Embed from Getty Images
The online Survivor fandom was completely upended late last week when it was revealed that Season 36 winner Wendell Holland and Season 45 winner Dee Valladares were having an affair that broke up Holland’s relationship with the mother of his seven-month-old son. I was following this all in real time, and I still cannot believe how everything went down. It started on Wednesday, January 3, with the anonymous account, The Spoiler Girl, posting a blind item about a “recent female Survivor winner” that had been “shacking up with another winner, who recently had a baby.” The male winner’s girlfriend supposedly found out about the affair when she discovered a bracelet at their house that ended up on the female winner’s wrist in Instagram pictures. The Tweet ended with, “Add up 81.” It did not take long put together that it was Dee and Wendell.
The rumor really blew up the following day after the account @BB_WhatNow posted about it, not even bothering to make it a blind item. Meanwhile, Spoiler Girl kept going, posting screenshots of her conversation with her source, a friend of the now ex-girlfriend, Chelsea Brooks, and showing pictures of Dee wearing the bracelet that Wendell had allegedly bought for her (you can see it on her wrist at the live finale party that Wendell co-hosted). A screenshot from Brooks’ Instagram story started circulating, which showed a moving van and heartbreaking text about saying goodbye to false promises, disrespect, and what she thought her life would be. And then, on Friday night, the whole thing took an absolutely wild turn when Wendell himself Tweeted a statement that not only confirmed that he and Chelsea had broken up, but it also confirmed that Dee was the reason *and* offered a timeline for their relationship.
Wendell Holland, the winner of Survivor Season 36, is coming clean about the recent drama in his love life. The reality TV personality, 39, was rumored to have had an affair with Season 45 winner Dee Valladares, despite a relationship with his now-former girlfriend Chelsea Brooks, with whom he shares his 8-month-old baby, Wendell Carter Holland.
Brooks hinted at possible infidelity in her relationship with Holland when she posted an Instagram Story about “lies” and “deceit.” A screenshot of the post shared to X showed a U-Haul truck and the words, “Goodbye to the false promises, the fake potential, the disrespect. Goodbye to trying to force someone to see my worth. And most painfully, goodbye to what I thought my life would be.”
“Hello to choosing me…” she concluded the cryptic post. The internet immediately began speculation that the Hot Mess House star was unfaithful, and gossip accounts online, including @BB_WhatNow, began linking him to Valladares after he reportedly gifted her a bracelet seen in Instagram photos.
Holland finally addressed the speculation while speaking out on social media on Friday, Jan. 5, writing in a since-deleted post on X that he wanted to “clear the air.”
Despite stating that “people’s private lives should remain private,” Holland shared “a few facts” to explain the situation.
“My gf and I broke up. I take responsibility for that. I’m sorry for her and all that has transpired,” he admitted. Holland also seemingly addressed the affair rumors with Valladares, adding, “the person the internet keeps attaching me to deserves an apology from me as well.”
“We got close at the end of November through December, and I was dishonest about my family life with her,” he said. “I created a situation that was unfair to both parties and although I’ve apologized to both privately, I would like the community to know that I’m sorry as well.”
“Thank you,” he concluded the message, which now appears to be taken down from his account.
I cannot believe that Wendell made that statement or really any statement at all. And to officially drag Dee into it, too! He didn’t have to say anything and it would have been just a rumor that people forgot about after a while. Or, he could have confirmed the breakup and simply said, “Please respect both of our privacy as we go through this difficult time.” Wendell also followed his confession/apology with a cryptic, “Read between the lines,” and let me tell you, people sure did, and many came to the conclusion that there’s no way Dee didn’t know Wendell and Chelsea were still together. (Honestly, both sides make a good case on whether or not she knowingly blew up Wendell Jr.’s family, so I just don’t know.) Both Tweets blew up and then were deleted within 90 minutes, so my best guess is that someone from CBS must have ordered him to take them down. They worked so hard to (weakly) convince us that the Austin/Dee showmance was still going on, too!
Things seem to have died down over the weekend, but Wendell and former contestant Brice Izyah co-host events around big Survivor watch parties and the finale, so it will be interesting to see if those still happen moving forward. And while former Survivor players, notoriously a loud, opinionated group, were oddly silent from the blind item through Wendell’s Tweet, I saw a lot of reality TV podcasters and fans arguing about privacy and the ethicality of blind items. Are they ethical? It was interesting to watch people get outraged at someone for sharing a rumor that supposedly came straight from the injured party rather than be outraged at a new dad for shamelessly cheating on his girlfriend. Remember when Michele Fitzgerald referred to Wendell as her ex-boyfriend (they dated pre-Chelsea) during Winners at War and he denied it, implying they’d just been f– buddies? She even mentioned that she’d been “wronged” by him. Michele tried to warn us, we just didn’t want to listen.
Wendall(Survivor 36 winner) has apparently been cheating on his girlfriend and mother of his 2 children with recent winner of #Survivor45. His girlfriend found out about his secret "relationship" after Wendall gifted Dee a bracelet which was shown in recent IG pictures. pic.twitter.com/oGnH8xkUNO
— Big Brother What Now? (@BB_WhatNow) January 4, 2024
— THE Spoiler Girl 👀 (@TheSpoilerGirl1) January 5, 2024
Photos credit Getty and via Instagram and Twitter
I have no idea who any of these people are but I do find his language–“I am sorry FOR her”–interesting.
Could be bad writing or who knows what went down between them or it could.be just another example of someone being unable to just say, I am sorry I hurt you. Period.
I could be being touchy but I am just so sick of half-a**ed apologies.
The only survivor couple I still believe in is Boston Rob and Amber.
There are quite a few going strong! Jamie and Erik (China) and Kim (Africa) and Alex (Amazon) are closing in on 20:years of marriage and Keith and Whitney (south Pacific) are over 10. Few others married or engaged. I think their success rate may be higher than The Bachelor/ette 😆
I am a Day 1, OG Survivor fan, and it was a wild ride on all of the social media platforms when everything dropped. Especially when Wendell posted and then took down that hideous statement. The Survivor subreddit when into full censorship mode (why?) except for one thread begrudgingly allowed.
Wendell has always been a player; it doesn’t surprise me that he’s still out there “kickin’ it”. Anyone attending the “Brice and Wen” events could see that energy. I’m sorry for Chelsea and the baby, though.
Also, the whole “how Chelsea figured it out from the bracelet” gave real “Love Actually” energy. All that was missing was a Joni Mitchell song as background to Chelsea’s post.
@Rebecca, I’ve never been to a Brice and Wen event but was not surprised he’s still “kickin’ it.” Do you think Dee knew they were still together?
I do believe Dee could have known they were still together. Apparently, the internet Survivor sleuths found that Dee had liked pictures Chelsea posted with Wen and Baby Wendell, within the time frame in question. At the same time, Wendell’s statement gave her plausible deniability, too, since he said he misrepresented his family situation.
I’m a Survivor fan, too. I listen to Wendell’s podcast with Bryce. I’ve never gone to an event, so I’ve never watched him live, in action. But from the pod – I loved Wendell! I used to think he would be the best replacement for Jeff! Now, not so much.
The only unethical thing here is cheating on the mother of your kids. People always want to whine about privacy when they get caught being disgusting.
So he bought a bracelet, sounds like before Christmas? Left it laying around the house for years-long girlfriend to see it. Then instead of receiving it as a gift, next time she sees it, it’s on the arm of another woman at an event??? What a betrayal!!
And his public explanation, includes an apology to the ‘other woman’. So disrespectful. This guy isn’t just a cheater. He’s thoughtless and mean.
Seems like a case of trash taking itself out yet again
I couldn’t believe that this was true given the Love Actually plot line. I feel terrible for Wendell’s ex and his son. That being said, I’m tempted to go back and listen to Brice and Wendell’s podcast where Brice was lusting after Austin and playing at being jealous of Dee while all of this was going on.
The baby hipster hat is adorable.
I stopped watching survivor ages ago. It got too unfair. People in the jungle should not be shown favoritism. If it’s going to be slightly rigged they need to pay everyone.