For members of the LGBTQ+ community, every coming out story is different. For Parvati Shallow, it was a dropdown list.
The Survivor legend sat down recently for an interview on "The Pride Has Spoken," a podcast on the "Rob Has a Podcast" network that focuses specifically on interviews with alumni of the CBS reality stalwart from the LGBTQ+ community. In the chat, she spoke about what led to her realizing she was queer, and shocking the internet with her announcement back on New Year's Eve 2023. And it turns out it was at least partially due to her return to reality TV that would only come about a month later, with her star turn on Season 2 of The Traitors.
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"When I was on Traitors, the show is about to air," Shallow recalls. "They sent me, um, like, a PR form for marketing and stuff. And they're like, 'Okay, well, tell us what your preferences are, so we organize your marketing and publicity for what fits you. And so they had a drop-down for LGBTQ+ and they said, 'Are you? Are you an ally, or none of the above?' And I was like, 'I'm an ally.' And Mae is like, '...No, you're not.'"
Mae, in this case, is referring to Mae Martin. Shallow had been dating the comedian since March 2023 at the time of the story. The four-time Survivor player told People in January that their relationship is currently in an "in flux situation." However, at the time, she heavily credits Martin with helping her realize her own sexuality.
"Oh my god, it blew my mind," she says. "I was like, 'oh my god, I'm queer, exciting!' And so then I just really went for it. I told everybody, and I've never put myself back in the box, and I never will."
Related: Legendary ‘Survivor’ Player Reveals How ‘Cult-Like’ Upbringing Prepared Her for the Show
Indeed, since coming out, Shallow has been able to undergo an entire rebirth of her on-screen career. Following her run on The Traitors as one of the titular cloaked agents of chaos, she made a deep run on Deal or No Deal Island. Later this year, she'll be making her return to Tribal Council as a part of the all-star cast of Australian Survivor: Australia v. the World. And she's even in the process of releasing a memoir, Nice Girls Don't Win: How I Burned It All Down to Claim My Power, set to release on July 8. And Shallow claims in the interview that discovering this new part of her identity has allowed her to enter reality TV in a completely different way than she did the first decade-plus of her career.
"It just gives me more maneuverability," she says. "There's more ways to connect with people. I don't know that it reduces my threat level in any way, but it does make people curious about me. They want to understand. So I think even though people know that I'm a threat and that I'm a dangerous player, they still want to get close to me because they want to figure me out. So I think adding in the layer of now I'm queer, people are like, 'Wait what? She wasn't before, now she is?' And it sort of boggles people's minds. So they can't wrap their head around me and contain me, and they can't put me in a box. How do you fight a shadow? You can't."
Despite the shadow metaphor, Shallow's star is arguably shining brighter than ever. And it's all thanks to that dropdown question from a year and a half ago.
Related: Parvati Shallow Calls 'Deal or No Deal Island' the 'Culmination' of Her Reality TV Career (Exclusive)
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