Dee Valladares joined The Challenge as a rookie in Season 41, and she’s already delivering hot takes about her castmates!
She initially debuted in reality television as part of Survivor, which previously brought other cast members, including Jay Starrett, Michele Fitzgerald, and Michaela Bradshaw.
Dee and Michele previously won Survivor, adding a significant amount of money to their bank accounts.
According to Dee, after binge-watching a few seasons of MTV’s The Challenge, she felt she had what it takes to win the competition series.
However, she doesn’t believe her castmates are as capable of performing on other reality television shows.
During a recent interview, Dee expressed her opinions about her castmates, even referring to those from MTV as “spoiled” reality TV stars.
Dee called out ‘spoiled’ MTV stars from Season 41
Could an MTV cast member do well on Survivor, and even win the show? According to Survivor 45 winner Dee, she doesn’t think so.
The Vets and New Threats rookie recently appeared on The Challenge Mania Podcast. The pod’s co-host, four-time Challenge winner Derrick Kosinski (also Dee’s Season 41 castmate), posed the question to Dee if she believed someone from The Challenge could do well on Survivor.
“Do you think we would give Survivor a bad rap?” Derrick asked Dee, suggesting that the show’s fan base wouldn’t like seeing MTV stars crossover.
“I feel like Survivors can do The Challenge, but Challenge people cannot do Survivor,” she replied, adding, “That’s because Challenge people are so damn spoiled.”
Dee said she noticed some of the interactions between veteran cast members and production. She said she realized, “They would not last a day on Survivor.”
“It’s MTV, this is a different demographic. I went in thinking I could be a little more myself,” Dee also said about appearing on The Challenge.
She also said that when she binged, she mostly paid attention to the outfits people wore and various daily challenges, but not the social aspect of the game.
However, viewers saw how she quickly integrated herself into that social game in a significant way, cozying up to seven-time champion Johnny Bananas for a showmance.
So far, things seem to be going well between the pair, both on and off-screen, but time will tell.
Only one Survivor player has won The Challenge?
So far, The Challenge has featured multiple Survivor stars in various seasons, including those from other countries.
For example, Turabi “Turbo” Camkiran, a contestant from Survivor Turkey, won his debut in The Challenge: War of the Worlds. He’s yet to return to a final but has become a popular returning star on the show.
No other player has replicated Turbo’s success. Several of the aforementioned American Survivor stars have reached a final.
Most recently, viewers saw Michele Fitzgerald reach the final of The Challenge: Battle of the Eras, and she nearly secured a second-place finish. However, a Karma points twist boosted Rachele Robinson to a first-place tie in the final points totals, and Michele moved to third.
Jay Starrett reached the final in the previous season, Battle for a New Champion. However, he was eliminated from that early by his castmate Corey Lay.
Michaela Bradshaw has fared the best amongst American Survivor stars, albeit in the now-seemingly-defunct spinoff The Challenge: USA on CBS.
Michaela returned to MTV for Season 41 along with new Survivor stars Dee and Sydney Segal, who could all potentially give the vets a run for their money. However, Dee has mentioned multiple times that her connection to Bananas could also make her a target throughout the game.
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The Challenge: Vets and New Threats airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on MTV.
