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A few teams on The Amazing Race Season 34 have emerged as frontrunners, including Derek Xiao and Claire Rehfuss. The duo, who initially met on Big Brother 23, have proven they are worthy competitors in the first three legs but do they have what it takes to win the $1 million grand prize?

Derek Xiao and Claire Rehfuss, who star in 'The Amazing Race' Season 34 on CBS, run to the starting line. Derek wears a mustard yellow jacket over a light purple shirt and gray sweatpants. Claire wears a dark green jacket over a purple shirt and black leggings.
Derek Xiao and Claire Rehfuss | Photo: Kit Karzen/CBS

Derek and Claire are one of the teams competing in ‘The Amazing Race’ Season 34

Big Brother 23 brought Derek and Claire together, but they seem to have a better grasp on The Amazing Race than they did on their original show. However, they’re not competing against one of the best alliances of all time in The Amazing Race.

Derek and Claire mastered the “Scramble” twist in the premiere and finished the leg in first place. But in the second leg, they struggled a bit during a Roadblock that involved yodeling. This set them back, and they left the Roadblock in second to last place. However, they caught up and finished the leg in fourth place.

Then in the third leg, Derek and Claire stumbled into trouble again at a Roadblock where Claire had to assemble a motorcycle. But they still left the challenge in sixth place, so things are looking up for the couple again.

The duo shares how they were feeling going into the second leg

Derek and Claire recap every episode of The Amazing Race Season 34 on Derek’s YouTube channel. And for the second episode, they discussed their mindset going into the second leg after finishing first in the first leg.

“I was pretty confident going into it,” Derek shared. “I was like, ‘Claire, I think we’re just going to win The Amazing Race right now.’ I don’t know how else to say this.” Claire interjected, “We’re about to sweep,” Derek continued, “‘Congratulations, you have $500,000.’ So going into the second leg, I think I brought that same mentality into it. And I was like, ‘If we just keep doing what we’re doing, I don’t know when we’re ever going to lose.'”

Whereas Derek was confident in their ability to win The Amazing Race Season 34, Claire was a bit more hesitant.

“Meanwhile, I’m going into this second leg very, very nervous because we agreed before we went on basically that we would try to alternate who’s doing what Roadblock,” Claire revealed. “So my mindset going into it was already anxiety. I was already nervous. I didn’t want to let Derek down.”

As fans know, Claire had problems with the yodeling challenge. But she overcame it, and she and Derek finished respectfully in fourth place.

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Do Derek and Claire have what it takes to win ‘The Amazing Race’ Season 34?

Based on the first few episodes, Derek and Claire are our picks to win The Amazing Race Season 34.

They absolutely dominated in the premiere. As Derek and Claire pointed out in their YouTube video, they finished first, and the next team behind them didn’t get to the pit stop until 30 minutes after them. And despite their struggles in the second leg, they rose through the ranks and solidified their spot at the top.

Derek and Claire communicate very well and have excellent navigation skills. We can see them making it very far in the race and beating the other teams in the final leg. But we’ll just have to wait and see if their impressive start prolongs their time in the race.

The Amazing Race Season 34 airs Wednesdays at 10 p.m. ET on CBS.

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