Claire Rehfuss explained why she did not hug her fellow houseguests amid her Big Brother eviction Thursday night. It was a rollercoaster of a last week inside of the Big Brother house for Claire. Initially, Claire was excited after her best ally Tiffany Mitchell won her second Head of Household competition. Claire was anticipating being safe for yet another week.
It was not until after the veto competition was played that both Claire and Tiffany's entire Big Brother game changed. Alyssa Lopez, who Tiffany originally nominated alongside Xavier Prather, won the Power of Veto. This was the one person Tiffany did not want to win because she was the target. Since Tiffany had to think of a replacement nominee, she was torn between her dominating six person Cookout alliance and her best ally Claire. Tiffany ultimately decided to nominate Claire; however, she did give her an emotional warning prior to the veto ceremony.
Although Claire put up a good fight, she was ultimately evicted with a 3-2 vote. Following the vote count reveal, Claire declined hugs from her fellow houseguests as she departed from the Big Brother house. Now, she is explaining why she did not follow in the tradition of hugging everyone prior to leaving. In an interview with EW, Claire admitted, "I think that hugging in this game has become so fake." In the moment, it was perceived by viewers that Claire opted out of hugs because she was very angry, which is understandable because this could be considered to be one of the worst betrayals in Big Brother history. Claire did not hold back as she continued on to note that she does not "owe anyone a hug," especially because they had just evicted her.
The only people Claire claims she did hug before leaving was Tiffany as well as Hannah Chaddha, who gave Claire a sympathy vote in an effort to better her own jury management. As for everyone else, Claire felt she did not owe them anything. As she left, she told them all that she would see them on finale night in a few weeks. Claire added,"They aren't sorry that they're evicting me. They were happy to evict me and I'm not going to hug them and pretend like they're my best friend." Prior to being cast, Claire was a super-fan of the show. She has dreamed of competing in the Big Brother house for years. Luckily for her, Claire was added to the cast last minute after Christie Valdiserri tested positive for COVID-19 which ultimately disqualified her from the season. Now, Claire's dreams of winning have been cut short.
As this crazy week comes to an end, Claire is headed to the jury house to join Britini D'Angelo, Derek Xiao and Sarah Beth Steagall. She definitely has a lot to tell her fellow jury members, which can ultimately affect the way they all vote for a winner on finale night in just a few short weeks. There is no doubt the jurors will be surprised to see Claire, let alone to learn that she left under Tiffany's HOH reign.
Big Brother 23 airs on Sundays, Wednesdays and Thursdays at 8pm EST on CBS.
Source: EW