'Survivor 45' Castaway Dee Valladares Has Roamed From Entrepreneur to Winner
Dee runs a business and serves as co-host for the 'On-Fire' podcast with Jeff Probst. What did she do before that?
Published Dec. 14 2023, 12:24 p.m. ET
Throughout Season 45 of Survivor, Reba player Dee Valladares maintained her hand as a dominant force in the game. Her social game was so good that she was barely a target despite being in the controlling alliance and winning multiple immunity challenges. As the season came to an end, many predicted Dee would take home the win — and they were right.
Dee was crowned the winner of Survivor 45, beating Jake O'Kane and Austin Li Coon. She was also awarded a $1 million prize.
However, before she went on Survivor 45, Dee was just a 27-year-old Cuban woman getting ready to live out her fantasy of playing (and potentially winning) Survivor. So, how will willing the $1 million prize impact her life? To know that, we need to know what Dee does for a living.
For a living, Dee Valladares owns a backpack company called Wanaroam.
Before she went on Survivor, Dee took on many roles. After graduating (kind of) from Florida International University in 2018, Dee “dabbled in a lot of different things,” according to her interview with Parade’s Mike Bloom. “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,’” she said.
“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. So it's just that niche of the travel community.”
Dee’s Instagram handle, @roamwithdee, is a nod to her backpack company, which is called Wanaroam. However, as of this writing, Dee's backpacks are sold out on the Wanaroam website, though they can still be purchased through Amazon, where Dee has a shopping list she earns a commission on.
In addition to running her business, Dee serves as co-host for the On-Fire podcast with Jeff Probst.
Dee’s many jobs, especially working in sales, prepared her to be a major threat in ‘Survivor.’
Salespeople are often seen as threats on Survivor. We saw it happen to Kaleb in Season 45 — even though he didn’t say he worked in sales, it shone through his smile and personality so much that people suspected it. Dee couldn’t make the same mistake, so she had to take a more subtle approach.
Ahead of the season, she explained, “[Working in sales] is 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.”
Clearly, Dee's plan worked! She sold herself all the way to the final five and ultimately crowned the winner. Plus, her experience in sales isn’t the only thing that helped her in the game. “I'll definitely say starting my business with my business partner three years ago has prepared me,” she said. “First of all, I've learned a lot about myself and how to be a better business partner and, how I say things, how I approach things, 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, 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.” It's clear Dee has learned how not to mix business and pleasure.
The Survivor 45 finale aired on Dec. 20, 2023, on CBS.