Survivor 45 Winner Details an Unseen Element That Helped Save the Champ’s Game

The following contains spoilers from Wednesday’s season finale of Survivor.

And then there was one.

Twenty-six days later, the Reba 4 landed two of its alliance members in the Final 3, after Julie was voted out and Jake defeated Katurah in the fire-making challenge. From there it was two members of a showmance battling it out against underdog Jake, but in the end, some intentionally well-kept secrets helped Dee Valladares defeat Austin Li Coon by a 5-3 vote. (Read a full recap here, plus our Q&A with Austin.)

Below, Dee talks to TVLine about what it feels like to win a million dollars, her biggest moves in the game and why the Reba tribe had what it takes to dominate Belo and Lulu.

TVLINE | First off, congratulations on winning! How does it feel now that your big secret’s out?
DEE VALLADARES | Oh my God. It feels like a weight has lifted off my shoulders. It feels absolutely amazing because it’s high anxiety every single week watching it back and having to stay shut and just take everything that the world is throwing at you. It’s been an emotional ride and it feels amazing. I’m still kind of in shock to be honest, but so grateful. Still so grateful.

TVLINE | Before we deep dive into your Survivor journey, on a scale of 1-10, how hungover are you right now?
Zero! [Laughs] Negative 100. I took one tequila shot all night. That’s it! You don’t understand. Every time I drink, I get hungover. I had to be up at four-something a.m. But yeah, I was like, there’s no way I’m drinking or being hungover because I probably would not make it on here.

TVLINE | In Episode 3, we saw you give Austin the hammer that had the clue on it. Do you see that as a pivotal decision that helped solidify the Reba alliance?
Oh my goodness. I heard so much crap once we gave that thing back. It literally solidified our alliance because it was an action of trust. I am giving you a whole idol so early on in the game. But also, what wasn’t shown, that happened like 15 minutes before the tribe swap. So you can imagine how absolutely high emotions were and obviously how grateful Austin was because when you get to merge, usually the bigger dudes are threats. I didn’t want him to leave the game. I didn’t want any of my Reba people to leave the game because they’re my alliance. So I think that that was probably the first, riskiest, but best move that I did because that just solidified the trust. But also, I knew where the information was, which was maybe even more important because I didn’t have the responsibility of holding an idol for myself.

TVLINE | Why do you think the other tribes struggled so hard to fight back against the Rebas?
Everyone’s always saying, “How did they not notice?” It’s hard to notice out there because we were not together during the day. We would get up every single night in the middle of the night, two or three in the morning, one by one and go strategize on the beach and say, “Alright, who did you speak to today? What did you say? Who do we want next?” We always gave and took, but the reason they struggled is because we actually stayed tight. If we gave our word, we gave our word. And then also, I think they struggled within themselves and that’s huge. Innately, some of them just didn’t get along on a human level, which is hard to work with on Survivor because ego comes up and then one thing you say, someone could take it the wrong way. It’s just a lot. We really trusted each other, the four of us, and we knew that we weren’t gonna break no matter what.

TVLINE | How confident were you that you would beat Austin in a Final 3?
I was pretty confident, but I did know that it was going to be a hard one. I knew he was gonna bring it. One thing that wasn’t shown, after I won the last individual immunity challenge, I told Jeff, I looked at Jake, I looked at Austin, and I was like, “If you guys need to s–t on my mother, do whatever you gotta do because I’m coming for both of you. I’m coming at you hard!” [Laughs] I’m glad it wasn’t shown because that sounds terrible. But as far as Austin, I knew he would be hard to beat because he played… like, how do you not get any votes cast against you? That shows you how good of a freaking game you played, right? So I knew it would be hard and I knew that he had relationships in the jury too. But also, I was confident. In my head, I was like, “I didn’t go this far to not win.” I had this. I was obsessed with the idea of winning since the moment I applied, even before I applied, so I knew I was going to give it my all. Even if I hadn’t won, I would have been so happy for either of them regardless.

TVLINE | At the Final 5 vote, you almost got the boot, but Katurah changed her vote at the last second. What was your reaction to that?
I found out obviously post-Tribal when they were going at it. I remember looking down and I was laughing because I was so happy to still be in the game. It’s like, “Oh, they’re arguing! Nice. I’ve got front row seats to them arguing about me going home. This is so freaking amazing.”

But one thing that wasn’t shown in the Final 5 Tribal: I knew Julie was going home and Jeff had asked me a question. I completely didn’t even respond because I was so in my feelings and crying. Jeff of course pushes and he’s like, “Where is this coming from?” I go, “Jeff, I just know who’s going home tonight,” and I was talking about Julie, but in Katurah’s mind, Austin’s safe and I’m not going to cry for Jake, so it’s either Julie or Katurah. So she changed her whole [plan]. In that moment I felt so stupid for crying at Tribal because I had never cried in front of people before, only if I won immunity, but my crying was always done in confessionals, never in front of people. Now, at Final 5 is when I’m like, “My emotions are really getting in the way,” and really, that played a huge role in saving me because she trusted my tears more than Jake’s word. That’s huge!

TVLINE | Did you always plan on keeping the secret that you tipped Julie off about her potential vote-out? Were you specifically saving that nugget for Final Tribal?
I knew I was going to withhold that information until Final Tribal because that was going to be one of my biggest winning game moves. The Drew one, of course not so much, because obviously my cards were shown. I had to apologize and I really did feel bad for that. But that one I knew I had to keep for Final Tribal because he has a lot to talk about and how is the jury going to differentiate our games? It’s his word against mine. We can even both lie, right? So it’s gonna be the differentiating factor. My silence is my strength in this game. And I knew that I had to stay shut as hard as it was because we told each other everything out there except those moments. We told each other everything, to the detail, and I think that that’s why we worked so well. We really trusted one another. But I knew I had to keep that to the end. Otherwise, I lose.

TVLINE | There’s been a lot of talk about “number ones,” but all season long I’ve been wondering: How is it possible to have two number ones? That math ain’t mathing.
Listen, this is girl math! This is Dee math! It works, OK? [Laughs] It might not work for everybody, but it worked for me and I was still gonna ride for both my number ones. I don’t have any kids, but I imagine if someone asked me like, “Who’s your favorite child?” I could never choose. That’s how it is. Like if you ask me who I love more, my mom or my dad, I would never give you an answer. And that’s how I feel with Julie and Austin. I can’t give you an answer because I love them both the same, equally. And yeah, it’s crazy, because I really did go in the game thinking like, “They’re my number one,” and it was natural in my head. It was OK!

TVLINE | You obviously won the million, but do you have any regrets from your time out there in Fiji?
It’s very easy for a winner to say that they don’t have regrets.  For me, what I would have done differently is the way that I approached people. For example, when I went up to Julie and I told her that she was the vote that night, that was 15 minutes before Tribal. There was urgency in that and she almost voted out Austin. So I had to tell her, “You can’t ruin my game. I’m saving you.” 

But also, I don’t know, sometimes I was watching myself… man, I’m not like that in real life. I’m not that confrontational and cutthroat in real life. If you meet me in real life, I can’t do that to people. But one thing I would have done differently is just approach conversations differently, approach people differently. But also, they were my number ones. I know how to talk to my people. I know how they’ll perceive it and they know that the intention behind it is pure. It’s not like, “Do this because I tell you what to do.” It’s like, “Hey, do this because I’m trying to save your ass,” you know what I mean?

TVLINE | What advice do you have for future players who are at home and dreaming of winning this show?
You gotta be delusional. You gotta be delusional to know that you’ll win, for sure. I was obsessed with that. Something that I think helped me in the game was being multidimensional. I can be kind by nature, but then I know when to be cutthroat. I can tell you everything, but I know when to withhold information. You’ve got to make decisions and you’ve got to make them quickly. Also, detaching yourself from the outcome. You have your why and the goal, which is to win a million dollars obviously, but take it day by day because some people get too in the game and they’ll see someone else as a threat and you still have so much more game to play. People will cannibalize each other out there. Allow that to happen and use that to your advantage. I think those would be like my biggest lessons.

TVLINE | I have to ask: What’s the update on your big showmance with Austin?
You’re not gonna like my answer, but we decided to keep it private for now, just because it’s been so hectic and it’s about to get even more hectic for sure. We’re riding high on all the emotions, so we’re gonna keep it private for now.

TVLINE | Any last words or reflections on your time and experience out there in Fiji?
This is the greatest cast ever. This cast is so dope. If you meet all these people in person, you’ll fall in love with them. This cast is what made this season and obviously, all the old school stuff — the auction, the helicopter — so much happened. But this was a lot of fun. Best experience of my life.

TVLINE | So if there’s a Winners at War 2, are we going to see you back out there?
Of course, I’m out there! 100%. I’m out there tomorrow. If Jeff calls me, I’m packing. I’ll go right now like this.