‘Survivor’ 45 Winner Dee Valladares Reveals Pre-Jury Pitch Talk She Had With Austin Li Coon

The Tribe Has Spoken

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Dee Valladares is now a millionaire. One of Survivor Season 45’s biggest personalities and best all-around players (she just may be one of the best players of the new era) took home the victory in the three-hour Survivor 45 finale on Wednesday, December 20 on CBS. In an episode full of fatal game mistakes, Dee won because she made none.

In separate interviews, Dee and Austin Li Coon (who shared a showmance this season that continues outside of the show) told TV Insider that the jury pitch portion of filming lasted several hours; Dee recalls not wrapping filming until 4 a.m. Much of the footage is cut for time, but the most important bits make it in. But there was some creative editing that went on in this finale.

As Austin revealed to us and Dee confirmed, the moment Dee clinched her win — when she corrected Austin and revealed she actually did tell Julie Alley of the plot against her — happened much sooner in the jury pitches than is implied in what fans saw. Much of Austin’s fiery pitch didn’t happen before that Dee reveal as it was seen in the episode, but rather after. He took a moment to collect himself and then hit the ground running because he knew Dee had played a possibly winning hand.

Whatever order you put the jury pitches in, it was a thrilling showdown between the pair. The other member of the Final Three, Jake O’Kane, delivered a touching emotional appeal to the jury, but there came a point when it was clear to all that either Dee or Austin would be walking away victorious. Dee tells TV Insider that she and Austin planned for a showdown during the pitches, agreeing not to take it easy on each other just because of their romantic connection.

Here, Dee shares the details of that pre-final Tribal Council talk and more behind-the-scenes details from Survivor 45.

Congratulations on your win! Are you ever going to get sick of hearing, “Congratulations, you won Survivor“?

Dee Valladares: Thank you! I appreciate it. No, I will never get tired of hearing it. I still feel like I’m in shock. I still feel like I’m back in Fiji, honestly. The same emotions that happened there are happening here. I’m still in disbelief. It’s surreal. No, I’ll never get over it because I am so happy. I’m proud of myself. If someone watched it and loved the show, that makes me so happy.

I think this is the best season of the new era.

I agree. Also, I feel like everyone thinks their season is the best, so I let other people say that. You know what I mean? So awesome to hear you say that.

Survivor cast celebrates Season 45 (Chuck Snyder/CBS)

No, it really is. I think the 90-minute episode format really helped. I would love to know if there’s a deleted scene that you really wish had made it in, whether it’s something that was just a funny or memorable moment for you or a strategic thing that people didn’t know you did.

Well, I’m so grateful for the way that I was edited. They showed all sides of me — funny side, meme side, cutthroat, loving, sad. They showed everything. So I’m very grateful for that. I do wish they showed more of my gameplay with other castaways outside of Reba Four, but I also understand why they wouldn’t, because maybe it might be too obvious. I guess they use the people outside Reba Four calling me a threat and social as their way of like, “Hey, she has relationships with everybody else.” But as far as a deleted scene or something that I wish made it, OG Reba right before tribe swap, I got in a huge argument with Sifu.

Really?

He drove me freaking crazy! Love him in the real world, but in the game, he drove me crazy. He had caught Austin digging. When we found the clue to the idol, it was 15 minutes before Tribal, but the audience sees it in the episode right before. So Sifu caught Austin digging, and I was going to go help Austin, and then I see them walking back together. I’m like, oh, damn. Sifu caught him digging. So Sifu looks at me, and he goes, “I just caught Austin digging for an idol. It’s game on.” And I go, what do you mean it’s game on?! It’s been game on for you since ever! You’re the first one up in the morning idol hunting. You’re the first one going all crazy.

We got into an argument. It was actually a lot of fun. We all started running around the island. I had a stick in my hand, and then we’re going at it, and then I’m like, yeah, and you’re even spying on us. And he denied that he was spying on us. So I got even more pissed. Then it was funny because that was right before the swap, so we needed to make amends. And then Austin goes to him. He’s like, “dude, you need to apologize.” So people come to apologize, and I go, “Sifu, just crack a coconut open for me, and then we’ll be good.”

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He was mad that Austin was looking for an idol, so he was like, “Oh, that means it’s time to attack him”?

He made it seem like, “Oh, [Austin’s] playing the game hard,” but Sifu was planting fake idols and getting up super early in the morning and always by himself. He was playing harder. You know what I mean? So that pissed me off. And then when I said the whole spying thing, he didn’t admit to it. He just lied and said that he wasn’t. I was like, no, you were. It was just really funny.

For so many episodes, Reba was convinced that Sifu did have an idol. What happened to convince you of that? Because to a viewer, it was clear that he didn’t.

That was a lot of me thinking that he had an idol because Sifu was always the first one up. This was even before we found the clue to the hidden immunity idol — well, before Austin found the clue, and then the whole hammer thing, Sifu was always the first one up. He also planted a fake idol that Julie found, and Julie ended up showing it to me, and I was like, that’s so fake. This didn’t make the edit, but that’s so fake. He was always playing hard. So we’re like, this guy has to have an idol and nobody has found it yet. And the hammer and that idol was found right before the swap. So at that point, we thought he had an idol because nobody else had found it.

But then after, for some reason in my head, I still thought he had an idol because I’m like, there’s no way you can trust the new era. I’d rather play on defense knowing that he may or may not have an idol and playing the game as if he did than he didn’t. That was just my way of playing the game, which obviously looking back, I see why it wasn’t clear, because obviously why would he have the idol if we literally helped Austin get it? But I was just playing defense. What if there’s multiple idols, not just one? And then I guess it never really came back up. Obviously, he got voted out, so it didn’t end up mattering to the storyline.

The jury doubted whether you and Austin would be able to go for each other in the final pitches. I was so happy that you did.

We had that conversation. Obviously they didn’t show it, but when we were eating breakfast, we had a conversation and I was like, “I don’t want you to take it easy on me.” And he did the same for me. Whoever wins. We’ll be happy for the other. We looked at each other and were like, no matter what, go at it hard. I want this to be earned, not given. Earned. And it was that! We went at it. It doesn’t matter what showmance was there, we’re going at it.

The Survivor 45 Final Three: Jake O’Kane, Dee Valladares, and Austin Li Coon (Chuck Snyder/CBS)

I think the moment that you won was when you revealed that you did tell Julie what Austin told you and the snowball effect of moves you played after. I spoke with Austin earlier, and he said that actually happened earlier in the pitches, but in the final edit, it happened at the end. Can you give me a timeline of this?

I don’t know the exact timeline, but this final Tribal went on for a long time. I think we got back at like 4:00 AM. It didn’t happen too early on. It wasn’t the main thing because the jury, the questions were a little bit mixed. I was waiting for Austin to bring that up, and that’s when I was like, all right, I’m going to go for it. But yeah, it did happen in the beginning of it, not necessarily towards the end, which is crazy.

Yeah, that was the moment [she won]. It hurt to watch. I knew that he didn’t know. So to tell him, “I’m so sorry, I lied to you” — in that moment, final Tribal, these are high emotions, high intensity. It’s hard. And so I have so much respect for anyone who has ever made it to Final Three, no matter the outcome. To plead your case to the jury is not easy. These people are looking at you. They want to eat you alive. You tore their dream apart. I love them, they’re all amazing. But it’s hard to articulate your words. It’s hard to make sure that they feel you and make sure that you’re winning against these two people sitting next to you. It’s a hard game.

What I loved most about you not warning Austin about the Drew blindside is, in the episode before, Austin was in the same scenario, and it went the other way. When you had the same opportunity, seeing him make such a big mistake and you not doing the same, I was like, “Oh, she’s going to win because of this.” You said this in a confessional in the episode, but how aware of that similarity were you in the moment? Did it inform your decision not to tell Austin?

I knew that Austin telling me that was a mistake because of what I did. You told me that you’re voting on my No. 1, I’m going to go to war to save my No. 1. So him telling me was actually helping me. I don’t know if I would’ve had the roles been changed.

I actually contemplated telling him about Drew [the blindside against him] all day. All freaking day, I contemplated. I’m like, we’re starting to get to the end, and I’m thinking about post-show. I’m thinking, is he going to think that I’m a liar? So I was very aware that what he did was wrong because of the way that it ended. I was able to make the move because he told me. Otherwise, I would’ve been completely blindsided. And then I knew that I couldn’t tell him, because he would go in and save his No. 1.

Dee Valladares and Julie Alley in Survivor 45 Episode 7 (Robert Voets/CBS)

For much of the season, you said that both Julie and Austin were your No. 1s. But was one of them your true No. 1? Was it Julie?

I’ve never been good at math. [Laughs] They were both my No. 1s. I don’t have kids, but I do have dogs. I have three. And you ask me who I love most, I can’t tell you an answer. I love them all the same. I can’t give you one, because they were both equally my No. 1s. And I was going to do everything in my power to go to bat for them — to my demise, to be honest. If there’s any two people that could have blindsided me in that game, it’s both of them.

Well, not to your demise, because you won, but it was a risk.

It was a huge risk, a huge risk, to the point that I was blinded by them, for sure.

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How do you think that the risk paid off for you? What do you think was the secret sauce of your strategy?

The Reba Four alliance, 100 percent. We would not sleep. We would get up every single night and strategize. And I feel like the audience didn’t see that, because if not, it would be too obvious.

Julie was just telling me about that.

[The Reba Four would wake up] every single night at 2, 3 a.m. And nobody ever caught us. We’d even steal the extra papaya and cut it up for us; it was a lot of fun. But yeah, I think my social game really helped. Having [Julie and Austin] as my No. 1s really helped because I knew for a fact that they wouldn’t write my name down. You’re never 100 percent sure on Survivor, but I was 98 percent sure, just like I wasn’t going to do it for them. So I think that was essential in my game.

Other than yourself, who in this cast would you want to see return in an all-star season?

I’m going to go with Kaleb [Gebrewold]. And the reason being is because he just has an aura about him. I feel like if he just doubled down on that social, I think if he had maybe a better alliance, he could really win this game. I would love to see Kaleb play, because as a fan, I was mad at myself for voting him out. I’m like, “I can’t believe I’m not going to see Kaleb on the screen anymore.” He’s such a good conversationist. He’s good in confessionals. He’s funny. He’s awesome. I would love to see him play again as a fan. I’d love to watch him.

To wrap up, it’s so rare that alliances stay so strong for an entire game the way that it did with the Reba Four. Players plan for their alliance to remain strong until it’s time to take each other out, but it rarely actually plays out that way. Were you aware of how well it was working in the game and thinking, “Oh, this is going to be a good season”?

No. I honestly was just so in tune with the game, I did not think about what our season was looking like. I was just thinking about winning, to be honest. We had had a conversation, the four of us – it wasn’t shown — very early on. It was like, hey, let’s stick together and then we’ll get to a point that we’ll go against each other, but we’re still going to respect it, and we’re going to still be friends after this ends. And that’s exactly what happened. We took each other out, which, that’s amazing. What else would we want? It was sad, though. We knew at one point it was getting heavy, and we’d have multiple conversations of like, oh, we’re getting close to that moment.

Survivor, Season 46 Premiere, Wednesday, February 28, 2024, CBS