With her kind smile, strong physique, and spunky personality, it’s no wonder that Dee Valladares from Survivor 45 has caught your attention.
Serving as a key member of the Reba tribe, finding herself in the majority alliance alongside Julie Alley, Drew Basile, and Austin Li Coon (excluding only J. Maya and Sifu Alsup), the “wildly enthusiastic, empathetic, and fiery” castaway has proven time and time again that she came to play, ready to take home $1 million and the title of “Sole Survivor” when day 26 rolls around.
While Dee has quickly become a fan favorite, viewers of the hit competition show have not gotten a glimpse into her life beyond the beach just yet — fortunately, we got you covered…
Keep scrolling to find out everything you need to know about Dee Valladares, from her age, to her career highlights, to her hometown, and beyond.
Where Dee Valladares from Survivor 45 from?
For starters, Dee currently resides in Miami, Florida, however, she was born and raised in Havana, Cuba. In an exclusive interview with Parade, Dee revealed that being in Mamanuca Islands, Fiji to film Survivor 45 reminds her a lot of home:
“I feel like I’m at home here, you know? It’s the humidity, the palm trees, the water. I love being next to the ocean. To me, it’s like a meditation. Like, it’s my form of meditation, working out and being next to the water, so that’s how I’m thriving. Yeah, I feel good here.”
Given her Latina roots, Dee has drawn quite a few similarities to Survivor legend Sandra Diaz-Twine, gushing about how she aspires to play a similar game to her:
“I love Sandra. She’s Puerto Rican [and] I’m Cuban. She has a little hustle and a little feistiness in her. She also has an ‘I don’t give a s**t’ attitude, which I love and I need to get better at. Looking at that thing about her, I’m like ‘Damn, I want that.’ I see that a little bit in me, but I have to tweak it a little bit.”
Overall, Dee has shared on numerous occasions that she is proud to represent Cuba on Survivor 45, hoping to be yet another Latina winner for the Survivor history books.
How old is Dee Valladares from Survivor 45?
We knew Dee was on the younger side of the Survivor 45 castaways, but we did not know she was that young!
As of October 2, 2023, Dee is 27 years old, and celebrated her 27th birthday with an oh-so sexy Instagram post on a yacht.
“Season 27, Episode 1,” she captioned the bikini pic, garnering some birthday wishes from a few Survivor alums, including Heidi Lagares Greenblatt of Survivor 44, Omar Ahmad Zaheer of Survivor 42, and more.
Where did Dee Valladares from Survivor 45 go to school?
Contrary to popular belief, Dee did not receive her Bachelor’s Degree, despite receiving her Associate’s Degree at Miami Dade College in 2017. She shared the news with Entertainment Weekly in her official bio for Survivor 45:
“I am not a college graduate. Five years later, and my family 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!”
There you have it, folks! Even though she attended Florida International University from 2017 to 2018, she technically is not a college graduate — how wild is that?
What does Dee Valladares from Survivor 45 do for work?
To top it all off, Dee is a true girlboss! Starting her own business at just 23 years old, a backpack company called Wanaroam, the 27-year-old feels as though that experience prepared her to play Survivor. In the same interview with Parade, she dished about the experience:
“I’ve dabbled in a lot of different things growing up. I went to school for psychology, but then I found out they didn’t make much money, so I’m like, ‘I gotta do something else.’ I did retail sales my entire life, then I went into pharmaceutical sales, then I went into tech sales, and then I started my own business, my own backpack company, because I love to travel.”
“I’ve learned a lot about myself and how to be a better business partner… How I say things, how I approach things, [and] what I like in somebody else to tell me how to do things. When you’re in a partnership, you’ve gotta be on the same page all the time. You have to have the same vision [and] be on the same page, and then you can have disagreements. It’s taught me how to not take things personally. Nothing is ever personal.”
“I’ve just learned how to connect with people. I feel like I’ve already had that innately, but just learning how to sell this backpack that we have. How can we sell this to people? How can we use our story to get it out there and sell? Once we do sell it, how can we make them appreciate the fact that they spent their hard-earned money on our product? So, it’s a lot of little things that I would say that definitely prepared me to be here on Survivor.”
While working in sales will likely help her with her overall social game on Survivor 45 (much like we’ve seen with Kaleb Gebrewold so far), Dee plans to keep her work history to herself during her time on the beach:
“It’s something that I don’t plan on telling people that I’ve done in the past. I’m just gonna say that I have my backpack company, because it is not a lie, but anytime you hear the word ‘sales’ or ‘sell,’ people just automatically turn off, and I don’t want that to happen. I think, in life in general, you’re just selling yourself at every opportunity, so that’s how I’m gonna play the game. Just gonna sell myself.”
To see how the rest Dee’s journey unfolds on Survivor 45, tune into CBS every Wednesday at 8pm ET/PT — this season is sure to be one for the books!