Survivor: Island of the Idols has arrived! Every week, Parade.com’s Mike Bloom will bring you interviews with the castaway most recently voted off of the island.

In a world full of “talkers and doers,” Dean Kowalski prides himself the latter. The tech salesman lived his life jumping at numerous opportunities and hoped to bring that mentality to the beach. “You have to strike that delicate balance out here,” he told me preseason. “Here I am talking, but I’ve never done it before. We’ll see how it pans out. To win, especially in this day and age, you need a resume and moves.” Dean took that latter statement especially to heart during his time on season 39. And though he started the game with his back against the wall, the former basketball player heated up considerably at the end to a respectable second-place finish.

Dean lived his life both on and off the island with the motto “DK Chillin,” maintaining a calm and quiet demeanor amidst the anxieties of the game. But in a season full of gamers, that made him untrustworthy from the get-go, and he soon found himself on the chopping block. After people suspected he and Chelsea Walker were becoming a tight pair, the others cut Chelsea, leaving a bewildered Dean. Though he mounted a detective campaign to find out the culprit, he turned his back to another vote in Tom Laidlaw’s elimination. In the last vote before the merge, it would seem Dean’s time had finally come. But Kellee Kim, connecting with him personally and looking to use an idol in her pocket, gave Dean a saving reprieve. He drew nearly all the votes to himself and stunned the tribe when he played her idol, sending Jack Nichting out of the game and himself to the merge.

Having been betrayed by nearly everyone left in the game, Dean entered the merge a free agent. In the process, he found an ally in “that long, pale, redhead goofball-looking guy,” also known as Tommy Sheehan, as well as a fake Legacy Advantage from Jamal Shipman. Dean worked to dismantle what he called the “Goat Army.” That included outing Noura Salman’s intention to flip on Tommy to him in the middle of Tribal Council, yet another cog in their already-complicated dynamic. But at the Final Seven, Dean’s game began to transform. A coin flip from the Island of the Idols gave him an Idol Nullifier, which he used to great effect to eliminate fan-favorite Janet Carbin. He won two out of the last three Immunity Challenges, as well as a date with Noura. And he snatched an idol out from Tommy’s nose, adorning himself with advantages. After the fire-making challenge win put him in the finals, he used these points to tout his resume to the jury, earning him two votes in the end. But though Dean’s fourth-quarter push was a sight to behold, his admitted lack of attention to making relationships with everyone loomed largely, and the jury deemed Tommy’s social game the more dominant.

Minutes after the season’s reunion show, Dean talks with Parade about his final Tribal Council performance, the perception of him being impersonal, and whether Detective Dean ever solved his first case.

After leaving final Tribal Council, what did you think your chances were of winning?

I had a lot of ground to make up. But I wasn’t expecting final Tribal Council to be that difficult. I think we were there for four or five hours. And they were coming at us with questions! In the day or two leading up, I thought I actually had prepped for it. But I didn’t expect Tommy to be as articulate as he was, saying, “They’re just souvenirs! They’re going to be sitting in your room back home.”

I didn’t think I was a clear-cut winner. Going in, I was trying to work my Lairo people, and Tommy was trying to work his Vokai people. I thought I had a good shot with Missy, Elizabeth, Aaron, and Karishma, with Elaine being a swing because she was close with Tommy. And I figured the Vokais would vote for Tommy, so I knew I was playing from behind. But hats off to Tommy!

What do you ultimately make of Tommy’s game?

It was so crazy for him to promise people Final Three so many times, and they actually believed it. He would tell me, “I’m going to talk to Lauren, but don’t be upset. I’m just telling her I’m taking her to Final Three, but I want to take you.” And he was telling that to me, Lauren, Janet, and Noura. You heard Sandra say it at the reunion; they all thought they had him. And Tommy had me because Lauren and Janet were bigger threats than me until I pulled out some stuff at the end to make it more respectable for myself.

You heard Kellee say that she didn’t really know you based on the way you impersonally talked with people in the game. Did that assessment surprise you?

It did, especially coming from Kellee. We connected on things outside of the game. Granted, we didn’t tell our life stories and become best friends. But it did catch me off-guard.

You mentioned the run you had at the end with immunity wins and advantages you acquired. In retrospect, was it too little too late? How much did playing under the radar in the beginning help or hurt your game?

It was absolutely too little too late. I do think it was the right strategy overall. You can’t be a big threat. Remember pregame, Jason had a strategy called “Shut the [expletive] Up.” You can name maybe three or more people who said the same thing about not wanting to be declared a threat. I’m very proud that I executed that. I was honest in my final Tribal Council when I said, “If I wasn’t working with you, I was not working with you.” Whereas Tommy was good at building relationships with everyone, and that set me back. I worked with Aaron and Elizabeth, who were able to see some sort of strategy. But there were also people who didn’t see any of that because I didn’t talk to them about it.

Several people this season talked about you coming across as smarmy and shiesty. Did you get a sense that was your perception when you were out there?

The shiesty part came out when I leaked the secret to Tommy. But early on, there wasn’t much shiestiness. We’d have strategy conversations and I would be agreeable, but not put out a name.

Early in the game, you ended up in the minority with the Chelsea and Tom votes. How were you able to claw your way out of the bottom to make the merge?

Right after the Tom vote, that was the lowest I felt. It was Karishma and me left with all Vokai folks. Karishma did a wonderful job of getting in with them. So I knew if we didn’t win the next two Immunity Challenges, it was going to be me unless I could find a crack and throw votes on Noura. I thought I did actually convince them to go after Noura at one point.

But supposedly, at the challenge where we were doing the big puzzle, Aaron looked over at our mat and gave me a nod to say, “What’s up, Dean? We’re coming next.” I didn’t see it, but Janet and Jamal were smart enough to see it. And it made them think, “If we go to the merge, will Dean flip back to his Lairo people?” And I was trying to sell that I hated Lairo; he left me out of the Chelsea vote! But that sealed my fate.

In the finale, you said this is the proudest you’ve been of yourself in your life. Can you elaborate on how Survivor changed your perspective of your day-to-day life?

In more recent seasons, they don’t do a great job of showing what it’s like to live out there. Of course, people love the gameplay, the strategy, and the challenges. But it is so, so hard. Early on, I was way more excited for a Reward Challenge with cheeseburgers than an Immunity Challenge! Or there are moments where you see a dark cloud coming and say, “Damn, we’re about to be soaking wet.”

I think it’s hard to keep that perspective when you are comfortable in your everyday life. But I try to remember that. When it’s raining in New York, and I have my umbrella, it reminds me that we have it okay. We need to be happy with what we have. Happiness doesn’t need to come from winning Survivor or getting a promotion or a new house. Happiness comes first, then your accomplishments.

Finally, did Detective Dean ever solve the case of Chelsea’s blindside?

(Laughs.) It was a relative mystery out there! It wasn’t until the merge. They came back to me and told me what happened because Elaine and Aaron were trying to build my trust back. In the pregame, Jeff said, “Dean can come off like a salesman douchebag kind of guy.” It’s funny because when that released, my best friends texted me, “That’s what we thought about you initially too!” I like to make jokes and make fun of myself. If you can’t laugh at yourself, you can’t laugh at anybody else.