'The Amazing Race 34' Winners Derek Xiao and Claire Rehfuss Reveal How the Race Built Their Relationship's Foundation

The "reality romance" also reveals several behind-the-scenes stories, including one Nashville man who wanted money for directions.

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The last time we saw Derek Xiao and Claire Rehfuss on reality TV, it was not victorious. Claire had missed out on a win in Big Brother 23 in brutal fashion, while Derek went from a BB fan favorite to a midseason boot on The Challenge: USA. But their time on The Amazing Race 34 made it clear that they are far stronger together than apart. The couple used strategic thinking and a reliable skill set to become one of the season's frontrunners. And they kept running to the front of the pack when it mattered most, as a final leg in Nashville had them taking the lead they never relinquished, ending their journey on a high note in Music City.

Derek and Claire came onto the race having dated for eight months, and admitted after the fact they weren't sure how well they would work together. They would get an answer immediately, as, despite the hectic nature of the opening leg "Scramble," their calmer heads prevailed and they got the first first-place finish of the season. But they soon learned that any Amazing Race task can do you in. Over the next few legs, Claire's struggles with the Roadblocks send them from the front to the back of the pack. Luckily, their skills in other areas (namely navigation) made sure the Lord and Lady of the Latrine's race did not immediately go down the toilet. It took a little while, but when the couple finally finished in first again in France, Claire felt the pessimism of Austria and Italy was gone. Now all that was ahead of them was possibility.

At the beginning of the season, Derek and Claire outlined their basic strategy. They may not be the fastest team, but if they can outthink the other pairs, they can outrace them. And that's exactly what happened. Even when they were in the deepest of holes, they always made up time by employing strategies and shortcuts to make up time. And arguably, that's what won them the race. Going into the final leg, Claire had purposely frontloaded the Roadblocks to have Derek do the later ones, assuming they would be more physical. Lo and behold, the final Roadblock involved climbing a bridge. That secured a lead for them that they never gave up. Even in the final memory challenge, with all the teams caught up, the combination of Derek's piano skills and Claire's impressive memory ensured they would be the first to finish. And indeed it did, leading to the couple passionately embracing--and displaying their trademark goofiness--at the finish line.

Now out of the race, Derek and Claire talk with Parade.com about how their preparation and strategy played into the final leg, when they lost and got confidence back in their racing, and how a line they fed about the race strengthening their relationship actually came true.

Related: Everything to Know About The Amazing Race 34

So, as was mentioned several times throughout the final leg, it seemed neck-and-neck for a lot of it. But I'd be remiss not to mention that you were in first place since the Roadblock and never lost that lead. Was there any confidence when you had that lead, or were you worried about the teams breathing down your necks?
Derek Xiao: No, my only thought was, "Don't fumble this." (Laughs.) My thought was, "If we can just maintain this for the next two hours, we're going to win a million dollars." Every decision that we made after that bridge was a million-dollar decision. And I said this to every single person that we got directions from. I was like, "These are the most important directions you will ever give in your life. I'm in a race right now for a million dollars. And this is the last thing I need."

And one of the people I asked directions from called my bluff! And he was like, "So how much are these directions worth to you?" (Laughs.) I was like, "$1,000, man. I'll Venmo you $1,000." And I was joking because, obviously, I can't Venmo him. And he was like, "Okay, bet." He holds out his phone, pulls Venmo, hands it to me, and he's like, "Yeah, this is me right here." I was like, "Wait, dude, I don't actually have my phone!" (Laughs.)

(Laughs.) Okay, so technically, you won $999,000.
Derek: (Laughs.) Yeah, I know. I called his bluff, and I turned to his friend, and I was like, "Will you help me out?" And his friend was like, "Yeah," just undercut him out of the market.
Claire Rehfuss: It was always like, "We're in the lead. We can see it; we can see it." But we watch the show, so we know memory can trip you up. Anyone can pass anyone at memory. Someone can just shoot out there so quick. I remember even as we're running to memory, Derek thought we were running to Phil. We had dropped off all the guitars, and Derek's like, "Claire, this is it! We're gonna win a million dollars." I'm like, "I don't think so. We haven't done memory yet."
Derek: I was like, "Claire, this is a historic season! They're not doing a final memory challenge." It really threw me off because I know the final pitstop is always at a large stadium or something monumental. And the place that we did the final challenge, we got handed tickets to go there. So it said, "Two tickets. Amazing Race. Admit One. And I was like, "Oh my god. This is it, Claire! These are two tickets to go to a stadium." I didn't think they were going to have two stadiums in the same way.

Who would have thought there would be more than one big concert hall in Nashville?
Derek: Yeah. I was like, "What is this? Music City or something?" (Laughs.)

I think, whether you expected it or not, that final challenge was a perfect merging of your skills. Derek, you have experience playing piano, which we found out earlier in the season. And Claire, you've proven as recently as the last leg how good you are with memory. Did you have the same confidence in that task based on that?
Derek: It was the confidence of knowing we could do it. But the debilitating nerves of, "I can't even move my right pinky toe right now." (Laughs.) I think it was that confidence internally that we knew we could get through it that actually made us able to move our bodies. But my mind was completely falling apart. By the time we're getting out of there, I don't think I could have told you the name of the first city we went to. My mind, body, everything was shutting down slowly. And it was one final push to get out of there. But it was honestly the perfect merging of our two talents. Because, again, I'm a piano prodigy. I probably could have done concert piano. (Laughs.)
Claire: He's good at piano.
Derek:  I'm not that good at it. But I played a lot of piano. And Claire has a great memory. And this challenge was basically "play these notes on a piano and play them in the order that you've seen everything."
Claire: And play it quick.
Derek: So one thing that Claire and I haven't talked about in any of our recap episodes, but that we did every leg of the race--and we actually learned it from Penn and Kim--is to draw, take notes, and remember everything that you see along the way. So anytime I was doing a Roadblock, Claire would be at the sides drawing stuff, remembering it. Or if Claire was doing a Roadblock., that's what I will be doing on the sides of my notebook that I lost. (Laughs.)

So at the very end, before we started the leg in our hotel room, Claire and I consolidated all of our notes. And we made this five-page document that recorded everything we'd seen along the way that was of note. "This is exactly what Phil was wearing. These are the hats the greeter had. This is the color of the car that we built. This is the fruit that we put inside." So we had all of it down. So when we saw it was a memory challenge, we were like, "We can do this. We've seen all of this."
Claire: Granted, you say that. But then, for Petra, you were like, "Egyptian hieroglyphics. Was that in Petra?" And I was like, "Derek, what?!" (Laughs.)

(Laughs.) "The document! Refer to the document!"
Derek: (Laughs.) I was freaking out. Because they have red herrings. This isn't even a red herring. It was just wrong.

A totally different fish.
Derek: Entirely different. This was like a whale. I was like, "Oh, that might be it." It was the Pyramids of Giza, straight up. It was just a straight-up pyramid. I was like, "Sand! Claire, obviously, this is Petra." And she's like, "This is not Petra!" (Laughs.)

Well, I think your preparation going into the memory challenge is a perfect microcosm of your general idea to always find a strategy or way to outthink your opponents. And you can argue one of the reasons you won is because you decided to frontload a lot of the early Roadblocks to Claire in the hopes that the later Roadblocks that Derek would have to do would be more physical. Were you surprised strategies like that ended up paying off the way they did?
Derek: 1000%. Okay, thank you. Because hindsight is 20/20.
Claire: Hindsight, the best thing we ever did.
Derek: Because, at the moment, we didn't know how many Roadblocks there were going to be. We didn't even know if there was going to be a final Roadblock. We could have shown up, and they could have said, "These are all challenges. One partner does one; the other partner does the next." So we were making a bet, and the bet completely paid off. But we had no idea going along the way if this was actually going to work. I wasn't sure if I was ever going to get the opportunity to do my sixth Roadblock, or if we were going to show up and it was going to be like, "Okay, nope, it's just gonna be drawing straws." So the fact that I was actually able to do the bridge challenge, I think, was huge for us.
Claire: And the fact that the last two Roadblocks were just physical heights. 
Derek: What we bet on was what it was! What if we showed up, and it was like, "Okay now, Derek, you're gonna do the piano challenge all by yourself."
Claire: I was really nervous about that. This Roadblock could be anything. And so we were really training Derek for memory. But all the rules said, "No one can do more than six." So as Derek said, you had no guarantee of anything. In hindsight, fantastic; great job. Maybe they'll change it. I mean, I think that on all these shows, you can learn a pattern and use it for your benefit.
Derek: But it's not guaranteed. It was more likely it was going to be a physical or heights challenge at the end. But we had no idea. It easily could have been something else. And it's just completely at the whim of what production does at the beginning of the season. We were just betting on past precedent.
Claire: Very fun with it played out, though.

Oh, absolutely. A million-dollar payout at that. Speaking of strategy, you two come from a social strategy background. And though there were no U-Turns on the race, Marcus told me that he felt other teams were working together to box him and Marcus out. Were you strategically helping teams to help get out the bigger threats?
Derek: This is a bit of an aside. But at the start of the season, before the season even started, we're all sequestered in hotel rooms. We haven't even met the other teams. We all get called down to a meeting area. And they read us the rules of the game. We're all standing in a circle wearing masks. We can't talk to anyone, but we can see people's faces. So we're standing along with all 12 teams. And then the executive producers are telling us the rules. And they're like, "Oh, and also just giving you guys a heads up. There's gonna be no U-Turns on this season of The Amazing Race." And I audibly cheered. (Laughs.) I screamed. I was like, "Oh, my God, let's go!" I finished my scream, and I realized...quiet. No one said anything. (Laughs.)

I just thought everyone was going to be excited about this. And no one made a single sound. Everyone's staring at me. And I was like, "Oh, okay. You guys were not scared about people using a U-Turn on you." So I think that kind of sets the tone. Claire and I were coming here to compete hard. And the only thing I was scared about was, if a team competes too hard, other teams are like, "Okay, we got to get them out of here." And I was scared we were going to be the team that people were like, "We gotta get them out of here." So from the very get-go, I was ready to go out of the gates, guns blazing. Especially with no U-Turn, there's no reason for us not to try.
Claire: And we were very afraid we'd be the team that gets boxed out. So we really were trying to work a social game so that wouldn't be the case. If there was an alliance, we would be in it. Or if there was anything, we would be in it.
Derek: At every point in the race. I thought teams were working together. I thought every other team was working with each other.
Claire: (Laughs.) That's Big Brother PTSD.
Derek: 100%. I ever saw two teams at the same challenge, I was like, "Alliance." (Laughs.)
Claire: But I don't think we ever were working with the intention of boxing someone out. I won't lie; Michael and Marcus were such a strong tea! We were definitely like, "If they go, that would be great."
Derek: I don't even know how you could box someone out. There's nothing you can really do to hurt someone else's game without U-Turns.
Claire: And especially that leg, it was so spread out that. What, we would have waited 30 minutes to help Molly and Emily? That's not really worth it.

You talk about coming out guns blazing. And you did come in first place in the opening leg. But then you immediately struggle, hitting your lowest points in the race. Claire, you said in France that you were feeling pessimistic about winning until then. What was it like to go from such highs to lows?
Claire: Getting first in the first leg, we never thought that was gonna happen. We had prepped; we had trained. But I was like, "There are 12 teams here."
Derek: I chugged a beer on the first leg! I was like, "Claire; we're not in first place. Let's relax. This guy's offering me his beer. I'm gonna chug this really quick." We had no idea we were in first.
Claire: We hadn't seen any other teams the entire time since we left Roll. And so, actually getting first, we were like, "Oh my gosh!" But Phil called us cocky in his preseason recap. And it was from that first leg, because we got first, and we just ran a good leg. We never got lost. Derek really did very well at the smashing. We never encountered a huge setback. And so Derek was like, "We can just keep doing this. We're just gonna get first every single time." And I was more trepidatious, I think. I was like, "Oh, I don't know."

And then, the next leg, we really falter. At one point, we're in tenth. And we bounce back up to fourth. Even though we got fourth, which is amazing, it was still like, "Yeah, but we were tenth. We fell from first to tenth." And so we realized, yes, we are going to run into issues. We are not the perfect Amazing Race team. And then to go in the next leg, and now we're in the bottom half, it was very demoralizing. How were we so good in that first leg? Now I'm really doing a lot of the Roadblocks, and it's not going so well. And that was a huge blow to my morale and how I was feeling about myself. I think we were both getting very frustrated with each other. But we knew that wasn't where we wanted to be. And so after Domme, we really were like, "Let's actually be critical and really evaluate what we are doing wrong. How can we fix this?" I had started getting a little bit more confidence because I started doing okay at challenges. 
Derek: Our lowest point was after the Ducati roadblock. On the drive to go to Florence, I remember at one point, I was thinking, "I don't think we can even win this race."
Claire: You weren't thinking it. You said it. You said it to me! (Laughs.) You said, "I don't know. I don't think we can win this, Claire." And I was like, "How dare you say that?!" (Laughs.)
Derek: (Laughs.) My mindset going onto the race was that Claire was going to be the one that's carrying the team and was good at Roadblocks. And I was like, "Okay, our best person can't even beat the other teams. How are we possibly going to be able to beat these other teams? You are our secret weapon, and we're still losing! What hope do we have?"

And I think that changed when Jordan came around. We were running through Petra, and we hit the slide puzzle. And I think this is when we hit our stride. And we're like, "Okay, we just haven't been getting things that play to our strengths. We've been doing poorly in building challenges, musical challenges. We just have to remember we have things that are our secret weapon. We just have to play to that." And I think that was our mentality moving forward from that. And coming out of that Roadblock, having done the slide puzzle, feeling good about it, we were like, "Okay, we just have to change our mindset and orient that we are capable and confident."

When The Amazing Race finished filming, it had been a little under a year since you had met each other, let alone been together. And you talked at the finish line about how you weren't even sure how you would work together on the race. What was it like to learn so much about this new relationship that you took past Nashville and beyond?
Derek: I remember at the start line, Molly and Emily stepped forward. And they were introducing themselves, and they're like, "This is my sister, Emily. She's my twin, but I actually didn't meet her until last year. And this is only our 12th time seeing each other." And I was like, (Raises hand.) "This is me and Claire's eleventh time seeing each other! We actually know each other less. Don't get that mixed up, okay, all right. We're basically--"
Claire: Strangers.
Derek: When we started the race, we had been dating for eight months, that's almost a year. I had unfounded confidence in our relationship, illusions of grandeur around how strong our relationship was. And as soon as we started, I realized, "Oh, no, this is not cement for our foundation."
Claire: "This could go downhill!" (Laughs.) We both realized that this could potentially not go well.
Derek: So that's kind of the lowest point. I was like, "Wait, we have some serious cracks in our foundation." But the great thing about the race is you can't leave the room without your partner. So you really have to work those out and figure out what are the different things that we need from each other? How do we communicate best? And you have to answer all these questions that, with Claire and I, aren't things that we talked about. We thought we had the answers; we did not have the answers. So the race forced us to break through on some of those things. And coming out of the race now, we have the foundation I thought we had. But it's not quicksand anymore. It's actually set, and it's cement. Until we go into the race again, it becomes quicksand. (Laughs.)
Claire: It really is such a cliche of, "We're using this race as a test for our relationship." And I didn't think that would be the case, honestly. I mean, I said it in interviews.
Derek: That was kind of our thing. Because we were like, "I don't know why the race would want us on. We're just a really random couple. We just started dating. We don't have that good of a story with each other."
Claire: We feel like very normal people at all times. I know we're a "reality romance." But we're just very normal.
Derek: So Claire and I were workshopping, "Okay, what can be our story, our pitch about us? Let's say we're using this as an experience to build a relationship, as a test, as a crucible for ourselves." And I remember every interview we had, that's what we said. We're like, "We're doing this to test our relationship, to grow." And I'd be saying the words, but in my mind, I'd be like, "What does this even mean?"
Claire: "We're just gonna ace the test!"

Right, it's like you're telling the teacher what they want to hear without actually learning anything. But the interesting part is, the fiction became reality!
Claire: Very much.
Derek: It literally did.
Claire: You can fail the test! I said at the pit stop, "This has shown me a lot about a relationship. It showed me that we will encounter hardship. But at the end of the day, we can solve it together."

Next, read our interview with Aubrey Ares and David Hernandez, who were eliminated in The Amazing Race 34 Episode 11.