Survivor Winner Spills CBS Production Secrets

Parvati, a Survivor winner opened up about production secrets. In a new interview, she revealed that everyone is playing a game out there while they’re filming. She also said that the production wants to create the best show they can.

Four-time Survivor player Parvati Shallow said about her time on the show. She revealed how the production can operate the contestants in certain ways. She appeared in an interview on Behind the Velvet Rope with David Yontef podcast.

Parvati had many things to say about her time on Survivor. She revealed her experience the first time she played. She said that at the Cook Islands she felt like she “got bamboozled by a couple of people, including production.”

“Everyone’s playing a game. There are multiple levels of the game. The way that I see it is the contestants have their game, we have what we want to do, we have our own intuition that we’re working with. But we’re only getting certain information, the things that we see and hear ourselves or receive that information from other contestants.”

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“They’ve asked me questions and I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh, I didn’t even think about that. Like, wow, good question!’ They won’t feed you any information. They’re not like telling you stuff, but they’ll ask questions in [a way] that caused me to think about things that I wasn’t thinking about or seeing before myself.”

But she said it’s all because “they want to make a good show,” so they’re “trying to get certain things to happen, but without being manipulative and without telling you what to do.” Instead, they ask “certain questions to see what comes naturally from inside of a competitor.”

“The producers … like the strategy, they like when people are thinking a few steps ahead or thinking about something that they (the producers) would never consider, they’re being surprised, so there is this element psychologically.”

She continued, “As an interviewee, there is the sense of ‘I want to give this person, this producer, what will make them happy.’ … and of course, it comes into play at Tribal Council with Jeff too. People are star-struck by him, love him, want to give him whatever he wants … it’s another element of the game that really is that you wouldn’t really consider until you’re out there playing.”

“You don’t have to do what you’re told. That’s the thing about ‘Survivor.’ They love when you don’t do what you’re told, but like you still play within certain bounds. There’s certain bounds of play that’s appropriate, but they love when people push past, like when Russell went and started looking for idols without clues, they love that. And now they’ve integrated that as part of the game … Like if you don’t go out there and start immediately hunting for idols, you’re not playing hard enough. They like that kind of stuff.”

So this people-pleaser mentality drives castaways to test the limits. Survivor 41 airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. Eastern and Pacific times on CBS. The 42nd season premieres Wednesday, March 9, 2022. Seasons 43 and 44 are casting now. People who are interested in applying should try their luck out.