Dee Valladares reveals unaired “Survivor 45” Tribal Council breakdown

The newest winner also gives an update on her relationship status with Austin.

What seemed like a pretty open game just a few weeks ago on Survivor 45 was slammed shut on Wednesday’s three-hour finale. And the woman doing the slamming was Dee Valladares.

Dee’s domination began when she lied to her showmance partner Austin Li Coon and informed ally Julie Alley to play her immunity idol and save herself. At the next vote, she betrayed her island boyfriend once again by voting out his ally in Drew Basile.

And after she somehow slipped through the final five vote and won the final immunity challenge, Dee saved her biggest move for last — informing Austin right in front of the jury how she had maneuvered around him and did not let him know. And the jury responded, giving her the million-dollar prize in a 5-3-0 vote over Austin and Jake O’Kane.

We spoke to the newly minted winner after her big triumph to chat all about her epic endgame, what we did not see, and whether she and Austin are as close off the island as they were on it. (Also check out our finale interviews with  Austin, Jake, Katurah, Julie, and host Jeff Probst.)

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: First off, congratulations!

DEE VALLADARES: Thank you so much.

How confident were you walking into that final Tribal Council?

I was pretty confident, and the reason I felt confident was because in my head I didn't go that far just to go that far. I knew I was going to give it my all and I knew that I had kept this secret from Austin for a while, so I knew that my gameplay was going to differentiate from his, and I was pretty comfortable with the jury. I feel like I got along with each and every one of them and I could make them laugh and then I could also make them think. So I was feeling pretty confident.

I know you were doing jury math in your head leading into final Tribal so which votes surprised you in terms of ones you got or ones you didn’t?

I definitely knew that Julie was voting for me and Drew was voting for Austin. That's a given. Bruce, I was 70% sure he was voting for Austin, but the vote that surprised me in the moment was Kendra's. But also, she had more time to play with Austin than I did because they had done the tribe swaps. That really was the only one that surprised me, but it really wasn't even much of a surprise because she voted for him because she thought that he played that best game.

Other than that, Kaleb also surprised me actually when he voted for me, actually, now that I think about it.

Why?

Only because it had been such a long time since Kaleb was out of the game that in my head Kaleb was just there along for the ride and we had our bumps in the game, but I love him as a person.

For me, the best move you made all game was waiting to inform Austin in front of the jury that you had told Julie to play her idol. It made him look like he didn't really know what was actually going on out there. Was that the plan always to reveal that at Final Tribal?

Oh yeah, that was definitely the plan. I mean, if I revealed that beforehand, I just blow up my game. You've got to let silence be your strength sometimes. And like you said, I do feel like that was my biggest strength heading into Final Tribal.

You could have told him that at the final three breakfast feast or something, but you waited until you had that audience.

I was definitely not going to tell him at the final breakfast. That was meant to be at final Tribal. I knew it would go out with a bang, and I had gone this long without telling him for what, two days, three days? I don't even remember at one point. So I'm like, “What's one more day going to do?” [Laughs]

Were you actually worried about Katurah making it to the final three or did you think you were in really good shape against that entire final four?

I felt I was in really good shape against any of them because I was going to fight with any of them at final Tribal. But I was worried about Katurah because she was such a great speaker and I just wanted to be the only female sitting in the final three too. I feel like naturally I can go at it with men more than I can with a woman sitting beside me. I mean, I still would've gone hard, but it just wouldn't have been the same. Does that make sense?

It wouldn't have been as fun.

Yeah, it wouldn't have been as fun as with two men. I'm going to go at it, but I love Katurah too, so it would've been a little bit different, I think.

What happens if you’re sitting next to Julie at the end?

That would've been a tough one because everyone loved Julie. The entire jury loved Julie. I loved Julie. It would've been tough, and like I said, I think with her, I would've been a lot weaker, but also, I did have game moves that were one step above, like the whole Emily blindside, for example, of saving her. She was going to go home that vote. So I think that would've been the one upper hand that I had against her, but it would've been hard sitting next to Julie in my opinion.

Did you ever even consider putting Austin in at fire?

Oh, hell no. I was not going to give him something to put on his résumé. No, of course not. Only because I also knew what I was waiting to unleash finally at final Tribal. I was not going to give that to him because I also knew that he was going to beat whoever was next to him — whether it's me, Jake, or Katurah, he's beating any of us. He started practicing. I saw that. I'm like, “Oh, this is crazy. You cannot go into fire.”

Did you have any clue how close you were to being voted out in fifth place, and if Katurah — who wanted you out more than anyone — didn’t change her mind last minute — that you would have been gone?

In the final five, that was a s--- show for all of us, to be honest. I'm still in shock at how it went down, and something that wasn't aired was in that final five Tribal, I started crying. Because I knew in my head that Julie was going home and I start crying and Jeff asked me “What's wrong? And I said, “I don't know Jeff.” I just didn't know how to articulate myself. And he dug in deeper and he's like, “Where's this coming from?” And I just broke down and I said, “Jeff, I'm crying because I know who's going home tonight.”

I remember feeling so stupid in that moment thinking, “Man, I've gone this entire time in the game without crying in front of people, only in confessionals to just break down right now. How can I let that happen, Dee?” But had it not been for my tears, Katurah would've never changed her vote. And it was just absolutely insane. So when I did see my name, I thought to myself, “S---, I might go home.” But you know what? Also, a part of me was like, "Even if I do go home, I'm okay. I am so proud of the game that I have played." But I did not know how close it was to it being me.

I don't know. You're a little feisty. You're saying we wouldn't have gotten a “What the hell, guys?” if you were voted out?

I don't think so. I think in that moment I would've been content. I had done so much and been so proud of myself. And also, anything could have happened in that final five. So that's a pretty good way to go out in my opinion.

It's funny, because there's a shot at the end of that Tribal where you can kind of see a tear on your face and it's like, “Where did that come from?”

Yeah, it was because of that. It's because I knew Julie was going home and I was crying a ton. It's so weird how maybe they didn't put it in, because it would've been too obvious that she was the one going home. It broke my heart, but I'm like, “Okay, I'll see her in one more day.” But that's where we're coming from.

Okay, let’s get to the thing that everyone's going to be asking you all day long: What's the relationship status with Austin right now? Go ahead, spill the beans.

Oh my goodness. Okay, Dalton, you're not going to like my answer. This has been a whirlwind of emotions and we have decided to keep it low key for now. It's been too crazy and it's getting crazier. So we've decided to keep it low key for now, only because it's been insane.

What does keep it low key mean, Dee?

Keep it low key is you'll see pictures here and there, but we're not going to focus on it right now because so much is happening in our lives and yeah, we're just going to keep it low key for now.

Anything that didn’t make it to air this season that you wish we had a chance to see?

Oh my God, there's so much. I would definitely say two things. One, I wish that the audience really saw the Reba four more, and that's because, yes, there are pairs, but we were so close. We got up every single night in the middle of the night at 2 or 3 in the morning, and that's why people didn't notice our gameplay because every night we would not be together during the day. We'd only get up in the middle of the night completely sleep deprived. So I wish that would've been shown more. I would steal papayas so that the Reba four could eat them.

And another one that I wish would've been shown is right before the tribe swap at OG Reba, I got into an argument with Sifu, and we were all running around the island looking for an idol, which was the idol that Austin ended up with where Julie and I found and the clue. And we got into a huge argument because he said he caught Austin digging and he was like, “It's game on!” And I was like, “Sifu, it's been game on for you! What the hell?” And then we all started idol searching and the cameramen were going crazy that day because it was a lot of fun.

So you win the money, you guys do your after-show, you have your champagne and pizza, and the cameras turn off. Then what happens? Tell me about the rest of the night.

I loved when the cameras turn off because it just feels like, “Oh, okay, we're being humans, right?” You're still humans, but you still got to think, “Hey, I got to be careful what I say because I'm on national television.” But it was really cool to have all the producers and Jeff, and we were all just talking and celebrating, and it was really cool for Jeff to come up to me and say, “Thank you for this amazing season.” And then I'm like, “No, Jeff, thank you for changing my life. This is a thought you had 24 years ago. And it changed my life 24 years later.”

It was really cool getting to meet cameramen and women and the producers because they're out there on the island, but we can't say a word to them. They know everything about us and we know nothing about them. And when you meet them, they're such cool people. So that was really fun. I'll never forget that.

What are you doing with the money?

I am not planning on spending it. I am just going to pay off some debt for my family and then going to invest it and purchase a property and then triple it and 10 x it. I'm trying to make more.

Smart answer. Okay, what happens if and when they call and ask you to play again?

I'm there. I'm there yesterday. Call me. I would love to play again. I feel like it would be so much more fun to play a second time just because you know what to expect and it just will be a lot more fun and way more cutthroat I think.

Well,  it sounds like the entire moral of your story is that everyone should go and stalk Survivor casting director Jesse Tannenbaum on social media. Is that the bottom line here now that you've won Survivor?

I say do what you got to do. But definitely don't blow him up because that's going to be tough to get by because I felt it. It was a big bump, but just go apply. This is the greatest game in the world. But yeah, do what you got to do.

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Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly.