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Longtime friends and “Survivor” alums Parvati Shallow and Rob “Boston Rob” Mariano switched reality shows this year.
While Shallow is taking her turn collecting cases and taking names on “Deal or No Deal Island,” Mariano is trying to survive Alan Cumming’s castle in “The Traitors.”
Shallow (and her headbands) memorably appeared on “The Traitors” Season 2, while Mariano participated in the inaugural season of “Deal or No Deal Island.”
Shallow tells TODAY.com that she and Mariano spoke before they each left to film and compete on their respective shows, both of which are currently airing on Peacock. (TODAY.com and Peacock share a parent company, NBCUniversal.)
“(Rob) told me, first of all, to play,” she says with a laugh.
Shallow admits when she learned of “Deal or No Deal Island,” she thought it had the “goofiest name.”
“I was like, that show sounds like a real dumb-dumb show,” she says.
But then Mariano told her there was potential to win an “insane amount of money,” she recalls. While Mariano walked away from the show in fourth place, the winner of Season 1, Jordan Fowler, left with $1.23 million.
Mariano also gave her a piece of advice: “If you’re ever on the bottom, face the Banker.”
“It’s too risky to let someone else do that. They’re going to take you out if they have the chance,” she says. “So I took that to heart.”
In the twist-filled “Deal or No Deal Island,” teams compete in challenges for briefcases containing different sums of money. The player with the highest value case picks someone to face against the Banker in a game of “Deal or No Deal,” familiar to fans of the Howie Mandel-hosted show. A bad deal leads to elimination. A good negotiation gives that player the power to pick who leaves the island next.
Playing the game felt “very dynamic,” Shallow says. “It felt kind of chaotic in an exciting way for me, where I was like, ‘If I’m going to play this game to win, how do I win within a game that you don’t really have much control over?'”
When it came to advising Mariano on “The Traitors,” Shallow says her tips didn’t have anything to do with strategy.
“I wasn’t going to offer him any advice for his gameplay, because Rob’s going to do what Rob’s going to do,” she says. “But I did support him with fashion.
“I said, ‘Rob, you can’t wear basketball shorts and a black tank top. This is Alan Cumming’s castle you are entering. You need to show up,'” she says. “Yeah, he upgraded his fashion choices.”
Shallow says she’s been keeping up with the show so far, including Mariano’s big move in Episode 4.
(Warning: Spoilers for “The Traitors” Season 3 ahead!)
Mariano, who was made a Traitor in a twist at the end of Episode 1, made a big play in the most recent episode. After his fellow Traitor Bob the Drag Queen cast suspicion on Mariano and the other newcomers to the game, Mariano galvanized the already skeptical Dylan Efron to rally votes against Bob. His efforts paid off, and Bob the Drag Queen was banished at the round table at the end of the episode.
Shallow, who played “Survivor” with Mariano on the show’s 20th season, “Heroes vs. Villains,” and 40th, “Winners at War,” says “it’s so fun to watch Rob do his thing at the round table.”
“I don’t want him to stop,” she says. “I kind of love his ‘Godfather,’ take no prisoners, just machine gun them down.”
But?
“… But, if you’re doing that as a Traitor, you’re putting a huge spotlight on you,” she says. “I’m nervous for him. I don’t want to see him get banished. But I think it’s too late for him to dial it down.”
Episode 5 of “The Traitors” airs Thursday at 9 p.m. ET/ 6 p.m. PT.
New episodes of “Deal or No Deal Island” air Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET/ 6 p.m. PT.
