Parvati Shallow agrees: 'Survivor' 29 crew not the most compelling

Shallow is a "Survivor" Hall of Famer, who won $1 million in 2008 on "Survivor: Micronesia" and has been on the show three times. She has spent more time as a "Survivor" contestant than anybody else in terms of total days in competition.

She has continued to do work for "Survivor" and interviewed contestants on location for both season 29 (the current season) and the upcoming season 30. She writes show recaps for The Hollywood Reporter. And after selling her fitness center, she's a journalist now: she recently moved from Los Angeles to New York to work for CBS News as a reporter in its health department.

This season has involved a lot of off-the-cuff game play and some wicked blindsides but has generally lacked compelling chemistry among the cast members.

"I like the people individually," Shallow said. "I think they're pretty inexperienced when it comes to playing the game." She noted some exceptions, including the gay couple Josh and Reed and Jeremy.

Talking to fans, she isn't getting a lot of deep emotional connections with the contestants. "No one is getting super attached to these people," she said.

She felt casting ended up with a lot of "one-trick ponies" such as the "rednecks" in Wes and Keith and Alex and Drew as the "model brothers." To her, "they fill certain stereotypes." She said many of the contestants haven't shown much depth of character that has made past seasons more compelling. "There hasn't been those heartbreaking moments and tears," she said.

The previous "Blood vs. Water" season was packed with emotion and featured folks who had played the game before. "They knew how hard it was, how devastating it can be to get voted out, how much your body goes through," Parvati said. When she went to San Juan to interview the cast before the show began, "they didn't know what they were getting into."

She was amused when one team ran out of rice but said it helped them win challenges before the merge. She also found all the horse trading with Jeff Probst interesting, though she wasn't sure she'd give up her tarp for rice. "Nothing is worse in the world than being wet. You can't sleep. It's miserable," she said.

Parvati also wondered, along with other reporters on location, about Julie McGee's endurance for the show when she met her. "She was covered in makeup and wearing platform shoes," she said. Ultimately, she quit on day 18, just couldn't take it anymore.

And when she interviewed John Rocker, she said he was clear he wanted to show people how different he is from the image he had left from that Sports Illustrated story. (She was a kid in Atlanta when all that happened.) He told me what a nice guy he was. But then she watched him verbally threaten Natalie on the show. "The bear came out," she said.

Her current favorite is Natalie, the former "Amazing Race" contestant. Many of the remaining eight, she said, are still around more by "happy accident" than truly strategic game play, she thinks. They are smartly picking off people they think are the strategic, smart ones, such as Jeremy and Josh.

"Some people are staying under the radar," she said. She asked me who I am really rooting for in the final three. I didn't have any off hand though I'd say Natalie right now is my tentative favorite, with Jeremy out of the picture.

One of the key swing votes has been the couple Jon and Jacyln. Though the trailers for tonight's episode shows the two arguing, Parvati does not think either of them will splinter off when it comes to votes. "You have to have someone you can trust," she said. The trailers "are a bit of a red herring. They're just trying to throw us off."

She finds it funny to watch Keith, who has no clue how to play the game, nearly mess things up for Reed last week. Reed orchestrated a complicated double cross and had everything lined up to vote off Jon. But when Keith said, "Stick with the plan," a suspicious Natalie told Jon to use his immunity idol. Keith used his, too. And his son Wes was ousted with only two votes.

She thinks Jon and Reed are the strongest threats but for that reason, the show could very well end up with an all-women finale. She could even see Missy and Baylor make it that far, which would be quite a feat, given how vulnerable they both looked early on.

Parvati has already been on location for season 30 but can't say anything about it beyond the fact there are far more gamers and she generally likes that. Far more of the folks recognized her, a sign they are aficionados of the game.

She loves going back to see the crew and Probst. "It's like a family reunion every year," she said. "I love going on location. That was like a solid decade of my life."

She said Probst went through a period where he was focused on his talk show and working in other areas. But she feels he's been "reinvigorated. He's excited. He's fired up. He loves producing this show. He loves what he does. He has a great gig."

You can read Parvati's work with CBS News at www.cbsnews.com/health

TV preview

"Survivor"

8 p.m. and 9 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 3, CBS