Former Big Brother houseguests Derek Xiao and Claire Rehfuss have officially called it quits.
“Hi everyone, after four wonderful years together, Derek and I have decided to end our relationship,” Claire, 29, wrote via her Instagram Stories on Saturday, September 20. “Nothing dramatic happened, just the realization that we’re different people who want different things.”
She added, “We still care deeply about each other [and] are grateful for the time we shared and will remain friends. Thank you for all the love and support, it truly means so much. We hope that by sharing, we can be given the space and grace to move forward without any speculation or drama.”
Claire’s statement was jointly signed by herself and Derek, 28, alongside a purple heart emoji. Derek also shared the breakup message onto his page, in addition to reposting Claire’s post.
Claire and Derek met in Big Brother season 23 house in 2021, but only started dating after their eliminations and subsequent sequester as jury members.
“I think that we both really felt the chemistry once we got to jury house and could really connect with each other,” Claire exclusively told Us Weekly in October 2021. “We would stay up late talking every single night and we just really developed a bond.”
Derek echoed Claire’s sentiments at the time, noting they would stay “up all night just talking until 5:00 a.m.” every day.
“That’s when I started really thinking like, ‘Wait a second, why didn’t this happen in the house? There’s such a strong connection and chemistry between us,’” Derek recalled.” I think that was the beginning of us thinking about what this could be. I knew from week one that Claire was my type. I guess I just never let myself explore that beyond just a friendship.”
After Big Brother wrapped, Derek and Claire returned to New York City and started dating. They ultimately moved to California together in 2023 — one year after winning The Amazing Race.
“It’s surreal. It’s just unbelievable. It’s so amazing. What a fantastic opportunity,” Claire told Us in December 2022 of winning the $1 million prize with her then-boyfriend. “I understand why people [were] like, ‘You go on the race and you’re gonna break up or you’re gonna make it work.’ We just were really required to talk about, like, how do we communicate, how do we wanna solve problems? And be very honest and be very real with each other in a way that I think a lot of couples don’t have to be, necessarily, and still be happy.”