‘The Amazing Race’: Claire and Derek Respond to Phil Keoghan’s ‘Cocky’ Comment
Claire Rehfuss and Derek Xiao have been a team to watch on The Amazing Race Season 34. The entertaining couple came to the race after competing on Big Brother 23 last year, so they already know their way around a reality TV show. Claire and Derek have already shown off their confidence this season — but are they a little too confident? The team recently responded to The Amazing Race host Phil Keoghan calling Claire and Derek “cocky.”
‘The Amazing Race’ host recently Phil Keoghan called Derek and Claire ‘cocky’
There’s no denying that previous experience with reality TV can provide an advantage on The Amazing Race. Claire and Derek likely know what camera crews look for, and they know how things work behind the scenes. However, Big Brother and The Amazing Race are very different shows, so using the same strategies won’t always work.
In a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, Phil said Derek and Claire may have underestimated the challenges of The Amazing Race and came into it with slightly “cocky” attitudes.
“I think they wouldn’t flinch if I used the word maybe a little cocky, coming into it. Like, ‘We’ve done this before. We’ve competed on television shows before. We know what this is all about,'” Phil said. “But then I think maybe once they got into the race, they kind of realized that it was a little more than they thought it was. In a good way. And in a humbling way. And I think they would be the first to admit that it was a little bit more than they thought it was.”
Derek and Claire said other teams seem to have more confidence at this point
After episode 4 of The Amazing Race 34, which brought the teams to Florence, Italy, Derek and Claire discussed the leg on their YouTube channel, as seen above. That episode happened to be the second half of a Megaleg that featured two difficult Roadblocks: assembling a Ducati bike and chiseling out a sculpture. The Big Brother stars said other teams seemed to complete the tasks more easily than they did.
“I wish we were like Molly [Sinert] and Emily [Bushnell],” Claire said. “Like, [they] were like, ‘Well that was easy, I don’t know what they’re stressed about.'”
Derek added, “I wish we had that energy. … Why was Phil calling us cocky? They have so much confidence! And they carried it throughout the leg of the race. Meanwhile, me and [Claire] are like, dripping sweat at every Pitstop.”
To be fair, Derek did say in another recap video that he and Claire were “confident” they’d win after just the first leg in Munich, Germany, where they reached the Pitstop in first place. So, Phil’s assessment of them being overconfident at first and then changing their tune doesn’t seem too far from the truth.
The ‘Big Brother 23’ couple is among the teams favored to win ‘The Amazing Race’ Season 34
For what it’s worth, Claire and Derek are shaping up to be one of the top teams this season on The Amazing Race. They dominated in the first leg. And even though the team fell behind in episode 2 because of Claire’s trouble with yodeling, they still managed to bring themselves from 10th place to fourth by the end of the second leg. Claire and Derek finished in eighth place at the end of the Megaleg in Italy.
Many fans believe Claire and Derek could win it all this season. Of course, they have tough competition with teams like Molly and Emily or Michael and Marcus Craig. Plus, in a season with no non-elimination legs, anything can happen.
Fans will have to keep up with The Amazing Race Season 34 to see if the “cocky” Claire and Derek make it to the finish line in first place. New episodes of The Amazing Race air on Wednesdays at 10 p.m. ET on CBS.
