Survivor was a game-changer for reality television when it premiered on CBS in 2000. The show dropped a handful of contestants on an island to see who could survive the longest. Richard Hatch famously won the first season. Season 49 of the show premiered in September. CBS already has plans for a milestone Season 50, featuring some of the show’s most memorable contestants.
But long-time Survivor host Jeff Probst came under fire from an alum for his alleged ‘bias’ against women competing on the CBS reality show.
Jeff Probst & Former Champion Invalidates Australian Survivor Winner
The popularity of the American version of Survivor led to spinoffs around the world, including Australia. Survivor: Australia vs. the World featured Parvati Shallow, Cirie Fields, and Tony Vlachos from the American version. They were pitted against contestants from various other Survivor spinoffs. Parvati Shallow, who won Survivor: Micronesia in 2008, was named the victor of Survivor: Australia vs. the World earlier this year.
In addition to hosting Survivor, Jeff Probst goes behind the scenes of the popular reality competition on the On Fire podcast. Jeremy Collins, who won Survivor: Cambodia in 2015, was a recent guest on the podcast. Jeff Probst asked him if
Parvati Shallow, who hails from Vero Beach, Florida, was a legitimate two-time winner after winning the Australian Survivor spinoff.
“So, listen, I don’t think so. In my Survivor world, I say she has one and a half wins. It’s a good win. Australia Survivor’s a good win, but it’s not the same as Survivor U.S.,” Jeremy Collins replied.
Parvati Shallow had a terse response. “A couple of straight men trying to discredit a woman … get a new move boys,” she wrote on an Instagram post about the shocking comments.
The two-time Survivor champ received a lot of support for her wins. “She was on her strategic A game from day one, with a massive target on her back. She’s a two time winner. It 100% counts,” one person said.
Another added, “Jeremy must have meant that this win counts for 1.5 wins, bringing her to 2.5 total. Because AU is at least 1.5x better than US.”
Alum Previously Slammed Host For ‘Bias’ Against Women
The recent interaction wasn’t the first time Parvati Shallow called out Jeff Probst for alleged sexist comments. The Survivor host, who recently shut down a Golden spinoff, previously spoke out against an all-female season of Survivor.
He addressed the idea on the Elvis Duran Show in February. He implied that an all-female season wouldn’t be interesting. Jeff Probst said, “When you list all the interesting ‘characters’ of Survivor the majority of them are men. Why? What is it about what we allow men to say or do socially?”
“I wonder if some kind of editing bias (among other things) could be preventing the women from becoming bigger characters,” Parvati Shallow responded on social media.
Let us know in the comments if you consider her a two-time Survivor winner of one and a half.
Jennifer Havener grew up in a small town in Upstate New York. She earned her B.A in Writing & Literature from Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado. She always knew watching reality TV shows and soap operas, particularly ‘Days of Our Lives’, would come in handy someday. When she’s not writing, she’s playing with her dogs, Lola and Ruger
