“The Traitors” star Parvati Shallow says feud“ ”with Sandra is over

"It was just deep cringe," Parvati says of their awkward first meeting in the castle.

Parvati Shallow called herself the queen of Survivor. Just one problem: Sandra Diaz-Twine also referred to herself as the queen. Hence, a reality television feud between two legends was born. Which naturally made the fact that both Survivor champions were set to compete against each other once again in a Scottish castle on The Traitors so absolutely delicious.

However, Parvati had other problems to worry about. After being selected by Dan Gheesling and Phaedra Parks to join them as a Traitor, Parvati became guilty by association when Dan (clearly her biggest ally in the game) was unmasked as a Traitor for hiding too much in the shadows. Parvati also fell into Peter Weber's trap when he intentionally lied about earning a shield. Even though she sniffed it out as a possible ruse, Dan insisted on trying to murder Carsten "Bergie" Bergensen — which ended up putting a massive target on both of their backs when the move backfired.

That was essentially the beginning of the end for Parvati, who was finally banished by the Faithful on this week's episode. Does she blame Dan for dragging her down with him? What does she make of Peter coming after her so hard? And where are she and Sandra at now? We asked the banished Traitor all that and more.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: So, you poisoned anyone lately?

PARVATI SHALLOW: Not lately, but I will say a lot of people are very scared of me and they will hide their drinks and they'll make sure the drinks have covers and are sealed around me. It's a problem.

Did you know or were you familiar with any of these people besides Sandra when you first showed up to play?

I knew Max from Dancing With the Stars. I watched that show. I love it. And Peppermint from Drag Race, Trishelle from The Challenge and from The Real World. And a little fun fact for you: I tried out for The Real World — the same one that CT was on, The Real World: Paris. But I didn't get cast for it in college when I applied. So I watched The Real World back in the day. So I knew who CT was and I knew who Trishelle was. I didn't know Johnny Bananas and I knew of Janelle and Dan, but no, not really. I didn't really know any of these people.

Be honest: How awkward was your first interaction with Sandra?

It was so incredibly awkward — like, the cringe. And it was just deep cringe. I was already nervous going to this castle and starting a new game. I've been out of the game for a while, been going through my own stuff and my personal life, and I'm like, okay, I need to come out here super-friendly, turn on the charm, be a delight. And then I see Sandra, and it was really bad.

But then Peppermint brought us together and I was like, this could go either really terribly or be fine. So I just went with it, and Sandra was going with it, and I was like, okay, let's just move past this and not have to deal with it anymore. But after that moment with Sandra and I and Peppermint, the other Housewives were on Sandra; "Who started the feud? It was you, wasn't it?" And Sandra was like, "Yeah, it was me." And so she wasn't out of the hot seat after that little rendezvous with me and her and Peppermint.

So how are you and Sandra now?

Yeah, we're fine. Sandra is going to be who Sandra is forever, and I think I'm finding her very entertaining watching the show. And we just saw each other in New York. We did a bunch of little segments together for the Peacock press, and it was fine. She's funny, she's a character. She will always want to have other people say she's better than me, and that is fine with me. I'm fine with that.

She did call herself the queen of the castle after you were banished.

Of course, she must. She really wants that title, and you know what? Let her have it. She can have it.

What was your reaction when you were picked to be a Traitor?

I was really excited, and also terrified, because I don't think I'm a very good liar. I'm good at hiding information. I can do that. The chalice, the poisoning — I can do that. But lying to someone's face and making up a whole story and performing this act that you have to perform as a Traitor at breakfast in the castle, you can't drop that mask at all for such a long time. I was really nervous about that.

These people were heat-seeking missiles. They were on to everyone, trying to find a tell, a twitch, weird breathing. So I was super-nervous about it, but I was also really excited because the Traitors have a lot more power than the Faithfuls and a lot more information and a lot more fun, because you get to go do your little thing in the turret. So I was happy.

Now you realize that anyone that saw Survivor: Micronesia is going to find that hard to believe that you're not good at lying. You're a good liar, Parvati.

Okay, this is my experience of playing and then watching myself on The Traitors: I was like, whoa, my internal world was wildly different than what I saw as myself performing there. When I got the letter to become a Traitor, there was so much electricity and chaos happening inside of me that I am really good at masking. Any feelings of nervousness or self-doubt or worry, I'm good at just kind of glossing that over.

How different is this entire game if Dan listens to you and does not insist on murdering Bergie, even though you told him it could be a ruse?

I think it would've been really, really different. We would've had more time. I think Dan probably would've been next to go. It was tricky for me because Phaedra was playing a pretty loyal game to the Traitors. So I was like, "I don't want to go talk to Phaedra and say I'm ready to throw Dan under the bus," until there was enough momentum swinging towards Dan. And Dan was so loyal to me and telling me he would never throw me under the bus. I had really no other friends out there.

I mean, as you can see, I was pretty much a lone wolf, but Dan was like, "I'll work with you." So I was in kind of a tricky spot with the two of them. And everyone was looking at Dan as he's the Traitor. I think I probably could have worked with Peter. I could have proven to him like, "Hey, see nothing! I'm not a Traitor!" I think it would've been a completely different game.

Did Dan essentially if unintentionally sabotage your game by the way he played?

I would say so. I would say he fumbled a lot of the balls that he was handed, and he thought he was better than he was. His ego wouldn't let him hear any other perspective. The game is so fast-paced. It's very different from playing Survivor. I think Big Brother especially, because Big Brother is a really long game and Survivor is in between Traitors and Big Brother length of time.

So what he needed to do catch himself and be like, "Okay, I'm not a lone wolf here. I'm not the man of the house. I don't need to have the final say all the time." And I think his strategy was flawed. He would go after people that said, "I think you're the Traitor." I'm like, "Don't kill that person." It was so obvious him trying to kill Bergie after Bergie said, "I'm going to write your name down for the rest of the season until this game's over." I'm like, "Why would you kill him? Everyone was there that heard him say that!"

It seems from the edit that Phaedra took a bit of a back seat and essentially let you and Dan pick who should get murdered each time. Is that accurate?

Yeah.

Why do you think that is?

I think Phaedra was playing very well inside the castle. She was excellent at being the drama queen and this character that was larger than life. And so she reminded me of the archetypal Southern belle where they just fall and people adore them because they're so beautiful and funny and entertaining — and she was able to play that very well. So she didn't seem like she was up to no good.

And then when it came to strategy, that wasn't really part of her game. She wasn't there to come up with plans and be a strategic mastermind. She was fine letting Dan and I take the lead on that stuff — I think because we're known to be gamers. So I just think she played to her strengths, which was the performance aspect.

What did you make of your rival Peter and his game — both strategically and socially?

Peter strategically was really good. The Faithfuls are handed a tough lot because the Faithfuls have no information whatsoever, and I was a Faithful for a day, so I know what it felt like. It was like, "Oh, I don't know who to trust. I don't know who to talk to. I don't know how much information to share."

So Peter did a good job working with very little information, but I think he started to lie too much and he started to play too hard. He tried too hard. He got caught up in his own kind of enthusiasm. I think he's overenthusiastic and he was like a dog with a bone. He wasn't flexible enough. When I offered him the opportunity to be a Traitor, that would've been a really good move for him. He could have thrown me under the bus immediately. He was already doing that.

It was a Hail Mary for me. I was doing a lot of those. I was playing a really messy kind of loose game and I was like, let's see what happens if Peter says yes. I had no idea what I would do with that, but I thought it would be fun to turn him. And then when he said no I was like, oh, his rigidity is going to make him suffer in the rest of this game. He didn't have any ability to adapt socially. He was too intense.

Were you surprised John came after you so hard at the final roundtable there?

Oh yeah, because John and I had a pretty good relationship. I knew he thought that I was a Traitor, and I had said something to him because this was my strategy. I was backed into a wall. I was like, they're on to me. My only strategy moving forward is if these people can figure out that it's a good idea for them to keep the Traitor that they know in the house and then seek the other Traitors, then that will protect them.

So it was kind of playing that edge with John where I was like, "Look, you are onto me, but I'm not a Traitor. But also, if you think I am, why wouldn't you want to just keep me around?" And I think he is very much sort of like Peter. There was this thing happening with the men in the castle where it got to this point of "We are honorable and righteous and we are going to play this game the right way, and that is taking out the liars."

And the thing is, Peter was lying! Everybody was lying. You have to lie to get the information that you need. But they had this sense of they were lying for the right reasons. It's very Bachelor, if you think about it. It's like, "Are you here for the right reasons? I'm going to play this game the right way." We're all conditioned from our previous reality histories.

And John, with his career in politics, really wanted to be seen as the good guy. So then when we got to that roundtable, I was like: We had a great relationship. We talked a lot. He knew a lot about my personal life from the past two years, which is why I shared that information with him when I was crying and getting emotional, and I was like, maybe he'll buy it. Maybe he'll keep me around for one more roundtable, or maybe he'll listen to the other people in his clique.

That's what I thought. And then when he came after me so hard, I was like, I'm doomed. That's it. He would do this thing at the roundtables that we don't see in the show, but he would wrap up the discussion and bring it to a point and he would say, "Now that we've heard everyone's speeches, I believe that we should stay steadfast and true to our original idea." And my head fell on the table and I was just like, "Oh, I'm done. They're banishing me."

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Related content:

• The Traitors guest Will Kirby explains why Big Brother players have not done well on the show

• Dan Gheesling reacts to being 'shredded' by Phaedra on The Traitors

• Janelle says she and Sandra were 'being bitches to each other' on The Traitors

• Larsa Pippen says Janelle was jealous of all her screen time on The Traitors

• Ekin-Su reacts to Parvati poisoning her on The Traitors

• Peppermint reacts to The Traitors drama with Trishelle

• The Traitors star Johnny Bananas blasts Dan's big early move

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