‘The Amazing Race 34’: Derek Explains His Reaction to Claire’s Panic Attack in Episode 10, ‘I Was Confused’
Claire Rehfuss faced her fear of heights on The Amazing Race Season 34 — and it didn’t go well. After completing a high-wire walk 400 feet in the air, Claire broke down in tears and struggled to catch her breath as her fear took over. Her boyfriend and teammate, Derek Xiao, didn’t seem to do much to comfort Claire during her panic attack, which rubbed some Amazing Race fans the wrong way. In a recent recap video, Derek and Claire reflected on the Roadblock, with Derek explaining his reaction.
Claire faced her fear of heights on ‘The Amazing Race 34’
Episode 10 saw the final five teams complete a Megaleg in Spain. The Roadblock clue asked which teammates had been paying attention, so Claire volunteered because of her memory skills. However, she quickly discovered that this was no simple memory challenge. The Roadblock required its participants to walk on a high wire overlooking a waterfall on the Puente Nuevo, pick the Andalusian flag out of a lineup, and then walk back.
A deathly fear of heights made this task almost unbearable for Claire. She snapped at Aubrey Ares, who tried talking to Claire to calm her down, and said it was a mistake for her to volunteer. And though Claire made it across the wire and back with the correct flag, she was still overcome with emotion.
Derek explained his reaction to Claire’s panic attack after the Roadblock in ‘The Amazing Race 34’ Episode 10
As Claire handed the next clue over to Derek, she began to have a panic attack. He leaned over to check on her but then seemingly encouraged her to keep moving. In a Reddit discussion of the episode, some fans thought Derek could have done more for his girlfriend.
“Derek’s reaction to Claire’s breakdown was …. [side eye emoji] ok then,” one fan wrote.
“They could have easily taken a five-minute break. They definitely knew there were two teams behind them that had yet to even get harnessed,” another person commented.
“Derek, hug her,” another user wrote with a crying emoji.
Thankfully, Claire doesn’t seem too upset with Derek over his reaction. In the couple’s most recent recap video, as seen above, Claire said she “really didn’t want to be fussed over” while she was crying like that.
“I’m like, ‘I want to just be able to deal with this by myself, and then we can move on,'” she added.
Meanwhile, Derek said that he was “confused” by Claire’s breakdown because he reacts to stress differently. His response in that situation would likely have been to cry before the stressful moment or during it. So, he struggled to understand why Claire panicked after she finished the challenge.
“If you watch, I’m almost like, in a daze trying to process what’s going on in front of me,” Derek said. “I don’t really know what to do, so I was like, ‘The only thing I do know is, we have to go to the Pit Stop!'”
Derek and Claire finished the leg in third place
After all was said and done, Claire and Derek made it to the Pit Stop in third place. Aubrey and her teammate, David Hernandez, offered to wait while Claire collected herself, but Claire waved them ahead.
“It would have been nice to get second, but also, it wasn’t happening. … I was not in a state where I was going to be able to sprint to the finish line,” Claire said in the recap.
In episode 11, the teams will head to Iceland and race for a spot in the finale. This time, it looks like Derek will be the one reaching new heights while climbing a giant rock structure.
New episodes of The Amazing Race air on Wednesdays at 9 p.m. ET on CBS.
