Australian Survivor player Kirby reveals to TV WEEK why she wanted to work with Parvati and Cirie – and how far she went to build trust

Kirby, wearing a blue t-shirt and smiling, stands in front of tropical vegetation

PHOTOGRAPHS BY NIGEL WRIGHT. +61 409363339. [email protected] AUSTRALIAN SURVIVOR THIS PHOTOGRAPHS SHOW: …AUSTRALIA V WORLD…KIRBY

Kirby Bentley has been eliminated from Survivor: Australia V The World. The former netballer and AFLW player from WA was sent home at the end of the show’s sixth episode, with US Survivor legend Parvati Shallow one of the people writing her name down.

“I was definitely shocked,” Kirby tells TV WEEK. “I thought that I had shown enough to Parvati that I was all in.
Kirby, wearing a swimsuit, holds up a Survivor buff while in the ocean.Kirby was prepared to make big moves on Survivor. (Credit: 10) (Credit: 10)
“I threw the challenge that David got voted out, because we’d looked at each other and I was like, ‘Are you good?’ And she said, ‘No,’ and I said, ‘Do you want me to throw it?’ So that’s what happened. So I was trying to build a trust even when I was on the Aussie tribe.

“I was obviously blindsided by the queen.”

Kirby says she’s “all about women”, and she was keen to work with not just Parvati but also the other female US Survivor player, Cirie Fields.

“Obviously, being an Aboriginal woman as well, [that] was my link to Cirie when I saw her,” she explains. “So I was pretty keen to see if I could do that.”

But Kirby says she found the Americans “really guarded and cautious”, compared to the Aussies.

“I feel like the Australians played a Wild Wild West version of the game and created that chaos. I love the chaos, and I think it’s fun to play, I think it’s fun to watch. But yeah, the Americans were really reserved.”
Kirby, wearing a blue t-shirt, with a buff around her neck, looks serious.Kirby says she’s “all about women”. (Credit: 10) (Credit: 10)
At the beginning of the first episode, Kirby told the international players that she didn’t know who any of them were because she hadn’t watched Survivor. So has she gone back and watched Parvati in any of her previous seasons since filming on Australia V The World finished last year?

“No, to be honest, I actually haven’t had a chance,” she says. “I’ve started a renewable energy company and we’ve been pretty flat-out. But when I do get a chance, I will go and find out how she cast a spell on me. She was incredible.”

Kirby is the sixth person to be eliminated from Survivor: Australia V The World, following South Africa’s Rob Bentele, Australia’s “Golden God” David Genat, “King” George Mladenov from Western Sydney, US two-time winner Tony Vlachos and Australia’s Sarah Tilleke.