Warning! The following contains spoilers from Big Brother 23's Week 7 eviction. Read at your own risk!
Derek Xiao battled since his first week in the Big Brother house, but despite his and viewers' best efforts, he wasn't able to overcome a Week 7 backdoor nomination by Sarah Beth Steagall. Now that he's in the jury house with it all behind him, Derek X has some thoughts on what he would've done if he survived, his regrets about his game, and has a message for the Houseguest he evicted, Christian Birkenberger.
I got a chance to submit questions for Derek Xiao as he made his way to the jury house and got some answers behind the rise and fall of his game. When asked about his biggest regret about his gameplay, Derek X was sure he knew what Big Brother fans may have guessed his response would be.
This will not come as a surprise to anyone, but my biggest regret was not playing that stupid roulette wheel. I should’ve spent my BB Bucks while I had a chance. But, at a larger level, I think my regret is that I ended up feeling too safe. I thought I had a good handle on the game but in Big Brother you have to be constantly questioning your assumptions and trying to ask yourself what is going on in the house. I think I stopped asking myself that question and that’s when I ended up getting evicted.
Derek Xiao had expressed in Big Brother episodes that he felt he was in a good spot, but fans knew the situation was different. With Sarah Beth Steagall as Head of Household, The Cookout only had Claire Rehfuss, Alyssa Lopez, and Derek X as nomination choices that would keep their six-person alliance safe. Kyland Young was able to effectively steer Sarah Beth to help The Cookout, and backdoor Derek X to keep the blood of his eviction off their hands.
Derek Xiao felt safe in the house so he didn't play for a chance at safety via the roulette wheel, but he also mentioned on the live feeds he wanted a chance at the Coin of Destiny. Derek shared with CinemaBlend what he would've done had he successfully remained in the house and won the chance to steal the Week 8 Head of Household.
I can’t say that it was a bad game move for Sarah Beth because I know she’s a close ally to X, and if I won that coin flip X would’ve been my target. I would’ve tried to get him out of the house.
Of course, Derek Xiao wasn't able to overcome the vote and was sent packing without a chance to take Xavier Prather out of the game. Many Houseguests felt Derek was just too big of a competitive threat to keep in the house, and for others like Alyssa Lopez, it was a little personal as well.
Alyssa's vote against Derek Xiao was certainly a little revenge, considering Derek backdoored her showmance partner Christian Birkenberger in a similar fashion. Now that Derek has been on the other side of a backdoor, he was more than happy to speak to his former Houseguest and friend who missed jury by one week.
Christian, my man, being backdoored sucks! I think the hardest part as strong competitors we don’t get a shot at using our strongest asset, which is winning veto. It sucks kind of having your hands behind your back and getting voted out of the house. I can say that if I could go back, I wouldn’t make the same move again. I think at the end of the day the lesson for me is in order to win this game, you really can’t show all of your cards too early. When people start giving you that label as a competitive threat, that’s when you’re getting backdoored.
Derek Xiao will head off to jury to spend some quality time with Britini D'Angelo, but the two won't be alone for long. In fact, it looks like Sarah Beth Steagall could be headed in to join them next week if Tiffany Mitchell has her say. There are still a lot of variables at the moment, so we'll see if that remains the case.
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