Parvati is probably just latching on to someone she thinks is going to go far in the game. But she should know that James isn’t too bright, and might be an early target anyway. But like you said, she isn’t that bright either.
Still early yet, but I’m thinking this is going to be the best Survivor in a good while.
This version was filmed from Oct 29th - Dec 6th so she was not able to watch too many episodes of Survivor China to know how well James did.