Claire Rehfuss

Claire Renee Rehfuss was a houseguest on Big Brother 23 (US).

Claire begun her game on a high note, winning the position of captain of the Queens team on the first day. And two important members she chose were Tiffany Mitchell and Kyland Young, who helped keep her safe as the Cookout began to run things behind the scenes. Of course, Claire was responsible for her own safety too. Quite literally, when she won the final Wildcard Competition, guaranteeing herself safety until jury. Unfortunately, once that immunity expired, she became a new pawn for the block. Kyland put her up first, initially targeting his former teammate for wanting to go after Cookout members. Then she became a pawn in Sarah Beth Steagall’s plan to backdoor her close friend Derek Xiao, a position that left her devastated.

Luckily, Claire survived both those bouts on the block. And once again, it was the final week of a twist that gave her power in the game. This time it was the High Roller Room, as she ended up winning the Coin of Destiny. She usurped Tiffany as HoH but kept her nominations the same, following through on Tiffany’s plan to evict Sarah Beth. And when Tiffany won HoH the next week, she was ready to cement herself in the top 6. Unfortunately, the Cookout had other plans. Tiffany had her sights set on getting rid of Alyssa Lopez, making Claire the last non-Cookout person left. But Alyssa won the much-needed veto, making Claire the only person left outside of the Cookout that she could've targeted. Torn between betraying the Cookout and her closest ally, Tiffany told Claire what she had to do. In an incredibly emotionally visceral scene, through her tears, Claire said she understood the cause Tiffany was fighting for. But Claire refused to give up until her last minute in the house, using her eviction speech to paint Xavier Prather as the one to beat. She was then evicted by a 4-1 vote during the first part of the first Double Eviction. She placed 8th and became the 4th member of the jury.

Biography

Claire Rehfuss Biography

Claire Rehfuss
Age: 25
Hometown: Chagrin Falls, Ohio
Current City: New York City
Occupation: AI Engineer

Three words that describe you: Clever, driven, and spunky.

Favorite activities: Reading novels (especially non-fiction or fantasy), playing my Nintendo Switch, and completing crosswords but I’ve also started constructing puzzles too! During quarantine, I also became passionate about going on long walks in Central Park to bird watch and doing Yoga in my tiny apartment.

Who are your favorite Houseguest duos? Those who became best friends in the Big Brother house or had a showmance?
Lisa and Danielle from BB3! After Lisa lost her showmance partner and then pulled one of the most CUTTHROAT moves we’ve ever seen—not voting him back in—they were able to link up, adapt, and run the game. Similarly, Allison and Jun who paired up at the end of BB4. Both women played such smart floater games, and while I couldn’t play that style of game, I respect how they evolved the game forward. Nowadays we rarely see strong, dynamic female duos which I definitely want to change!

What are you most excited about living inside the Big Brother house?
Just being about to live inside of the house that I watch 24/7 during the summer! I eat, sleep, and breathe the Live Feeds and obsess over the moves that players are making. I used to leave college frat parties if I got word that something big was going down on the Feeds, and now I get to be what’s happening on the Feeds! I’m excited to stir up drama and create chaos on the show that I love.

What do you think will be the most difficult part about living inside the Big Brother house?
Pretending to like talking about stuff like protein, intermittent fasting, or sports with the Alpha Bros that will be in there. I work in a male dominated industry where I often stick out like a sore thumb, so I’ve learned how to blend in and get along with a wide range of personalities. But appeasing fragile male egos is still very tedious!

What is your favorite past moment on Big Brother?
My personal favorite past moment isn’t really a moment, it was an experience. Watching Vanessa Rouso from Big Brother 17 play the game on the Live Feeds and show. It was my very first season and I was blown away by how Vanessa could get herself out of any situation when her back was up against the wall. I love it when someone is willing to take chances, make mistakes, and get messy!

What is your strategy for winning the game?
I’ll win with my intelligence, drive, and adaptability! I’ll sniff out the big threats quickly and navigate my way through the game by creating advantageous alliances. I believe I’ll thrive in a chaotic environment, something I learned from my childhood and from working in such a rapidly changing field, so I’ll try to cause disruptions and create entropy in the game whenever possible. Hopefully, people will underestimate me the first couple of weeks and give me time to build up relationships before I unleash my cut-throat game play.

I’m also going to try to get out the strong alpha dudes early, that way I don’t have as many challenge threats or egos that I have to tiptoe around. I’d love to have a strong, small team of women working with me. It’s a cliche that “women’s alliances don’t work in Big Brother,” but it’s only because of the women that are chosen to be a part of them. I’ve found women to be my most loyal friends and I have the ability to quickly read people so I’m confident I’ll find fellow black widows.

My life’s motto is…
“It’s better to have a bad story than no story!”

What would you take into the house and why?
-My e-book reader, so that I could distract myself.
-One of my stuffed animals, to remind me of home.
-A deck of cards because I love playing games and maybe I could finally teach myself magic tricks!

Fun facts about yourself:
-I was one of the first women to graduate with a Data Science Engineering degree from the University of Michigan.
-I’ve written code that’s been on satellites, used in national election campaigns, and by many of the top Fortune 500 companies.
-I competed in speed programming competitions in college and have placed in a 20,000 person Hackathon before!
-My last name means Deer Foot in German! Which is fitting because many family members (myself included) have two partially or totally webbed toes.^[1]

Player History - Big Brother 23 (US)

Competition History

Week 1	HOH Part 1	Team Captain
	HOH Part 2	Loss
	HOH Part 3	Ineligible
	Wildcard	Not Selected
	POV	Not Picked
Week 2	HOH	Loss
	Wildcard	On Immune Team
	POV	Loss
Week 3	HOH	Loss
	Wildcard	Not Selected
	POV	Not Picked
Week 4	HOH	Loss
	Wildcard	Win
	POV	Loss
Week 5	HOH	Loss
Week 5	POV	Loss
Week 6	HOH	Loss
	High Roller	On the Board
	POV	Loss
	POV Bet	Loss
Week 7	HOH	Loss
	High Roller	Ineligible
	POV	Loss
Week 8	HOH	Loss
	High Roller	Win
	HOH Coin Toss	Win
	POV	Loss
Week 9	HOH	Previous HOH
Week 9	POV	Not Picked

Claire was the Secret HOH in Week 8 after winning the High Roller Competition and calling the coin toss correctly, but to keep her reign a secret, she was required to play and throw the Week 9 HOH competition.

Have/Have-Not History

Week 1	Have
Week 2	Have
Week 3	Have-Not
Week 4	Have
Week 5	Have
Week 6	Have
Week 7	Have
Week 8	Have
Week 9	Have-Not

BB Bucks History

	Beg. Bal	Gain/Loss		End Bal.
Week 1	Twist Not Active
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
Week 5
Week 6	0	+50	-50	=0
Week 7	0	+100	-0	=100
Week 8	100	+100		=200
Week 8	200	+50	-250	=0
Week 9	BB Bucks Phase Over

After the conclusion of the Week 8 Head of Household competition, all houseguests randomly chose an envelope to open after receiving their weekly payment from America. In addition to the 100 BB Bucks from America, the envelope granted Claire 50 BB Bucks.

Voting History

Week	Position	Voted for	With Majority?
1	–	Travis Long	Yes
2	Team Immunity	Frenchie French	Yes
3	–	Brent Champagne	Yes
4	Wildcard	Whitney Williams	Yes
5	Immune	Christian Birkenberger	Yes
6	Vetoed	Britini D'Angelo	Yes
7	Nominated	–	–
8	Secret HOH	Sarah Beth Steagall*	–
9	Post-POV Nominee	–	–
Finale	Jury Member	Xavier Prather	Yes

On Week 8, as the Secret Head of Household, Claire was prompted to cast a secret tiebreaker vote in case the eviction vote tied. However, the vote did not tie and her vote was invalid.

HOH History

	Original Nominees			Post-Veto Nominees			Intended Target
Week 8 (Secret)	Kyland	Sarah Beth	Punishment Xavier	Kyland	Evicted Sarah Beth	Punishment Nominee Vetoed	Sarah Beth

In Week 8, the Punishment Nominee was Vetoed and not replaced, so Claire's Secret HOH ended with two nominees after starting with three.

Post Big Brother

Derek and Claire TAR34 — Derek and Claire's Cast Photo for *The Amazing Race 34*

Claire and fellow season 23 houseguest Derek Xiao revealed about 2 weeks after the season finale that they were dating, having pursued their connection while in the Jury House.^[2]
Claire and Derek competed on the 34th season of The Amazing Race.^[3] After winning three legs throughout the season, they won $2,500 each, alongside trips to Bangkok, Thailand and London, England. They made it to the final leg and following a very close race, they ended up finishing in first place and winning the whole season, the second Big Brother team to win The Amazing Race following Cody Nickson & Jessica Graf.
Claire and Derek appeared in the premiere of The Amazing Race 35, handing clues to the teams after their completion of the first Roadblock.
Claireattended the wedding of fellow Amazing Race castmates Aubrey Ares and David Hernandez in November 2023.^[4]

Trivia

Claire is the only Team Captain to make it to the jury phase on Big Brother 23 (US).
Claire always voted with the majority, and is the highest placing Big Brother 23 HouseGuest to do so.
Claire is the only jury Member to not win a Head of Household or Power of Veto Competition, though won the Coin of Destiny which essentially made her the HOH.
Claire was a replacement houseguest for Christie Valdiserri, who was slated to be on Big Brother 23 (US), but got dropped from the cast due to testing positive for COVID-19.