Sydnee Falkner Is More Than the 'Million Dollar Secret' Mean Girl

Sydnee Falkner is a reality TV producer’s dream. Born in Colorado and raised in Northern Alaska, the 32-year-old worked in subzero temperatures in remote oil fields to save up for college as a teenager. You’d never know it from her Instagram page, which is full of glamour shots and gym selfies—but that’s to be expected, now that she’s an Arizona-based fitness model. Falkner had been recruited to appear on unscripted shows before, but it wasn’t until Million Dollar Secret that she found the perfect series for her ultra-competitive, hidden-weapon strengths. Unfortunately, she may have been a little too perfect for a game where a player that stands out quickly becomes a target.

“A lot of it is appearance-based,” she tells Marie Claire of her strategy on Netflix’s answer to The Traitors. To dupe her 11 competitors in the game of wit and cunning, to survive several elimination votes, and eventually walk away with the titular fortune, she decided to play to surface-level assumptions with her “Scottsdale bottle girl” disguise. She recalls thinking at the time, “If I dress the part a little bit, everyone won’t really look at me as a strong player, just as the token ditzy girl. That worked for about five minutes before I couldn't keep my mouth shut.”

The rest of the Million Dollar Secret cast saw right through the subterfuge. From the first attack dog challenge to the final elimination dinner, Falkner had a spotlight on her as one of the show’s most intimidating players. She also had to face the double-edged sword of being perceived as the blonde bombshell, a surface-level stereotype that can be less than relatable. That’s not to mention scathing viewer reactions, like those who labeled her as a “bully” and “mean girl” after she went head to head with Midwestern mom Lauren Jean in episode 3.

Falkner is well aware of how Netflix reality fans have labeled her—but she knows herself better than anyone. “I always like to say, 'I'm a nice person, it's just my face,” she jokes over Zoom, a week before the release of the Million Dollar Secret finale.

She hopes viewers begin to see beyond clichés, too. “I want to show other women, whoever they are, that you do not have to be put into a box,” she says. “Your life can be dualistic. You can be pretty and smart, you can be kind and dangerous. You do not have to be limited.”

With the Million Dollar Secret finale out now, Falkner chats with Marie Claire about how her oil rig experience prepared her for the show, the emotional decision she regrets, and what she wants to say to TikTok and Reddit “bullies.”

Marie Claire: What was your upbringing in Alaska like?

Sydnee Falkner: I was born in Colorado. When I was four, my parents moved us up to Alaska with no jobs, no house. My dad's an adventurer, and so they were like, 'Why don't we go try this out for a little bit?' My dad started working in the oil field at their power distribution center. Three days after I graduated high school, he goes, 'Wow, you really gotta make money for college.' I [had] been waitressing since I was 13, but I [didn't] have enough. And he [was] like, 'You're coming up to work with me.'

We would have three- five-week-[long] stints. There are no weekends; there's no time off. You're working 12 to 16-hour days every single day for 35 days straight. And he didn't get me a cushy admin job: He put me with steel-toed boots, Carhartts, and hard hats, down and dirty with the guys. I was smaller than a lot of the guys, so I was the one that was elected to squeeze into these tiny places and try to bring tools in and wrench things apart. It helped me a lot [in Million Dollar Secret] because nobody would ever assume that looking at me, but I can fix a lot of stuff around my house now.

When I worked in the oil field, the sun didn't break from mid-November to mid-January, so you worked in complete darkness. I remember it hit negative 80 with [the] windchill. I was like, 'I can't do this anymore. Send me to Arizona. I'm going to be a young snowbird and figure it out.'

MC: When preparing for Million Dollar Secret, how did you decide to play up the “Scottsdale blonde” persona?

SF: I really did work in bottle service. I lasted two months before I couldn't do it anymore. It was not the job for me. You see me freeze on the show when Sam asks me where, and it's not because I can't name the bars. I was like, Oh I don't think I can namedrop or promote anything.

People look at me and they don't go, 'You're from Alaska, you worked in the oil field, you worked construction,' anything like that. Now, I'm in medical sales, but salespeople are good at reading people, good at talking, and good at negotiating in very subtle ways. I didn't want to give that away as a background, either. I think if I had kept my mouth shut, I would've gone undetected just a little bit longer. But then you have the challenges, and I don't like to lose. So I had to show off a little.

MC: Is there anything you wish you had done differently? Did you ever consider throwing a game, like Lydia or Cara did?

SF: I knew that Cara had thrown [the laser] challenge because she was right there, and I also knew going into it that if Cara and I were teamed up and if we didn't win, I was toast because she had alliances with Sam and Corey. I don't think I would've ever wanted to throw a challenge because I am way too competitive for that, and I needed to be in the trophy rooms. But giving additional information based on the hunches I had is something I wish I would've done. Or not voting Chris off even though he was playing his own game. If I had kept Chris, I would've kept my alliances in the game, and I think it would've had a different outcome.

MC: What was it like to go through that environment where you were a strong player who was put on the chopping block early?

SF: It's not that different from how I grew up, if I'm being honest. My mom will tell you I'm a very serious, old soul type of person. Maybe because of that, I can struggle to relate to people, or people struggle to relate to me. Even though I'm usually emotional or feeling a lot inside, I've learned to not let pressure get to me because you have to be able to make split-second decisions. And this was a game for a million dollars. I have great bonds with the cast now, but at the time, I don't know you, and only one of us is going home with the money. So it was stressful, especially because it seemed like a lot of it was more personal and targeted than strategic. I was a strong player, and I'm glad that I was seen as that as well, because why are you there to play the game otherwise?

MC: It didn't help that you won all the challenges.

SF: Corey maybe got me at the end or tied up with me, but I definitely had the most wins [out of the female players].

It's funny though, my parents watched the show and they're sending it to all their friends and all my dad's friends are calling him. My dad is a subsistence hunter; he feeds our family on animals he hunts. I've gone on one hunt with him, and it [was for] the most coveted tag in Alaska, a Kodiak grizzly tag. It's a very well-regulated hunt; it's for population control, and the bear meat is donated to the Native American families in the area. This is the only thing I've ever hunted in my entire life, and I went with my dad, so all of his friends are calling him during the challenge [in episode 2], and they're going, 'You didn't teach her to shoot skeet?' To be fair, a bear is a way bigger target, and those were little pigeons flying through the air.

MC: The snake challenge in episode 3 was one of the highlights for you. How was it to face your biggest fear?

SF: They cut probably 10 minutes of hysterical crying where people were trying to coax me out from behind the tree. I don't know where I became afraid of them. We used to have a garter sneak when I was little, and it was fine. [The episode] doesn't show it, but Sam's snake was nice and calm. Mine kept trying to come out of the bowl. I had it [in my hand], and I was running like, 'Move, move, move, move, move.' And then they made me touch it again and put it back in for an after shot. I was like, 'I am going to need therapy after this.'

MC: A year later, what are your thoughts on how the show ended?

SF: If it had to be out of those three, I'm not going to lie, I'm glad it was Cara. It was something that was really meaningful to her. My plan going in was playing Cara's game: being quiet, sitting back, observing. I even voted for Lauren in the second round. I knew it was her. They just don't show you the clip of me explaining that. And I didn't vote for Harry in the first round. I voted for Sam, actually.

It would've been really cool if Cara wouldn't have thrown that [laser] challenge [in the finale]. To be fair, she said she knew I was too strong of a competitor to compete against in the final three. So that's a compliment. I will take that. To be the one player that everybody fears, that's cool too.

MC: What are your relationships like with the cast now, after playing such a devious game together?

SF: We all have a group chat. We're all being very supportive with each other through all of this. I'm probably closest with Jamie, Chris, and Kyle. The four of us really bonded, which is funny because Kyle came for me a lot during this show. I had them out this weekend, and we all got to hang out and spend some time together, which was really nice. We all haven't been together since the show filmed, so it was a weird, surreal moment for everyone.

I don't have issues with anyone. I know at the end of the day it was a game and we couldn't be ourselves. That's what you sign up for, and you can't take any of it personally.

MC: How have you been handling the fan discourse and being in the public eye?

SF: For the first five hours, it was really tough to not go on Reddit. I'm really grateful that I did this show at this time because I am so solid in who I am and what I stand for that people who are behind an anonymous account can't affect me. Reddit and TikTok can be nasty. They're bullies actually, which is a little bit ironic. They make it really, really personal instead of it being about the game. That's why I've filtered certain words because you're not coming to my page, disrupting my peace, when you're judging me based off of edited 45-minute footage.

I'm not a huge stranger to it just because I grew up in a really small town. I had the same kids [from] first grade through 12th grade. Bullying was a lot different back then. We didn't have social media to hide behind. But when you are a young, introverted, quiet girl, and you are the one who is consistently left out of everything, rumors will go around about you, again, based on appearance. I definitely didn't peak in high school because I did not look anything like I look now. One of my friends recently posted a picture of us in high school, and I was like, 'Proof I was not the hot mean girl.' It's hard because I feel like I've always been judged based on my appearance, and people don't necessarily want to get to know who I am. That's why I spilled a lot of things when I thought I was going home at the dinner [in episode 5], because I truly believe that people are so much more than their outward appearance or the perception that other people put on them. That's something that I feel very, very strongly about.

It gives me peace knowing that I could never go to someone's social media and say some of these things. I could never find it in my heart to lash out or let someone else affect me that much. So I do ignore them. I actually pray for them. A lot of people are dealing with their own inner wounds, and I hope that they can overcome them and realize it's not all about outward appearance.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.