Deal Or No Deal Island’s Parvati Shallow Has Made Her Castmates Look Completely Foolish

When Deal or No Deal Island Season 2 premiered, there was no way to know the reality show would become one of Peacock’s best shows. After all, fans didn’t realize DONDI would become a must-see thanks to hilarious moments, Seychelle Cordero’s truly blunt opinions, and how great Joe Manganiello is as a host. That said, it was possible to predict that Dr. Will Kirby’s reality TV return could result in a ratings boost, amazing scenes, and fantastic rivalries with his castmates.

One of the players that Dr. Will memorably feuded with was Parvati Shallow, who is a Survivor Hall of Famer. While it was predictable that Parvati and Dr. Will would butt heads, nobody could have anticipated how she would make her castmates look foolish.

Deal Or No Deal Island’s Parvati Shallow Has Made Her Castmates Look Ridiculous

When the cast for Deal or No Deal Island Season 2 was announced, reality show fans had a lot to be excited about. After all, the show’s second season brought together three incredibly respected reality show legends.

For fans of Australian Survivor, it was a huge deal that David Genat was making the leap to American reality television. It was an even bigger deal that the Big Brother icon Dr. Will Kirby agreed to compete on a reality show for the first time in nearly two decades.

The third reality show icon who agreed to star in Deal or No Deal Island Season 2 was Parvati Shallow. While fans had high hopes for her tenure on the show, there was no way to know that Parvati would make her castmates look so foolish.

During the early days of Deal or No Deal Island’s second season, many of her fellow players didn’t know Parvati was a Survivor icon. Despite that, everyone should have very quickly known that Parvati was a huge threat.

Early on, Parvati created an alliance along with two other players known as “The Family.” Easily the most powerful group during the season, “The Family” also worked with several other players during the season.

If “The Family” didn’t make Parvati enough of a threat, the truth about her history was then exposed. When Dr. Will Kirby was introduced to Deal or No Deal Island’s cast during the season’s second episode, he instantly recognized Parvati. Once Dr. Will joined the other players around a table, he exposed that Parvati was a Survivor legend.

In February 2025, Parvati Shallow spoke to NBC.com about her Deal or No Deal Island experience. During that interview, Parvati revealed that being around Dr. Will Kirby bothered her. “Dr. Will is the kind of personality that I just cannot be around. I can’t be quiet around them. I can’t let them do their thing and hold everyone hostage without saying something. Normally when I play, I’m like live and let live. I have a very high tolerance for different personalities and different types of people. But arrogant men who want to come in and make everything about them bother me so much. So I had a problem with Will.”

Obviously aware that her history made her a gigantic threat, Parvati was furious that Dr. Will exposed her. Parvati’s anger made perfect sense since it seemed obvious that she would be in huge peril now that her fierce reputation was made clear.

Even though it seemed like everyone who wasn’t in “The Family” should have been targeting Parvati, that simply didn’t happen. Instead, Parvati wound up being completely safe from elimination a staggering nine times in a row.

The fact that the other players allowed Parvati to be safe that many times in a row made them all look completely foolish.

In fairness to the other players, there were times when they didn’t really have control over Parvati being immune. After all, the same qualities that made Parvati good at Survivor’s challenges allowed her to be great at Deal or No Deal Island’s excursions.

On the other hand, there were times when it seemed like everyone around Parvati was comfortable with her constantly being immune.

The most obvious example of Parvati’s castmates simply allowing her to become immune again came during the eighth episode. During an excursion, every other player, aside from David Genat who also became immune, simply agreed to give up their chance at immunity. In fact, it was so easy for Parvati to become safe yet again that David even commented on that during the episode.

“So easy. So here we are at the end. It’s me and Parv. We didn’t even have to put up a fight. It’s almost like a dream date.”

Parvati was allowed to be immune from elimination nine times in a row. The fact that her castmates didn’t do everything they could to put her at risk makes them look foolish.

After Parvati Shallow was immune so many times in a row, fans began commenting on social media. One X/Twitter post summarized how fans felt about Parvati’s run on top. “Parvati safe EVERY SINGLE EPISODE. What a BEAST 👏👏 And I’m still waiting to see her laugh like this. She delivers every single time! #DONDI #DealorNoDealIsland” With fans reacting like that, it begs an obvious question. How do Parvati’s castmates feel about her constant immunity in retrospect?

In February 2025, TheThings journalist Matthew Thomas asked La Shell Wooten about Parvati’s immunity run. In response, La Shell commented that it wasn’t until watching the show that she recognized how easy it was for Parvati to be immune during the eighth episode. La Shell then stated that there were times when the other players tried to deprive Parvati of safety.

“You know, it was interesting because I didn’t think about it in that way until I saw it on TV last night. I’m like, ‘Damn, we were really letting her slide.’ But in the challenges, there was a lot of effort to get her in a position where she was in the bottom.”

In March 2025, Dickson Wong spoke exclusively to TheThings. During that conversation, Dickson brought up the valid point that Parvati’s constant safety put him in peril. As Dickson explained, he always had to fight to remain in the game with his top allies both being safe almost all the time.

I had to figure out ways to get me out of trouble.

It is fascinating to consider how Parvati’s safety affected Dickson. After all, he had to be happy to keep his allies in the game, but it did make him an obvious target.