Dee Valladares confirmed that she spoke to Rizo Velovic before “Survivor 50” — but their conversation wasn’t honest on Velovic’s end.
“Here’s the thing that nobody knows. Rizo and I did get on a FaceTime call, but here’s the even crazier part of this FaceTime call,” Valladares exclusively told Page Six after she was voted out on Wednesday’s episode.
“Rizo lied to me and told me that Savannah [Louie] got fifth place and he got fourth place [on Season 49],” Valladares revealed.
The “Survivor 45” winner said that after her call with Velovic, she found out Louie actually won Season 49, and thus his lie was exposed.
“So going into Season 50, I did not like Rizo and I did not trust him,” Valladares told us. “I did not trust Savannah. And if you go back to any of my pre-season interviews, I always said I want the [Season] 49 people away from me.”
“And that’s because they lied to me in the real world and they thought I wouldn’t find out,” she added, jokingly calling Velovic “a little weasel.”
But Valladares said that once she ended up on the same tribe as Velovic on Season 50, he won her over and she decided to betray her ally Charlie Davis to save Velovic.
“Going into the split, I didn’t trust Rizo,” Valladares shared. “So if anything that goes to show you that Rizo just had a way better game in solidifying alliances than Charlie did.”
Valladares further praised Velovic’s “phenomenal” gameplay, crediting him for being “more self-aware than half of the cast.”
“I will say a lot more in the live reunion, but Rizo had nine days,” she said, referring to Seasons 49 and 50 filming back-to-back.
“And if anything, that just goes to show that my guy’s playing. He came back, showered, and was like, ‘Alright, let me see what I could do,’ and good for him.”
Valladares and Velovic’s pregame call was exposed by Davis, who exclusively told Page Six last month that “Survivor 49” runner-up Sophi Balerdi allegedly connected the pair before they filmed Season 50 in Fiji last summer.
Stay one step ahead with all the exclusive tea on your favorite reality TV stars! Sign up for Virtual Reali-Tea with Danny and Evan, our must-read newsletter!
And Valladares thinks Davis had a motive in spilling her secret.
“It doesn’t seem like he was complaining about the FaceTime call with me or Rizo — but what I really want people to ask themselves is: what was the intention behind [Davis] saying that?” Valladares said.
“And I think — I’m not saying it’s true, this is my belief — the intention behind saying that Dee and Rizo got on a call was to diminish my game or diminish Rizo’s game,” she added.
In conclusion, Valladares took one more shot at Davis.
“So if you’re going to talk about my FaceTime, let’s talk about yours, too,” she said.
“Survivor 50” airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET on CBS.
