When Big Brother Season 23 Houseguest Claire Rehfuss was evicted, everyone stood for their hugs. Many were shocked soon after when Claire announced that she would not be giving any hugs, and would prefer to exit the house without them. Claire grabbed her things and exited the house, and left some wondering if she would end up being a "bitter juror."
I submitted questions for Claire to answer ahead of her trip to the jury house and can say that while I can't confirm whether or not she's bitter about her eviction, she absolutely had a hilariously blunt response as to why she didn't hug her fellow Houseguests after eviction. Claire spoke about her long-time fandom of the CBS reality series, and how she's always felt hugs in the game are "so fake."
I’ve been a fan of Big Brother for so long and the hugs always feel so fake. I don’t owe you any comfort you just sent me out the door! You were happy to send me out, don’t act sad about it. I’m gonna see these people in three weeks at finale night and we can laugh and joke and hug then. I don’t really think I owe them anything. I said bye to Tiffany and Hannah beforehand and everyone else, you know, [shrugs] I don’t really care.
Claire is completely right, and I'm sure she's not the first Big Brother fan to question why everyone hugs to the point it feels disingenuous. Of course, Claire's lack of hugs had some still in the house sweating, as Azah Awasum, Derek Frazier, and Kyland Young later talked about how they think she'll be a bitter juror. Again, I can't personally speak to that since we didn't ask her, but I can say she had a perfectly valid reason for not wanting to go through a gauntlet of jury management hugs after her eviction.
CinemaBlend also spoke to Claire Rehfuss about the goals she had coming into the house and whether she felt she accomplished them. Claire shared some of the benchmarks she accomplished in-game, though later touched on a goal she wasn't sure she was so successful in accomplishing.
Obviously, I didn’t want to be the very first person out. That’s the first goal you gotta get through and then I really wanted to hit jury. I would’ve loved to have won a veto or an HOH. I got the secret HOH, but it kind of feels like it comes with an asterisk. But, I wanted to win comps and I was able to do that, and I wanted to be seen as a threat. I don’t really know if I accomplished [being a threat]. I think this is a weird way to go out as well. I think I accomplished a lot of what I wanted to do other than winning and I was able to avoid a lot of pitfalls like getting in a fight or putting my foot in my mouth, or making someone really, really mad at me. I didn’t want to get in any big blowout fights and I was able to avoid that as well.
Claire didn't feel she was a threat in Big Brother which probably made it all the more confusing she was nominated against Xavier Prather, and then sent home when up against Kyland Young. Those two combined have won a bulk of this season's competitions, and taking at least one of them out would've drastically increased the odds of more socially savvy players to win. They may learn that lesson the hard way after Kyland captured his third HOH win later in the night, but of course, the goals of The Cookout came before personal gameplay
Big Brother airs on CBS Sunday, September 12th at 8:30 p.m. ET, so be sure to note the scheduling change. For more on the Houseguests thoughts and opinions, check out our amazing interview with Britini D'Angelo and her journey and her words of encouragement to other fans with autism.
