Dee Valladares

After building strong relationships with her Reba tribemates and engineering the impenetrable Reba Four alliance, Dee exercised a vice grip over the game which was met with little resistance, even as her rivals began to wise up to her well-rounded gameplay. Marching to the end with her primary ally Julie Alley and her showmance Austin Li Coon, Dee reached the Final Tribal Council having played a conservative but dominant game. Her strong social, strategic, and physical prowess commanded the respect of the jury, which rewarded her with the title of Sole Survivor over Austin and Jake O'Kane.

Profile[]

Retrieved from EW.com

Age: 26
Hometown: Havana, Cuba
Current Residence: Miami, FL
Occupation: Entrepreneur
3 Words to Describe You: Fiery, wildly enthusiastic, empathetic.
Why do you want to be part of Survivor? I can't just give one answer. First and foremost, I want my family to be set. My parents left their familiarity behind in Cuba so that I can fulfill my dreams. Secondly, I want to live a rare life surrounded by rare individuals and I can't do that unless I place myself in situations where I don't belong — like here. Finally, I want that immigrant kid watching the show to know that the mind is powerful beyond measure. You can do more than you think you can.
What's one life experience you feel has prepared you for the game? Starting my business at 23. I've learned how to turn an idea into reality, how to navigate hardships when finances were uncertain, and how to become a better business partner. This will help me in the strategic/social aspect of the game.
Which previous player do you identify with the most? Who do you think you will play most like? I identify the most with Jesse. His why and my why are the exact same: Family above all else. I feel like I will play the game like Tony. Dude was a lot of fun to watch and was the ultimate persuader.
What will you value in an alliance partner? Someone who sticks to their word. In a game where deceit is inevitable, staying true to their word will get us further along. No one gets to the end by themselves anyway. Also, someone who is having fun! We're all stuck together on an island, why not have fun??
Favorite Hobbies: CrossFit (don't judge), running, traveling, anything outdoors, spending time with fam, anything that gets my heart racing.
Pet Peeves: Bad tippers, road ragers, constantly being late, [and] injustice to kids, old people or dogs.
What is the accomplishment you are most proud of? Running and completing my first full marathon when, prior to signing up, I had only ever run three miles. 26.3 miles scared the s--- out of me, so I put it on my calendar and figured out the "how" along the way.
What is something we would never know from looking at you? I am not a college graduate. Five years later and my fam still thinks I have my Bachelors. Whoops! Technically, in my head, I did graduate because I shook the [school] president's hand. Six months into waiting for my diploma, I found out I failed a class by one letter grade. Surprise, mom!
Who in your life is your biggest inspiration and why? My dad. He is my perfect example of not needing materialistic items to be happy. And I think I've only ever seen him mad three times!
Why will you be the Sole Survivor? It's already happened in my mind daily. I'm going to be the person out there who doesn't quit, and most importantly, the person who cares the most.^[3]

Survivor[]

Dee started the game on the red Reba tribe, where she immediately connected with tribemate Julie Alley to form a tight duo. They also aligned with another duo, Drew Basile and Austin Li Coon, to form a four-person majority on their tribe, creating what would become the dominant Reba Four alliance. After Austin found the Beware Advantage on Day 2, all four members worked together to successfully find the idol. Thanks to their dominance in challenges, and the struggles of the yellow Lulu tribe, Reba did not attend Tribal Council at all during the pre-swap portion of the game.

After the tribe switch on Day 8, Dee remained on Reba along with her closest ally Julie and two other Reba members, J. Maya and Sifu Alsup; they were joined by one former Lulu member, Sean Edwards. Even though it seemed like Sean was on the outs, J. Maya concocted a plan to pull him in and work with Julie and Dee to blindside Sifu, whom she believed held the Reba idol. When Reba lost the Immunity Challenge on Day 9, the plan was set into action. While Sifu believed that the target was Sean, everyone else knew that the real target was Sifu. However, at Tribal Council, Sean unexpectedly asked to be voted out of the game. While Sifu, Julie, and J. Maya honored his request, Dee stuck with the original plan and voted against Sifu. In the end, Sean was voted out 3-1-1, with Sean putting his vote on Dee. Back at camp, Sifu questioned the women on who voted for him, and Dee denied writing his name down. Both Julie and J. Maya did as well, and they put the blame on Sean. However, eventually J. Maya decided to take the blame for it, even though she did not write his name down. Reba then proceeded to win the next Immunity Challenge, and Dee made it to the individual phase of the game.

During the Earn the Merge challenge, Dee was placed on the Red Team, which ended up losing the challenge. Back at camp, the original target for the vote was J. Maya, due to the Reba Four viewing her as untrustworthy and likely to flip. However, thanks to lobbying by Bruce Perreault and Kendra McQuarrie, the target was shifted to Kaleb Gebrewold, one of the two original Lulu members left in the game. Everyone seemed to have reached a consensus; however, Kaleb's closest ally and the only other Lulu left, Emily Flippen, warned him about the vote and told him to play his Shot in the Dark. At Tribal Council, Dee joined the rest of the tribe in voting for Kaleb. However, he successfully played his Shot in the Dark, negating all 11 votes that he received and forcing a vote restart. The target immediately shifted back to J. Maya, who desperately tried lobbying people to vote for Emily. In the end, Dee once again joined the majority in unanimously voting out J. Maya, 10-1.

At the next Immunity Challenge, the players learned that they would once again be split into two groups for a Double Elimination. Each tribe would have one individual Immunity Challenge winner, and the player that outlasted everyone else would win the right for their tribe to go to Tribal Council second such that the first person voted out would not be on the jury. Dee was put on the red team alongside her allies Austin and Julie, as well as Kaleb, Katurah Topps, and Jake O'Kane. Dee went on to not only win immunity, but also outlast the other team to guarantee her team members passage to the jury phase. Back at camp, Dee put her power to use by establishing Kaleb as the target immediately. Meanwhile, Jake and Kaleb attempted to pull in Katurah and try to force a tie by voting for Julie. In the end, Katurah sided with the Rebas to vote out Kaleb, 4-2.

When the tribe was reunited, the six remaining women (Dee, Julie, Katurah, Kendra, Emily, and Kellie Nalbandian) discussed targeting the four remaining men. That morning, the Dakuwaqa tribe had a mini-challenge to collect the most money for the return of the Survivor Auction. Dee ended up with $900, the most of her tribe. However, a twist at the auction stipulating that the player with the most money left over would lose their vote at the next Tribal Council caused her to spend it all almost immediately on a milkshake. After the auction, Bruce lost his vote and became the obvious target for everyone. However, at the Immunity Challenge, he managed to win, sending their plan up in flames. Jake was immediately offered up as the vote, but Drew pulled together his Reba Four, with Emily, in the hopes of blindsiding Kellie. This would benefit them by taking out one of their biggest threats in opposition to them, as well as upgrading Austin's Advantage Amulet to a full idol. In the end, their plan came to fruition when a devastated Kellie was sent home by a 5-3 vote. After Tribal Council, sights were once again set on Bruce, whom everyone knew had an idol which he was likely to play if he lost immunity. However, he won the next individual Immunity Challenge, frustrating Dee's plans once again and prompting her to target Kendra as an alternative. She succeeded in leading the charge against Kendra, who was blindsided in a 6-1 vote.

Entering the final eight, everyone had their eyes on Bruce, who had won two Immunity Challenges in a row and was holding an idol. When Bruce finally lost the next Immunity Challenge to Austin, he became an open target. All of them believed that he would play his idol, so they split the votes between him and Jake as a precaution. However, Emily convinced Bruce that they, alongside Jake and Katurah, were going to blindside Julie; this placated Bruce enough to hold on to his idol, sealing his blindside in a 4-3-1 vote.

Back at camp, Emily took full ownership of the move immediately, causing a lot of the eyes to turn towards her. At this point, Dee's relationship with Austin began to develop into a showmance. This would affect the next vote, as after Drew won immunity, he decided it was time to turn on the Reba Four and blindside Julie, whom everyone believed was a big jury threat due to her motherly personality. Drew pulled in Austin, Katurah, Jake, and Emily to blindside Julie. However, despite everyone making it abundantly clear that Dee could not know about the plan due to her close relationship with Julie, Austin valued his relationship with her more and chose to share the information. Dee divulged the information to Julie in response, letting her know to play the idol she received from Austin earlier in the game and vote out Emily, whom they viewed as a big threat to their games and their relationships with Drew and Austin. Julie initially wanted to vote out Austin for trying to betray her, however Dee pulled her back to vote out Emily. Dee ended up voting for Julie at Tribal Council with the understanding that Julie would play her idol and send Emily packing with one vote against her. After the vote, Dee denied telling Julie about the votes heading her way, and Austin fell for it. At the final six, Dee won her second Immunity Challenge, outlasting Austin to claim her spot in the final five. Austin and Drew continued to target Julie, and believed that they had the numbers with Jake and Katurah. However, they were plotting to vote Drew. They pulled in Julie and Dee, and Dee did not reciprocate Austin's honesty, as she chose to keep the Drew vote a secret. This caused Austin to misplay his idol on himself, while Drew got sent home 4-2.

At the start of the finale, Dee and Austin's relationship continued to grow and develop despite her dishonesty. With only five people left, Dee and Austin originally targeted Jake; however, upon learning that he had an idol, they switched their target to Katurah. Austin later approached Dee about voting out Julie; she expressed her refusal towards the idea, but gave him her blessing to do as he wished. Katurah, meanwhile, formed a plan with Jake to vote out Dee, who they viewed as the biggest threat at this point of the game. Julie still wanted to target Jake due to him being against her from the beginning. At Tribal Council, Katurah ultimately decided not to go through with the plan to blindside Dee, and switched her vote to Julie at the last minute as she found Jake too untrustworthy. Unaware of her betrayal, Jake played his idol on Katurah, negating Dee's vote against her. However, due to the many plans going on, Julie ended up being sent home in a 2-1-1-0 vote, with Jake voting Dee, Julie voting Jake, and Austin and Katurah voting Julie. At the final four, Katurah's prediction that Dee would win the Immunity Challenge came true when she cruised to a victory, guaranteeing herself a seat at Final Tribal Council. Respecting Jake's wish to prove himself in the fire-making challenge, Dee chose to bring Austin with her to the Final Three, and nominate Jake and Katurah to face off to determine the third finalist. In the end, Jake beat Katurah to join Dee and Austin in the Final Three.

At Final Tribal Council, Dee explained to the jury her very social game and how she made relationships with a lot of the cast, which led them to give her valuable information that she used to make it to the Final Three. She emphasized how she was out on Survivor to support her family, and take care of her parents who worked so hard for her. In the end, it garnered her the five votes of Emily, Julie, Katurah, Kaleb, and Kellie, giving her the $1,000,000 and the title of Sole Survivor.

Post-Survivor[]

• Dee was the co-host on the On Fire with Jeff Probst podcast for Survivor 46.^[4]
• In 2024, Dee appeared in a promotion for the thriller film, A Quiet Place: Day One.

Trivia[]

• Dee is the first woman, and the third castaway overall, to win the Final Immunity Challenge after the format change in Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers and become the Sole Survivor.
• Dee is the fourth Latin American winner, following Sandra Diaz-Twine, Chris Underwood, and Yam Yam Arocho.
• Dee is the first Sole Survivor since Tony Vlachos not to win by a 7-1-0 vote.
• Dee won the most individual Immunity Challenges out of anyone on Survivor 45, with three wins.

References[]

Preceded by Survivor 44 Yam Yam Arocho

Sole Survivor Titleholder Survivor 45 Dee Valladares

Succeeded by Survivor 46 Kenzie Petty

Survivor 45 Castaways
Austin Reba	Brando Belo	Brandon Lulu	Bruce Belo	Dee Reba	Drew Reba	Emily Lulu	Hannah Lulu	J. Maya Reba
Jake Belo	Julie Reba	Kaleb Lulu	Katurah Belo	Kellie Belo	Kendra Belo	Sabiyah Lulu	Sean Lulu	Sifu Reba