- Parvati Shallow earned the nickname “Black Widow” after creating an all-female alliance called the Black Widow Brigade on Survivor: Micronesia
- Shallow competed on The Traitors season 2 and will now appear on Deal or No Deal Island season 2, which premieres Tuesday, Jan. 7
- The reality star tells PEOPLE of Deal or No Deal Island, “I’m very adaptable and this game is the most unpredictable game I’ve ever played”
Parvati Shallow made a name for herself on Survivor for putting together the all-female Black Widow Brigade alliance that helped her win Survivor: Micronesia in 2008.
After competing on five seasons of Survivor and season 2 of The Traitors, Shallow, 42, tells PEOPLE that her reputation as the Black Widow who blindsides male contestants to get further in the game proceeded her when she entered Deal or No Deal Island season 2.
“I cannot shake my reputation as the Black Widow no matter what or how I operate,” Shallow says. “People will always think of me as the girl who brought the women together and slit all the men’s throats and got Erik [Reichenbach] to give up the Immunity Necklace. It was like 15 years ago, but it feels like it was yesterday in people’s minds.”
At this point in her reality TV career, Shallow doesn’t think she could do anything to reverse viewers or her costars’ perception of her.
“I can’t play timid,” she says. “That’s my role that I play. I’m like, ‘I’m definitely going to come in here and shake things up.’ And it’s not because I intentionally want to do that. I’m not a Dr. Will [Kirby], who comes and wants to cause chaos. I just have a way of relating to people and building rapport and maneuvering people through human emotion and psychology that it stirs things up. I’m a catalyzing force, and I’ve come to accept that.”
On Deal or No Deal Island season 2, which premieres Tuesday, Jan. 7, Shallow competed alongside other reality stars, including Big Brother winner While Kirby, 52, and Australian Survivor winner David Genat, who she says “nobody knew” except for her.
“I knew who he was instantly when we hit the beach and I was like, ‘This is my guy. This will be my partner, and if I keep his secret, then the trust between us is cemented,’” Shallow says. “So I was willing to be the front-facing threat and just have him be in the shadows working the other end of the beach.”
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Shallow decided to see how the Black Widow fared on Deal or No Deal Island season 2 because fellow Survivor alum Boston Rob Mariano competed on season 1 and “we have a bit of a competitive nature between us,” she says. “So I’m like, ‘If Rob did it and he went really far, I could do it. I could win this thing and I could take the crown and that would make me feel like I was on top of the world.’”
The mom of 6-year-old daughter Alma asked Mariano, 49, for advice before heading to the Banker’s Island — but he didn’t arm her with much of a strategy.
“He said, ‘The whole game was luck. It’s not social, it’s not strategic. Just play the Banker every chance you get and take your fate into your own hands,’” Shallow recalls. “But I think Rob had a very different experience than me. He was targeted No. 1 and really couldn’t shake that.”
Shallow believed her love of competition games, as well as “my enthusiasm and passion for adventure” would serve her well on Deal or No Deal Island.
“I’m good at challenges,” Shallow says. “I’m very adaptable and this game is the most unpredictable game I’ve ever played. I see the comparison between this and Survivor in that there are challenges and it’s set on a beach. And there’s the social dynamic of it. But the thing that makes it really different to Survivor is you don’t want to blindside and backstab your friends. You want to build relationships and have people that you really trust on your side, and you don’t want to cut them at the end because you need their help.”
But Shallow also acknowledges the truth in what Mariano told her. “There’s no real plan that you can put in place,” she says. “It’s just like, ‘Okay, let’s see how the deck gets reshuffled after this challenge, and then I’m going to play with the cards that I’m dealt.’ It really is a gambler’s paradise out here.”
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Deal or No Deal Island season 2 premieres with a two-hour episode on Tuesday, Jan. 7, at 8 p.m. ET on NBC.
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