Survivor 50's Dee Valladares Wants To Follow In Tony And Sandra's Footsteps, Says '49' Players Are 'A Little Bit Scary'

The following interview was conducted on location in Fiji before filming began for "Survivor 50."

Move over, "Survivor 50" hopefuls. We've got a winner coming through! 

Dee Valladares is no stranger to the sand. In "Survivor 45," she dominated the season with a well-rounded display of strategy, social prowess, and challenge wins to secure herself a spot at Final Tribal and the million-dollar grand prize. Now, she hopes to run it all back and become the third two-time winner when "Survivor 50" premieres Wednesday, February 25 at 8/7c on CBS. 

In our pre-game interview below, Dee talks to TVLine about potentially working with other winners, whether the new era contestants have an advantage, and the one thing she hopes the players get from the online fan vote.

TVLINE | You've already won, what the heck are you doing back so soon?
DEE VALLADARES | Because I'm trying to win again, dude! [Laughs] What do you mean? It's been done by Sandra, it's been done by Tony, so I think it can happen again.

TVLINE | How are you feeling about the other winner that's here? Would you maybe want to work with other winners this season?
Well, I know for a fact Kyle's a winner. Then there's two people from "49," so that tells me one of two has to be a winner, but I'm looking forward to working with them. I've met Kyle before briefly, but I don't know him deeply. I think we have a bond that other people don't have or will never understand so I'm looking forward to that. And I like Kyle. I wanna align with him. I don't see him as a winner. I see him as Kyle, and if I align with you and I like you as a person, I don't care if you're a winner, second place, third place, first boot, I couldn't care less about what you are, so I'm looking forward to it.

TVLINE | Now, clearly you won so you did a lot of things right, but is there anything you would change from your first game?
Obviously I won, so I wouldn't change many things, [but] I do think that this season, I want to put in a lot more effort into getting to know every single person that I play with and that's because everyone's gonna be part of the jury, most likely, so I wanna make sure that I establish genuine relationships with them even if we're not working together. So even if someone's not aligned with me, I want to make sure that they know Dee for Dee, and I know them for all that they are and their family and just getting to know people a lot more deeply.

TVLINE | How big is your target level and what are you going to do to diminish that?
Dude, my target level is at an all-time high because I'm a winner, because I did the ["On Fire"] podcast with Jeff. I think people are just going to want to take me the hell out right away but, I'm not worried honestly. I think that everyone here is a huge target. Yes, I'm a target because I'm a winner, but who f–king cares. Come up with other reasons to take me out because that's not gonna be good enough for me.

TVLINE | You have a familiar face from your season here with you in Emily Flippen. Tell me a little bit about that relationship and how you see that shaking out?
Yes, Emily, I love her, that's my girl, but I am a little bit nervous to play with her, I can't lie. Only nervous up until a certain point, because if she's on my tribe, I'm gonna do everything I can to protect her because that's my real-life friend and if I don't win "50," I want Emily to win "50." I'm the reason why she was out on "45," but she's also the reason why I won my season. She voted for me to win when she could have very well voted for anyone else, so I'm looking forward to it. It's gonna be fun, but at the same time, I'm a little bit nervous because I'm blinded by her because I love her. [Laughs] And dude, she's a good liar. When you get to know her, oh, that girl's awesome so I'm looking forward to play with her. I think we'll have a lot of fun.

TVLINE | Aside from Emily, who are you most excited to see out here?
Well, I'm excited to play with the old era. I'm excited to play with Cirie, Mike White... I wanna know what the hell he's doing here. He doesn't need the money, but I think that just goes to show that he's passionate about the game and he's here to have fun. Coach. Every time I look at him I laugh and we haven't even started playing. I'm excited to meet Jenna too. Season 1, right? That's insane. A lot of old era people I'm excited for.

I think I'm more excited to play with old era than new era because the new era, I think, might be a little bit more cutthroat, just use you for one vote, get you out the next, which is fine by me. That's what I'm trying to do, too. Who else am I excited to play with? Q, surprisingly! I'm excited to see how he is out there because when I watched his season, I feel like I like him as a person, but would hate him as a player, so I'm kind of excited to see how it is to play with him — [he'll] keep me on my toes!

TVLINE | Who needs to be the first boot?
The first boot! Oh my god, let me think. So, I'm not sure how I feel about Rick Devens or Aubry. I think they should be the first boots, but I think Rick more so because he was on the podcast with Jeff and I don't know, he's just like, smirking at everyone and I don't like that. It's already pissing me off and also, because I wanna be the only podcaster left. [Laughs] So I think he has to be the first boot or Aubry, just because she's not looking anyone in the eyes and that's a little scary.

TVLINE | About that, you're on lockdown currently, so you're not allowed to speak to anyone yet. Who are you getting good or bad vibes from?
The vibes are high, let me tell you! I think everyone's ready to play already. We've been on lockdown for a few days, so there's this fire inside us that's ready to just burst. I get a really good vibe from Joe. It could also be that I just watched [his] season, [he] seems like a really good dude. I definitely wanna keep him around because he's a loyal player who, once you get him early, he might not cut you. Great vibes from Kyle, great vibes from Jenna. Who else am I getting good vibes from? Ozzy. He just seems so chill, which might be a problem because if you're too chill, everyone might love you. Great vibes from Cirie also.

TVLINE | Is there anyone not here that you were expecting to see?
I was expecting Yam Yam. Yeah, I would have thought he would have been here because he's a great winner and has an even better personality, so I was expecting to see him out here. It's kind of sad my fellow Latino isn't here on the island, but everything happens for a reason. I hope he's back for another season.

TVLINE | Did you vote in the fan vote at all?
I did not vote in the fan vote. I should have!

TVLINE | Is there any particular category you hope goes a certain way?
Give us rice, please! That's the only thing I care about! [Laughs] Everything else I could deal with the punches, but also, not too much on advantages, because as a player, sometimes I can't keep up so I know for a fact that the fans can't keep up. But I do still hope that we have idols in the game.

TVLINE | Speaking of advantages, do the new era players have an advantage over some who might not have played in a while?
Absolutely. The new school players have an advantage in this game and I think it's because we're the most recent players. We've been to Fiji. The life experiences between the seasons that we've played, a lot can happen for me, for example, in two years, but some of these players, it's been 10+ years since they've been back in Fiji. They've had a lot more life experiences and they're not as capable of adjusting to this craziness of the new era, or even just being dirty and not eating for two weeks and everything that "Survivor" has to offer. But I think the new players are a lot quicker on their feet and I don't think the old era players are going to be able to handle that. Or maybe they will! Who knows?

TVLINE | What other elements of the game are you most or least excited for?
I'm excited for the challenges because I know they're gonna be bigger and better than any other season and there's a lot of muscular dudes on this cast, which I love because the more they're there, the more targets there are ahead of me. We're gonna have to get them out because if not, they're gonna win every challenge, and I think that's way more of a threat than I am. That's what I'm gonna tell them, but... [Laughs]

TVLINE | If you could pick three allies right now just based on your early game gut feelings, who would they be?
Three people I could just stick to would be Emily, Kyle and, who else? Mike. I gotta put Mike in there because you know he's here for the vibes, so I wanna laugh and I know he's funny as well, so I think those would be my three people.

TVLINE | There are a couple individuals here who we don't know anything about! What are your thoughts about having two Season 49 players in this game? [This interview was conducted before Season 49 aired.]
There are two people from Season 49 that are on "50," which is a little bit scary because it could go two ways. 1) It's an advantage for them because no one knows how they played and they could do whatever they want. They can adjust their mistakes. No one knows about them and people will be OK with it. Or 2) they're gonna be the first boots in either tribe, and that is because we haven't watched them play. Also, Kyle and myself are the only winners confirmed, so one of two, in my opinion, has to be a winner, so it's gonna be interesting to see what truth or lie they come up with, but yeah. I don't want them on "50." I think they just got back from Fiji. They need time to decompress. Go back home. I don't wanna play with you. I don't know who you are, and familiarity breeds trust, so... Even though I haven't played with some of the old school people or even some people in the new era, there's still some sort of familiarity in there just because we've all watched each other, right? We all have a perception of each other except those two people from "49," so they gotta go.

TVLINE | You've been on "The Challenge," now you're back here for "Survivor 50." What show might you tackle next?
You know what? I'm not sure if I want to, at least this year, do any more reality TV. I think I've had my fair share of fun, but I don't want that to be my career. I think I'll look forward to maybe hosting some things or public speaking or I don't know, maybe being in some sort of production in another show. I really like that aspect of it and, even when I watch "Survivor," sometimes I can't get myself to watch as a fan. I have to watch [like], "Oh, I like that they asked them this question," or "Oh, this is why they're telling this story because they're building up this character." All of that just fascinates me, so I think I'm gonna chill on the reality TV shows for a little bit for now because I also want to spend some time at home with my family and my loved ones, and when you do stuff back to back, I just don't want that to be my lifestyle right now.

TVLINE | Is this an exclusive scoop? Are you announcing your retirement from reality TV here and now?
I am announcing my retirement for 2025! [Laughs]

TVLINE | What's the anticipation like as you wait for this season to begin?
First of all, this is a great cast. Everyone here wants it and you can feel it. Coach makes me laugh because he's always kind of doing this. [She puts her hands on her knees and rotates her knees] Literally, all day. That's all Coach does, so I already know this man is not ready for the physical aspect of this game. [Laughs] Colby is an interesting one because at the airport coming to Fiji, he took the stairs instead of the escalator. Emily was at the front and she looked back at me and she started cracking up because on our season, Kendra took the stairs instead of the escalator and Hannah called her a pick-me, and I just thought that was hilarious, so basically Colby's doing just that and then he sits in the back of the rooms or wherever we're sitting, he sits in the back like, "Dude, it's fine, you can sit in the front," you know what I mean? You could be an alpha in the real world, but on "Survivor," I don't know. I think it's just giving vibes of "not easy to work with" or "what I say goes." Hopefully it's not the case.

TVLINE | If you could have had one more player from "45" here with you, who would that be?
Oh man, you're putting me in a bad position asking me who I would want from Season 45 here with me. My initial reaction is Julie because that's my ride-or-die and we played this game together from beginning to end, but I'm not gonna pick her. I'm gonna pick Kelly and that's because I think Kelly. We're kind of the same archetype and she really wanted it so badly, so it would be great to watch her play because she's so freaking smart and she loves the game and is passionate about "Survivor," so I would pick her.