Survivor 50's Latest Boot Reveals What We Didn't See During That Spicy Camp Fight

Spoilers ahead for Episode 7 of "Survivor 50!"

All of the former winners have left the building.

In Wednesday's "Survivor," the you-know-what hit the fan after Jonathan got testy with Dee following Kamilla's vote-out. Seemingly still holding a grudge for being left out of the Charlie elimination, Jonathan and Coach let loose on the "Survivor 45" winner, who fought back against allegations that she was the only one spreading lies and misinformation around camp. After losing the immunity challenge to Ozzy, Dee's options were running out, and not even a live Tribal Council could give her the leverage she needed to change the vote to Coach. Her game went up in flames in an 8-4-1 vote. (Read our full recap here.) 

Below, Dee details what we didn't see in that explosive argument, and breaks down her relationship with Emily, living with Coach's antics, and so much more. 

TVLINE | First time your torch was snuffed, Dee. How'd that feel?
DEE VALLADARES | I was just trying to take in the moment, honestly. I really was because obviously I had never experienced that. But Nick, I'm not lying, I was happy to go to Ponderosa and have a few drinks and be treated like royalty. I was looking forward to it, but I think more so than that, now I'm part of a jury and I can finally let go and watch this game from the jury. Obviously if you go on "Survivor," you should win and you'd want to win, but to be sitting on the jury feels really good because I get to watch the game and I know that I get to vote for someone at the end. So, it was all love.

TVLINE | During the pregame, I can't even tell you how many people told me you were a huge threat to their games and you still lasted this long, so props for that. Now, Jonathan really seemed to hold a grudge from that Charlie vote. Were you aware that that was still very much top of mind for him?
Yeah. We should rewind even more [than] that because yes, he was holding a grudge from the Charlie vote, but he and I were never aligned on OG Kalo. It was evident where the lines were. He was with Coach and Chrissy, and I was with Tiff and Kamilla. We all knew that and you see in Episode 1, he's saying my name. I knew that. Everybody was telling me that on OG Kalo. So it turned into a grudge, but we were coming at each other from Day 1, you know what I mean? So it was just a matter of who was going to get who first. Let's say I decided to vote Rizo out [instead of Charlie], they were going to come for me on this vote. So I have no regrets.

TVLINE | We saw you and Jonathan going at it at camp, but what didn't we see either during that argument or around that same time, because tensions were high!
So the argument was a little bit different than what you guys saw. It basically stemmed from Jonathan and I having a conversation on the beach and he asked me if I trusted Coach and I said no. So then he went up to Coach on the hammock and said, "Dee doesn't trust you," and that's when you see me walking up to the hammock and saying, "Hey, what's up, Coach? Why do you look sad?" and then that's when it happened. They're saying I'm spreading all these lies. There was no lie I was spreading there. I think it just stemmed from OG Kalo where I had done a fashion show and all the men thought I had an advantage. So they thought I was like going around spreading lies.

What really bothered me was when I was arguing with Coach and then Jonathan gets in it. Growing up, my mom was always like, "Don't get involved in adult conversations. If you see people talking, just don't get involved." He did that and that's what p*ssed me off. And then Joe slowly coming in and it was just like a bomb in front of me of people that I didn't want to talk to. But at that point, I knew I was going home because this was right before Tribal. In my head, I'm like, "I'm just going to unleash because if I'm going to go home, I'm going to go home telling everybody what I think. Im not going to go home quietly."

TVLINE | With Kyle and Savannah out of the game, did you feel excess pressure from being the only winner left standing?
Yeah, unfortunately, and I remember Christian sat me down at the merge and was like, "I hope you don't think this is a winner massacre," and I'm like, "It is though!" But either way, in hindsight, I was gonna be gone. This was not my season. I knew I had an expiration date. I actually knew that even going in. I packed a bunch of jewelry and clothes, which is not something that I did on Season 45. Am I crazy enough to think that I can win again? Yes, absolutely, because you really never know what Jeff's gonna throw at us, but I was just trying to have as much fun as I could and play as hard as I could because there was no way that I was going to play somebody else's game.

TVLINE | On TV, Rizo seemed to be the star of Charlie's exit, but both Kamilla and Charlie have given credit to you for bringing together his vote-out. How did that all go down from your perspective, and what did you think of how it was presented?
So, here's the thing. The Charlie vote was my vote. It was just shown in the perspective of Rizo. I've gotten calls and texts. "Are you upset..." Not really, because they showed me in the hammock saying, "Rizo, let's do this with the girls, right?" Maybe in that moment, Rizo's confessionals were better than mine, right? It could be a fact, but the way that I was positioned, great. I was even saying in my confessionals, obviously they didn't show it, how they should be coming for me. This is the perfect time to come for me, but I had the two sides wanting to work with me. I had never played middle. I was going to piss somebody off anyway, so I'd rather not piss off somebody that I knew could be a potential ally in the future than Jonathan, who has been coming for me since Day 1.

I loved Rizo from the moment that we started talking strategy. We'd talk at night a lot and I immediately trusted [him], and he gave me information. Charlie hadn't been, from my perspective, a great ally by keeping things hidden from me. You're playing defense, but you're not really playing offense with me. I also didn't want to make the merge and have Jonathan, Coach, and Charlie together because in OG Kalo, they were always outwardly together, which is fine. Me, Kamilla, and Tiff were always outwardly together. But Coach was asking me, actually sat me down once and said, "Hey, I'm kind of nervous about you, Tiff, and Kamilla." And I'm like, "Well, Coach, what about you, Jonathan, and Charlie? Everyone talks to everyone." So yeah, it's really no big deal, but it was my move, it was just shown from Rizo's perspective. However, he still played a role. You saw him making his rounds. Yes, I was also making my rounds, but again, I think because I go out this episode, the storyline ends there. Whatever the reason, I don't care. I don't lose sleep over it.

TVLINE | Emily is spilling secrets left and right this season! Did you ever think she'd dog you like that?
I didn't think she would dog me like that that soon. I knew Emily would have come for me eventually. I do think it was a mistake for her to come for me that soon because I told her from the beginning, I got your back. I will give up my game for you to win. I was the reason she was voted off [in "45"], but she was also the reason why I won, one of the reasons why I won a million dollars. So to me, dude, I will serve as a shield. I will serve as your ride-or-die protector. So I was hoping that we would make a comeback, but I was in no point thinking about turning on her. Obviously, had I made it to the end again, OK, that's a different story, but no, I was more than willing to blow up my game for Emily, so it kind of hurt that it happened so early, but I knew it was eventually gonna happen.

TVLINE | Let's talk about Coach for a bit. From my couch, I'm loving all the Coach content this show is serving, but for you guys who had to live with him during those days, what was it like dealing with his shenanigans?
Look, when I watch the show, I laugh because whoever cast this man many years ago won the lotto, for sure. Playing with him was a little bit different because I think, and Emily speaks a lot better than I do. She said it perfectly. I think he thought he was playing this huge strategic and low-key game, but really it was very messy in the way that he approached people. People talk, and you're just trying to play every side and spill beans here and there, but it was fun. Sometimes it got [to be] a lot when he would tell his stories and you're just around camp and tired, but it was interesting to play with him.

TVLINE | We saw a bit of a scramble at Tribal Council with you trying to get people to change their votes to Coach. Was that a last ditch effort? Did you think you could sway them or did you know your fate was sealed?
It was funny because Coach heard me say his name. He's like, "I heard that." I'm like, "Oh s–t, my bad!" [Laughs] That was a last-minute scramble. I knew I was going home. I had known it for a few days already. So I wasn't going to go down by just talking and sitting still, right? I would at least try something because you never know. It's "Survivor 50." The moment where my ball dropped from the immunity [challenge], I knew I was going home. I could feel people staring at me, and I was OK with it because like I said, I am part of the jury now and going into "50," I didn't need to validate my feelings. I didn't need to protect the reputation. Nothing that I did on "50" was ever going to mess up what I did on "45."

If anything, I feel like a much bolder version of myself and much more carefree. It was very freeing to play a game like that. And again, it comes from a place of privilege because I won my season and not a lot of people can say that they felt like that on "50," given whatever happened on their first, second, or whatever season. But I was ready to eat. I was ready to go drink and shower. I'm like, "You know what? This is an experience I've never had." I've never experienced Ponderosa. I've never experienced the jury. Let's do this! This is awesome. Jeff comes up to you after everyone's voted off. He's like, "How are you feeling?" I'm like, "Dude, I am so good. I'm very happy to even be here." It was just a lot of gratitude.

TVLINE | Tell me why losing the Zac Brown reward was so tough on you.
Dude, first of all, my brother taught me [about] Country music and so Zac Brown is one of the first country artists that he ever taught me about. My brother knows his songs on the guitar. His music connects me to my brother, right? The thing that you guys didn't see, which was — I swear I cannot make this up — the night before the reward with Zac Brown, I asked Jonathan, "Who are your favorite Country artists?" in front of everyone. We were all there. And he asked me and I said, "Chris Stapleton, Luke Combs, Zac Brown." I literally said that the night before. Even months later, some of the producers were like, "Dude, there's no way. How did you even say that?"

So basically when Jeff was explaining it, I was like, "There's no way it's Zac Brown." But I think it just hit me because, and I said this on the island, I'm like, "Dude, I don't know much about you as a person, but I love your music and you really do change lives with your music." I think for me, I was sad to not experience that. I had already seen him in concert in 2019 with my brother, so it's not about going to one of his concerts. It's about experiencing life. Live music. The people who know me, I love going out to live jazz bars, very intimate spots, and I love music. I am the person people give their phones to, like, "Here, put on music," or "Hey, Dee, what's the latest album?" I don't keep up with TV. I don't keep up even with reality TV, but I do keep up with music and I love, love, love music. Anytime something drops, from rap to country or reggaeton, salsa, anything. So to me, it was just that experience I'm never going to be able to experience.

TVLINE | If there's another returnees season down the line, maybe even a new era all-stars, are you down for a third go at this?
I will always say yes to "Survivor." They know it. In a heartbeat. I love the game. I love the people in it, the people that run it. I will go in a heartbeat. I will be 80 years old and I'll play "Survivor" if they ask me just because I love the game. It's the best game in the world and when you get asked for an opportunity this big, there's no way you can ever say no.