Survivor winner Dee Valladares and runner-up Austin Li Coon have revealed their current relationship status after sparking a showmance on Season 45.

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Dee, a 26-year-old entrepreneur from Havana, Cuba, who currently resides in Miami, FL, shared with Survivor host Jeff Probst on the Survivor Aftershow that, after being single for two years, she's ready for a relationship.

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But according to the "Sole Survivor," she and Austin are nervous to have a highly-publicized, real-world romance.

"Oh my goodness. Okay... you're not going to like my answer," Dee told Entertainment Weekly when asked if she's still dating Austin.

"This has been a whirlwind of emotions and we have decided to keep it low key for now."

On Wednesday night's Survivor finale, Dee won the game through a 5-3 vote at the Final Tribal Council instead of Austin, a 26-year-old graduate student from San Jose, CA, who currently resides in Chicago, IL. (Jake O'Kane placed third with zero votes).

While Dee and Austin were extremely close allies throughout the Survivor game, their friendship appeared to take a turn into flirtation around Day 20.

Dee considered Austin her "No. 1," but she betrayed and lied to him to get ahead in the game.

And once Dee was able to prove to the jury that she had played the game with strategy and heart in equal parts, she walked away with a million dollars, and Austin appeared impressed by her and also proud of her.

"It's been too crazy and it's getting crazier," Dee told EW of life after the finale. "So we've decided to keep it low key for now, only because it's been insane."

When asked what keeping it "low key" with Austin really means, Dee elaborated, "You'll see pictures here and there, but we're not going to focus on it right now because so much is happening in our lives and yeah, we're just going to keep it low key for now."

In his own interview with EW, Austin reiterated how he and Dee would like to keep their relationship "a little private" for now.

"Just because things have been so crazy," Austin explained.

"The finale just aired and I don't think I'm ready quite yet for dealing with all the fans and giving out the answers. So going to keep that private for now."

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But Austin told Parade that things "are going great" with Dee and they've spent a lot of time together during the last seven months since the Survivor season finished filming.

"I mean, honestly, we've seen each other so many times since the end of the season. We've hung out. We've gone to all these different watch events. And I've visited in Miami; she came to Chicago," Austin shared.

"But, for the most part, I think we kind of want to keep this side private for now. I mean, things are going really, really crazy. And I don't think we're quite ready yet to deal with the ramifications of announcing anything. So we're gonna keep that private."

Austin also said he'd be "down" to compete on The Amazing Race with Dee as his teammate.

During the Survivor Aftershow, Dee shared how she realized she liked Austin during the tribal swap, and the same apparently goes for Austin.

Austin said he "definitely" felt "a shift in energy" when Dee was away from him during the Survivor season's swap.

"I did miss her and being around her. She was really, really good to be around, really funny. We'd laugh together, have really good conversations. And New Belo kind of sucked," Austin told Parade.

"It didn't help that those were the toughest days out there. Physically, we were starving. And we had to go to our first Tribal Council, so they were tough. We got rained out an entire night. So I started [thinking], 'Oh, I kind of missed this person.'"

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But Austin admitted he was missing everyone that was close to him at that point, including Julie Alley.

"I think Day 20 really is true to what happened [with Dee]. Because on Day 20, that night, it rained the entire night. And Dee and I were next to each other on the bamboo. And it got really cold," Austin recalled.

Austin said he and Dee huddled up next to each other for warmth during Survivor and it just felt right.

"[We] locked arms and stuff. And we're like, 'Okay, this is kind of nice.' And then we did that the next day. It rained for like four hours. And then the next night, perfectly sunny, nothing was wrong, clear skies. And we're like, 'Okay, well, that was kind of nice. So why don't we just do that again?'" Austin revealed.

"So I think that's when that really kicked it in. But I guess there are parts throughout the game. And you kind of see it too, if you rewatch it. I knew what was gonna happen, so I was kind of attuned to this throughout the season. There are moments where you can definitely see that there's some feelings there."

Austin said he and Dee made an effort to hide their showmance so they wouldn't be viewed as a power couple and huge threat.

"That was a big reason, I think also, why it came out so late. Both Dee and I were so focused on our game. Showmances are just an instant disaster. If that comes out, you're done. They're gunning for you. I think that really pushed it so far back," Austin explained to Parade.

"And by Day 20, I think we were in such good positions at that point in the game, that we felt really comfortable [being] like, 'Okay, what are people going to do at this point?' But at the same time, most of the time during the day, we never really talked or hung out too much."

Austin pointed out how he and Dee didn't want to spend too much time alone during Survivor, and so most of their quality time apparently happened in the early morning hours when the other castaways were sleeping.

"We do have our two-hour-long conversations together, talking about strategy and life and whatnot. So we did our best to keep it under wraps. And it's kind of funny, because you see at the Aftershow, Jeff's like, 'Oh, who knew that this was happening?' Everyone raised their hands," Austin said.

"Come on! Really?! Then we would have been voted out way long ago. But now I think we did a really good job of hiding it. And that's why it worked really, is just because we put our games first before the showmance or anything. And you can see that."

Despite the emotion that was involved, Dee took out Austin's No 1. in Drew Basile and then Austin took out Dee's No. 1 in Julie.

"You can't really stop feelings. You just kind of have to play around them," he noted.

Austin also assured Parade that he has no hard feelings against Dee for any moves she had made behind his back during the game -- including how she had tipped off Julie to play her hidden Immunity Idol, which resulted in Emily Flippen getting voted out.

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"I guess what I was thinking first was like, 'Dang, alright, props to her. That was sick. I look like a fool a little bit right now,'" Austin told EW. "But yeah, it was a little bit of a sucker punch."

Austin also shared with Parade how Dee's decision to wait to reveal the big Julie betrayal until Final Tribal Council was a "fantastic move" because it made it look like Austin didn't know everything that was going on.




About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski

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