimate showdown, Australia Vs The World.

Seven of Australia’s best players teamed up against seven players from around the world, including three of the most popular players from the American seasons.

It was already shaping to be a queer showdown with two iconic queer players representing Australia in George Mladenov and Kirby Bentley.

However catching all the attention on the world tribe was queer icon and five time player Parvati Shallow.

Shallow first appeared on Survivor in 2006 in the highly controversial Cook Islands season, where players were separated into four tribes based on race

In her debut season Parvati marketed herself as a flirtatious young woman who would do whatever it took to get to the end placing sixth.

Whilst she failed on her first outing she returned two years later as a “favourite” in season sixteen, filmed in Micronesia, she returned with the same attitude, weaving her charm amongst male and female players alike, forming the infamous “Black Widow brigade” as her and the fellow female players picked off the males one by one. Ultimately her dominant and ruthless game play paid off and she walked away with the million dollar prize.

Shallow later returned for the twentieth season, Heroes Vs Villains where she again dominated the game and went all the way to the end, eventually falling just short of winning again.

Joining 19 other winners of the game she returned for the 40th season, Winners at War where she placed 15th, during the time on this season she discussed her change of life as a married woman and mother, after marrying and settling down with Season nineteen contestant John Fincher and spoke at length about how this changed her game play.

However just four years later Parvati came out as queer, announcing in 2024 that she was dating Canadian comedian Mae Martin, “We’re here. We’re queer. Happy new year” she wrote in an Instagram post to share the news.

Parvati has amassed a huge fan base in her 19 years since first appearing on our screens and has gone on to appear on The Traitors, Deal Or No Deal Island and has even released her first book, Nice Girls Don’t Win.

 

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Needless to say fans were thrilled to see Parvati on our screens again in her return to the beach for Australian Survivor.

From the get go Parvati was a threat to both her fellow tribe members and the Australian tribe as she stormed into the short and brutal season.

Early episodes saw Parvati butt heads with huge players from around the world, who she swiftly sent home.

Teaming up with her former Micronesia player Cirie Fields the pair dominated the competition, with a major target on her back the whole time and blindsides constantly preparing to target her Parvati deftly dodged any chances of being eliminated from the competition, so much so that she walked into the final four of the competition without a single vote cast against her the whole season.

Joining Parvati and Cirie in the final four were Australians Luke Toki and Janine Allis with the four battling it out to make it to the final four.

Ultimately Parvati managed to secure the final immunity challenge granting herself a seat in the final three, leaving her longtime friend and ally Cirie Fields at the mercy of one final challenge.

With Parvati and Cirie voting to eliminate Luke and Janine and Luke voting to eliminate Cirie the votes remained deadlocked forcing a fire making challenge that saw Cirie fail to reach the final with Parvati.

At the final tribal council Parvati faced off against Janine and Luke where she owned her dominant game play and pitched her prowess as both a strategic and socially smart player to the jury.

In a nail biting finale the jury ultimately handed the title to Parvati again in a 6-1-0 vote, officially making her a two time winner and cementing herself as a legend in the game in what she stated was her “final time playing Survivor.”

But will she play again? That remains to be seen.