‘Survivor’ Winner Files for Divorce After 4 Years of Marriage

Survivor winner Parvati Shallow has separated from her husband, fellow Survivor alum John Fincher. The fan-favorite competitor, who once took home the $1 million prize, filed for divorce from her husband in the Los Angeles County Superior Court on Tuesday, according to legal documents obtained by The Blast. Entertainment Tonight separately confirmed the divorce documents.

In the filings, Shallow cited “irreconcilable differences” as the reason for the divorce. Neither The Blast nor Entertainment Tonight reported if a date of separation was listed. The marriage dissolution documents also did not make clear if Shallow is petitioning for full custody of their 3-year-old daughter Alma or if she and Fincher intend share custody of the toddler, whom they welcomed together in July 2018. Shallow is currently living in Los Angeles, according to reports, and working as a yoga teacher. The couple’s divorce is an ongoing case. Fincher has yet to respond to the filing in court. At this time, neither Shallow nor Fincher have publicly addressed their separation.

Shallow, who first competed on Season 13’s Survivor: Cook Islands, and Fincher, who competed on 2009’s Survivor: Samoa, sparked romance in 2013 after meeting at a charity event hosted by Ethan Zohn, the winner of Survivor: Africa, according to the Daily Mail. In January 2017, Fincher dropped to one knee and popped the question. The couple tied the knot in a July 16, 2017, ceremony and welcomed Alma, their only child together, the following year.

After welcoming their daughter in 2018, Shallow went on to compete in on the show’s milestone 40th season, Winners at War, in 2020, this time with a different outlook at the game. She told Entertainment Tonight at the time, “there was a vulnerability to me this time, coming back out there, that I hadn’t had before. There was an emotionality that was uncontrollable. Even before the game started, when we were in pregame and doing press, if someone asked me about my baby, I would break out into tears. So, I was really at a place in my life that I wasn’t able to separate that and put a wall up or a shield up around that vulnerability like I have been able to do in the past. That was really the difference for me.”

Along with competing Survivor: Cook Islands, Shallow went on to win Survivor: Micronesia – Fans vs. Favorites in 2008. She also competed on Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains, where she finished in second place. Shallow is widely considered to be one of the best competitors in Survivor history. Host Jeff Probst previously said Shallow is one of his top ten favorite contestants. She was one of the first five inductees into the Survivor Hall of Fame in 2010.