Each week on The Rushfield Lunch, I have a live conversation with one of the great artists or thinkers of our day, attempting to unravel the question: What the hell is wrong with everybody?
This week, I was joined by a true icon of our times, and I don’t use the word lightly. In the Survivor world, four-time player and champion Parvati Shallow is one of the most celebrated contestants and a lightning rod among viewers. As chieftain of the “Black Widow Brigade,” she executed some of the most awe-inspiring acts of manipulation and gamesmanship ever seen in the reality TV era. But for all the praise her prowess garnered, it made her the focal point of a distinct strain of misogynist temper from those who recoiled at the sight of a woman playing the game as brazenly as a man. In those Perez Hilton times, the winds of internet contempt blew strong.
Parvati joined me to talk about the world’s reactions to reality stars of the time. Furthermore, she recounts how, as she navigated these challenges as a young woman, she came to realize that the coping mechanisms she learned during a tumultuous childhood — the very things that made her so powerful on Survivor — also prevented her from not just surviving, but living life to its fullest. We go on to discuss how, in recent years, Parvati’s Survivor runs and subsequent stints on other shows have been rediscovered, turning her into an icon of empowerment and take-no-prisoners womanhood.
“I feel like Survivor was the intersection of all of my skill sets, like it was really made for me,” she tells me. “It felt good to get recognized by people who were not judging me as bad and wrong for having played the game to win and using my specific set of skills to do that. They wanted to emulate it. They saw me as confident, courageous and brave. When I meet fans on the street, they’ll say that I gave them the courage to be themselves, or to stand up for themselves, or use their voice. And I love that.”
It’s a fascinating conversation with a true voice for our times. Join us and tune in next week for another illuminating guest.
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