Austin Li Coon wanted to replicate the Survivor: All-Stars experience of Boston Rob Mariano and Amber Brkich. And much in the same way it went down back in season 8, Austin played the part of Boston Rob on Survivor 45 — ending up as runner-up to his showmance partner.
Dee Valladares’ dominance down the stretch — including waiting until final Tribal Council to tell Austin right in front of the jury how she had lied to him about the Julie Alley immunity idol play — sealed the deal for her win. So how did Austin feel when Dee dropped that bombshell on him? We asked the runner-up that and much more when we spoke the morning after the finale. We also inquired as to whether Austin and Dee’s romance has continued after they left the island, much like… well, you know who.
CBS
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: First off, sorry about retroactively jinxing you by making you my winner pick this season.
AUSTIN LI COON: I’m honored. Thank you so much. I mean, to be a winner pick of yours. No need to apologize.
How were you feeling walking into that final Tribal Council in terms of your chances?
I knew, for me, it was an uphill battle. I knew that the jury kind of was leaning more going into the final Tribal towards Dee. I could tell because whenever I’d walk in with my immunity necklace, the only person who smiled at me was Drew. So I knew I had an uphill battle, but I really felt if I could tell my story that I would and I could win.
I felt like a lot of my moves kind of went under the radar. A lot of it happened earlier in the game, in the middle of the game that some people were forgetting about and a lot of people in the jury weren’t really aware about. So I felt that if I could tell my story, then I could have a shot at beating anybody. So that was my thought going into Tribal.
I know you were doing jury math in your head leading into final Tribal, so which votes surprised you?
Honestly, Kendra surprised me. Bruce — I was even surprised about a little bit. I knew that I had to earn every single vote that I got at Tribal Council. So the fact that I felt that I was able to flip a couple people, it was a pleasant surprise. I was a little surprised (about) Emily too. I thought we had a little bit of a thing going on with our alliance, but I did burn her a bit, so completely understood too.
CBS
Could you sense it slipping away from you during final Tribal?
It was kind of the opposite. So Dee had that big moment being like, “Listen, I lied to you and I actually told Julie.” That happened earlier on in Tribal Council, and when that happened it was like, “Okay, shoot. Now I’ve got to turn to overdrive and really push towards it”. And that’s where a lot of my arguments came that were shown earlier on in Tribal Council. So, for me, it felt the opposite. It was like, “Oh, shoot, early on, got the wind sucked out of me.” And then afterward, it was like, “Okay, now I’m fighting for it back.” And I thought I was able to claw my way out through a little bit more.
Let’s talk about Dee and that haymaker that she gave you because there are personal elements to that and there are professional elements to that, as you’re both trying to win a million dollars and it hits right in front of the jury. What’s going through your mind when she drops that?
Yeah, she drops that, and there was a little inkling of me going in that she did tell Julie, but I was kind of trying to convince myself like, “No, no, no, that didn’t happen. That can’t have happened.” Because in my mind, I obviously told Dee, so it was in my best interest that she didn’t tell Julie. I knew people would then put the blame on me for that happening, so I kind of convinced myself that she didn’t tell Julie. So when she said that, 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.”
But I reeled it in and I was sort of like, “Okay, listen. The main point for me voting Julie at that point wasn’t necessarily to get Julie out, but it was to try to flush the idol.” And, ultimately, that is what happened in my mind.
I had Drew and Dee as my first layer of insulation, and outside of that, I had Emily and Julie — and I kind of weighed them similarly in terms of allies at that point in the game. So to me, it was like: Okay, I knew either Emily was going home or Julie was going home, but what was most important was that I made sure that both Dee and Drew were still going to trust me a hundred percent. So that’s ultimately why I told Dee about it. That’s kind of what I was thinking, so I kind of explained that to the jury. But yeah, it was a little bit of a sucker punch.
CBS
How does this game play out differently if you do not tell Dee about the Julie vote?
Yeah, so that’s interesting. It’s something I’ve definitely thought about a lot. If I did not tell Dee about the Julie vote, then I think Drew and Emily get put in a much better position. It helps their games more than it helps my games. It would give them a lot of the power. To Drew, he’d become the most insulated person at that point of the game, having Emily and me as his number ones. And then Dee would lose a lot of trust in me. She probably would still want to work with me, but that was kind of unclear.
So I was worried about losing my positioning in the game. If I were to give that move to Drew and to Emily, I don’t know what would’ve happened. That’s a big what if? Probably Dee would come back and be willing to work with me again and forgive me — similar to how I forgave her. But I felt like at final seven, it was still a point early enough in the game where I needed both Drew and Dee to make sure that I could get to the end.
As soon as you saw it was the Michele Fitzgerald special there on the first immunity challenge, did you know you were going to kick that tower puzzle down if you won?
A hundred percent. And I think anyone else would’ve too. We all saw that when Jeff was walking us through the challenge and we saw we were doing the Michele puzzle, we were like, “This is incredible. This is as iconic as the Survivor auction and if you win this, you have to kick it down or else did you actually win this challenge?” I don’t think so.
You said Jake was really struggling with making fire when he was practicing. Was that 100% true or were you just trying to get Dee to put you in?
Half/half? I felt like Jake, he was okay. I mean, he wasn’t very good at maintaining the fire. He could start the flame pretty well, but maintaining it, he didn’t really understand how to start the base. The reason why I felt really comfortable and got really good at fires, I was studying how Bruce did it. Bruce was the master fire maker and he would make every single fire I’m sure at Bello, and he did it at Daquwaka.
So Jake never really needed to make fires. And he was struggling. Without me going in there, I think it would’ve been a big toss-up because Katurah was getting flames going when she was practicing. And it was a worry that Jake was going to lose. So who knows what would’ve happened? He might’ve pulled through still, but it could have been much different. It would’ve taken longer, I think.
CBS
What do you think happens if Katurah does not change her vote at the last second at that final five and Dee is voted out?
I got to say, props to Jake. He was fighting to the bitter end. He was always trying to think: What can I do to make the biggest impact with what I’ve got? If that went down, that would’ve been crazy. Then the final four would’ve had Julie instead of Dee. And you saw how close Jake was for 80% of that final four challenge. Good chance he ends up winning that. Then he’ll put himself into fire. He’ll take on Julie, potentially he’ll win that. And then you’ve got Jake who just comes to Final Tribal with two massive moves on his résumé.
Who knows what would’ve happened? That would’ve been another war of a final Tribal, but a different type of war. That’s a bunch of what-ifs, but the game could have been completely different. And I felt for Jake. There were a lot of emotions when that move didn’t work that he was planning on because it would’ve been crazy and I would’ve been left out of the vote a second time in a row and that would’ve changed a lot of stuff.
I already asked Dee this and we’ll see what you have to say about it: What is the relationship status with you and Dee currently?
We kind of want to keep that a little private for now, just because things have been so crazy. 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.
CBS
Speaking of things not going out to the world, was there anything that didn’t make it to air this season that you wish we had a chance to see?
On original Reba, we had so many incredible fun moments. Dee might’ve even told this story, too, but there was this one time — it was the day before the tribe swap and we all were kind of feeling like a tribe swap was about to happen. So we went into overdrive trying to find the idols. At that point, Dee knew we were looking. Julie knew we were looking, obviously Drew knew, and I knew.
And then Sifu was noticing that we were looking for idols. And he comes up to us and he’s like, “Hey, what are you guys doing looking for my idol?” And we’re like, “Dude, you’ve been looking this entire time.” And then he’s like, “No, I haven’t. What are you talking about?” And Dee’s like, “You have spy shacks! You’ve been spying on us!”
We have this huge blow-up the day before the tribe swap and people are yelling at each other. Dee’s chasing Sifu with a stick, swinging at him. And it’s crazy. And then at the end, it’s like, “Okay, listen, at the end of the day, we’ve got to stay Reba Strong. We’re about to potentially swap. We’ve got to be ready for this merge. We might not see each other soon after this. We have to stay tight.” So I went to talk with Dee. I went to talk with Sifu, got him to calm down (and) apologize.
And then we had the most lame (team cheer). I was like, “All right, everyone, hands in the middle!” We’re like, “3, 2, 1. Reba!” We would do that after challenges, but this time it was so sad and pathetic. It was a hilarious moment. So we thought for sure that was going to be aired because the entire rest of the game we were so “Kumbaya, Reba strong, we love each other!” And it just built all this tension to this explosion that happened.
That’s amazing. I need the footage.
Yeah, me too!
So if they ask you to play again, what do you say?
Anyone who says no, they’re kidding themselves. Of course, I would. And I would love to be able to have that extra prep time of longer than 72 hours (as an alternate). That’d be great.
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