‘Survivor 50’ debrief: Dee Valladares on the unseen moment with Rizo that had her ‘crying like a little baby’
‘Survivor 50’ debrief: Dee Valladares on the unseen moment with Rizo that had her ‘crying like a little baby’
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Welcome to Reality Derby, Gold Derby’s deep dive into all things reality TV, hosted by senior editors Marcus James Dixon and Denton Davidson. Watch the latest episode above.
Survivor can change on a dime. One week after Dee Valladares won the immunity necklace — the fourth of her career — she was eliminated by the majority of her 14-person merged tribe. Her downfall? Spilling the beans about Rizo Velovic’s hidden idol to Emily Flippen and others, proving Dee couldn’t be trusted. Despite the Survivor 45 winner’s last-ditch effort to try to flip the vote onto Benjamin “Coach” Wade, she became the 11th person to leave Survivor 50.
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“I was trying to take in every moment from that experience,” Dee tells us about her first-ever torch snuff. “Like, I want to look at Jeff [Probst], I want to look at my torch. Obviously, it’s sad. I got teary-eyed because it’s a game that I love so much. I wasn’t going to experience whatever else they had planned for 50, and it’s the biggest season. But I was OK with the fact that I finally got to eat!”
The first thing she ate was a hamburger. “They ask you to put in your order on the boat ride back,” Dee reveals. “They’re like, ‘What do you want?’ You can ask for anything! I’m like, I want a burger. I had a drink. And it was pretty fun because I’m the first one there. I’m talking to the handlers, and I got to be a normal person.”
She takes her duty as a juror seriously, explaining, “I was ready to be at Ponderosa, but not just that, I was OK with the fact that I knew I had an expiration date. Now my story for 50 was to impact somebody else’s life, and to vote for someone to win. That really excites me.” She adds, “I get to see every blow-up that comes after me. I get to watch and observe. I love to witness drama!”
Speaking of drama, Dee’s public clash with Jonathan Young was part of the reason she was eliminated. “Here’s the thing: Jonathan and I were in a sour patch. From my perspective, I really wanted to play with Jonathan from the get-go, but I never felt the vibe that he was with me. Watching it back, my feelings were valid — he wanted me out on Episode 1. I knew [he and Chrissy Hofbeck] wanted me out, so it was just a matter of who was gonna get who first.”
Most eliminated Survivor players are not willing to admit mistakes, but Dee confesses she never should have spilled the beans about Rizo’s idol. “I do regret it, I really do,” she confirms. “I pride myself in keeping secrets. I played on 45 with four allies that I never would have spilled the beans, even at the detriment of my game.”
She continues, “The moment that Rizo and I clicked, it was a little brother vibe, and it felt like I needed to look after him. He’s kind of dismantled. He’s just coming from 49 and he was sick. He had to see a doctor — that wasn’t shown. He was disappearing in front of my eyes and I’m like, I can’t believe I just screwed him over. He’s trying to build his own legacy and his own story on Survivor, and I feel like I already did that.”
Something that wasn’t shown on TV was Dee and Rizo having a heart-to-heart after she lied to him. “I did sit down with Rizo and I said, ‘I know you know I’m lying, so I just want to say I’m really sorry,'” she says. “I was crying like a little baby. I’m like, ‘I’m so sorry.’ If I know I’m already going to go home, there’s no reason for me to screw you over.”
Also in our exclusive interview, Dee talks about her friend’s reaction when she didn’t vote out Cirie Fields as planned, her opinion on Coach pulling Rizo into his “Four Horsemen” alliance as a replacement for Colby Donaldson, and her personal highlight in the game — besides winning the immunity necklace.
Only 13 players remain on the island. Tune in every Wednesday on CBS to see who’s voted out next on Survivor 50.
