By John Powell – GlobalTV.com

She won Survivor but she won’t be winning Big Brother. Dee Valladares went as far as she could go on her cutthroat, competitive, cunning nature and made the final four. Not bad for a castaway used to a totally different style of gameplay. Did the Icons have it easy? Does she play too hard? Dee explains.

John Powell: What are the main differences between playing Big Brother and Survivor?

Dee Valladares: Oh my goodness! Big Brother and Survivor are both such obviously different games. I will say, on Survivor, since it’s a much quicker, fast-paced game, you do have to be on your toes a lot more than on Big Brother.

On Big Brother, you can let your walls down a little bit. A little bit, not a lot. There are times when people, because their walls are down, you’re still playing the game, but the walls are a little bit down, right? You get to be a little bit more normal.

On Survivor, it’s high paranoia constantly, constantly, because if you don’t win immunity, anyone can get blindsided, right? So I’ll say, on Survivor, you’ve got to be more on your toes. You have to be quick-witted, and you have to stay constantly aware..

On Big Brother, it’s impossible. You’re starting with the same amount of people that start Survivor but because it’s in tribes, you get to keep up with where everyone’s at and maybe get the numbers a little bit easier but Big Brother, because you’re playing with 17 people, you just never really know. If your friend wins HOH, then you’re good for the week, so you get to relax a little bit.

I will say, Big Brother is multi-layered, so you have to constantly think three to five steps ahead versus on Survivor you can blindside someone and then you do damage control with a friend but it’s so much faster that that doesn’t even really matter because you’re constantly adjusting and pivoting.

On Big Brother, you have to think about, “Who are the three people I’m gonna put up? How am I going to tell them I’m considering them? If two of them are going to come back are they still going to want to play with me?”

It’s just constant thinking a few steps ahead. So I’ll say those are kind of the major differences, for sure.

John Powell: What do you say to the people who believe that because of the powers and advantages, the Icons had an easier path?

Dee Valladares: Let’s see. Well, powers, it’s out of my control, right? Other people also got powers but they got punishments o it could have been either way.

Devens, Drew and I are the only people who got powers that we could have done something with. It’s out of our control! America voted for us but America also voted for Mallory, Melody, Angela and Drew. It just sucks that they all got punishments except Drew. You know what I mean?

So, if you want to say that the Icons had an easier path to kind of diminish our gameplay, go ahead. I don’t care because I know what Devens and I did, even Angela. Every single week we had a say in whoever was going home and even without the powers, we had a say, right?

So I would say, think about what happened before the powers, how we had a say and of course, the powers did come into play and saved our asses but that is out of our control.

We did what we had to with what we were given by America. I think that Devens and I both did very great things because they could have also not been used properly.

So I think it just depends. People are saying that because of the way that we used the powers, right? But would you have said that had we gotten punishments or had we used the powers wrong?

I don’t really have an answer. We did what we could with what we had, and, of course, it was out of our control. America voted, and I’m still super happy about it.

John Powell: Were you surprised when we heard Drew say he didn’t think you would bring him to the end?

Dee Valladares: I was surprised to hear that he thought I wouldn’t take him to the end because I was always going to weigh out my options, no matter who it was. And is it true? Possibly. I probably would have cut him.

He was always much closer to Devens than me and that’s a relationship that I couldn’t even come in between. At the end of the day, I know he wanted to ensure him or Devens winning, just the same way that I would have cut him over Devens at final four had I won the veto because I wanted to ensure that at least Devens and I won.

I understand where he’s coming from and it didn’t surprise me. I think what surprised me more wasn’t the fact that he thought I wouldn’t take him. It was the fact that he didn’t get a lot of blood on his hands this entire game. He was always in the know, of course. We played the game together but I felt like this was the perfect moment to show the jury that, “Drew, hey, I’m able to make big moves,” and everyone’s talking about how, “Oh, Drew and Devens,” and “Drew does whatever Devens does,” or “the Icons,” and this and that.

So, show the jury! Show the jury!

It doesn’t surprise me and I probably would have cut Drew. Would I have weighed out my options? Absolutely. But I probably would have cut Drew, not because I didn’t love him, but just so that I can make sure I get Barrett’s vote because I’m petty. (laughs) Just so that I can be like, “Well, Barrett, your friend’s not here, so now you gotta vote for me.”

So, something like that. I love Barrett but I probably would have cut him. So he wasn’t wrong in his intuition.

John Powell: What was the competition like this season? At times, it seemed like you were a cat toying with your prey.

Dee Valladares: Oh, I would say Big Brother is highly frustrating because you are dealing with people who have never played a game. There were some people who were very strategic, Kamu, for example.

But very frustrating in a way where they’re stubborn as well. People are so freaking stubborn! It felt a lot of times like I had to set my emotions aside and kind of tell myself, “Okay, Dee, this person is clearly not a gamer, but just because they’re not a gamer doesn’t mean it’s not easy.”

In fact, it’s more frustrating because they don’t see what I see. So in my head, I’m like, “How could you not freaking see what I’m trying to tell you?”

I would actually say it felt hard for some of the ones that weren’t gamers. I had to look within and tell myself, “Okay, well, this person doesn’t see the game the way that I do. So how can I make them see the game the way that they see it? And how can I change my words? How can I change my approach with this person?”

But either way, it was a lot of fun and it was still very hard and highly frustrating at times.

John Powell: How do you react to the people who say you are so competitive that you are unfeeling at times?

Dee Valladares: I feel like I am anything but unfeeling. (laughs) But what would I say to the critics? Listen, I am playing a game for a lot of money here. So if I gotta put my emotions aside to win $750,000, I will do it, and I’ll do it again and again and again.

And I think that those that know me know I am a huge softie for the people that I care and love, and I’m always going to ride or die with my people. I think that that’s a great thing.

I think when it comes to a game that is this long, you have to set emotions aside because if you don’t, to some extent, the game will eat you aliv or you’ll actually start to go bats–t crazy in that house.

You know what people don’t understand is that this is a three-month-long game and there are many times also where we don’t see sunshine. We’re locked inside the house for three to four days at a time every single week. There is no break.

Even when you’re showering, you can’t. It’s just constant gaming, even when you’re going to bed but you’re still having dreams about the game.

So I would say that it is actually crucial to play cutthroat and put feelings aside because the moment that you let your feelings overpower you is the moment you probably lose the game.

Big Brother airs Wednesdays (8:00-9:30 PM, ET/PT), Thursdays (8:00-9:00 PM, ET/PT) live eviction show hosted by Julie Chen Moonves, and Sundays (8:00-9:00 PM, ET/PT). Big Brother: Unlocked airs Fridays (9:00-10:00 PM, ET/PT) on July 24, Aug. 7, Sept. 4, Sept. 18 and Sept. 25 on Global TV.