By Emma Chance | Celebrity | January 2, 2024 |
By Emma Chance | Celebrity | January 2, 2024 |
I’ve been doing a Survivor rewatch, and just when I got to season 13, Cook Islands—also known as the world’s introduction to Parvati Shallow—Shallow herself took to Instagram to come out as queer and to announce her relationship with comedian Mae Martin.
Martin, 36, and Shallow, 41, posted pictures of the same photo booth strip in which the couple posed and kissed happily, with similar captions.
“We’re here, we’re queer, happy new year,” Shallow wrote.
“Parv’s here, she’s queer, Happy New Year,” Martin wrote, and included a video of Shallow winking at the camera on the top of a beachside Ferris wheel, presumably to make the rest of us melt with jealousy.
Survivor fans and other queer pop culture people flocked to the comments to express their glee:
“A perfect pair. Honored to have played the tiniest role in this epic link-up. Love you both,” said Evan Ross Katz, host of the Drop Your Buffs podcast. Matt Rogers, star of Fire Island, host of the Las Culturistas podcast, and avid Parvati admirer, wrote, “Love you both!” and “Truly icons.”
Shallow was previously married to John Fincher of Survivor: Samoa, with whom she shares one daughter. They divorced in 2021 after four years of marriage, citing irreconcilable differences.
Martin, meanwhile, is a legend in their own right, having co-created, co-written, and starred in the comedy series Feel Good, for which they received a BAFTA nomination. Their comedy special, SAP, also came out this year to great acclaim.
The news comes ahead of Shallow’s much-anticipated return to TV with season two of The Traitors, which premieres January 12th on Peacock. Shallow is one of the best Survivor players of all time and my favorite, second only to Cirie Fields, who orchestrated that delicious blindside on Shallow’s winning season, Micronesia, and who won season 1 of Traitors.
It was a good day for queer Survivor fans, because season 41 winner Erika Casupanan, who was also on Traitors, also came out.
“Double the joy with two POC Queer Winners on Survivor!” commented season 44 winner Yamil “Yam Yam” Arocho.
Survivor, which has always had a queer legacy with it’s very first winner being an out gay man, just keeps getting gayer, and I couldn’t be happier about it.