Derek Xiao would be the first to tell you he didn’t know a lot about Big Brother by the time he entered the house. But over the course of two months, he got a hell of a crash course. The start-up founder had an eventful run on season 23, going from early target to competition beast to power player to sitting duck. But in the end, the “Lord of the Latrine” had his game go down the toilet thanks to the controlling “Cookout” alliance. While Derek hoped to lay low for the majority of the game, he immediately got onto the radar of manic first HoH Brandon “Frenchie” French. After the farmer overheard him talking about him with some of the other guys, he decided to make him Public Enemy #1 and become one of his many targets that week. Fortunately, Derek won the first veto of the season, and exercised the power by removing his friend Kyland Young from the block, unfortunately dooming his other “bro” Travis Long in the process. And though he lost an ally in the short term, he gained alliances in the long term. He became part of the “Royal Flush” alliance that brought together the Kings and the Queens, and got closer to his fellow Ace Hannah Chaddha, as well as Tiffany Mitchell. After staying up on the wall the longest in Week 5, Derek decided to go off the wall with his strategy. With jury in sight, he decided to make a big move, going for the biggest competition threat in Christian Birkenberger. It was also an interesting week for his relationship with Sarah Beth Steagall, with him both nominating her as a pawn and allowing her to keep $5,000 from the veto competition. And when she edged him out to become HoH two weeks later, he was top of mind. Viewed as a competition and strategic threat, a backdoor plan was put in motion. And between Derek not playing in the “Chopping Block Roulette” or being picked for the veto, everything seemed to line up. The odds against him, Derek made an impassioned plea on eviction night, throwing Sarah Beth under the bus. But despite his speech, and some attempted jockeying from Tiffany, DX finally got X’d from the game. Now on the way to the jury house, Derek X. talks with Parade.com about why he trusted Sarah Beth going into this week, how he looks back on his decision to backdoor Christian, and his choice to come on for better East Asian representation. You were one of the first targets of the season, as Frenchie accused you of doing too much on Night 1. How much did having that target on your back change the way you played? First off, I would disagree I did too much on Night 1. I did too much on Day 2. I think Frenchie really forced my hand when he told me he was going to target a male on his HoH. After the Wildcard comp was played that first week, Christian and X were safe. It only left four guys: Me, Brent, Kyland, and Travis. I knew Frenchie was close with Kyland and Brent, so it only left Travis and me. Of course I had to do a lot! I was in full scramble mode where either I or one of my best friends of the house was gonna go home. I had to do as much as possible to try to get out of that. Being a target from Week 1 completely changed my game. Funnily enough, I wanted to play a low-key game. But I was forced to have to win comps from Day 1 essentially. And after that, I couldn’t go back to any lower status. I knew I had to get lucky and win comps in order to win the game from there on out. During your HoH reign, you backdoored Christian as your closest competition threat. Looking back, did that decision help or hurt your game more? Oof! That is a very complicated question, and I don’t think there’s an exact answer to it. Here are my thoughts behind it. You could make the basic argument that if I had gotten Sarah Beth out that day, then she would never be HoH, and I would have never been evicted. But if you look at this balance beam HoH that she ended up winning, if Christian was in it, I think he would have just as good a chance–if not better–at winning. And no matter what that week, I was planning on eliminating a King. In no situation did I plan on not making that move. What I wanted was to eliminate the strongest King. I knew if I eliminated one, I would have three coming for me. I wanted a weaker team of three rather than a stronger team of three. I could go back and forth on whether Christian and Alyssa would have come for me if I had eliminated Sarah Beth. They say they wouldn’t. But at the end of the day, you don’t know. I think me taking out Sarah Beth would have been the first big move of the season. But it easily would have given them justification to take me out. You said that you felt safe with Sarah Beth a fair amount going into this week. What made you feel that way, and how do you look back on her decision to backdoor you? (Sighs.) Man, I was just not built for Big Brother! (Laughs.) I came in ready to do the backstabbing and the lying. And once I started playing, I just trusted everyone. The way that Sarah Beth played me, I can’t even describe it. I really believed everything this girl told me. I fully trusted her when she said I wasn’t her target that week. I felt with the actions I had displayed to her, letting her keep the $5,000 during my HoH week, continuing with the plan I told her about her being a pawn, and keeping open communication, I thought we had opened up trust between us. Clearly, it was a one-sided relationship. You wanted to come onto the show partly to be a role model for East Asians in the media. Looking back on your game, do you feel you were able to do that? That was a huge part of why I wanted to be on Big Brother. I grew up in an area that wasn’t extremely diverse. When I watched movies and TV, there’s not a lot of representation. Really no one looked like me. The reason why I wanted to go on the show was to give not necessarily a role model, but a different model that East Asians could look at. They can say, “You don’t have to be a certain way. You can also be something completely different.” I’m very proud of how I held myself in the house. I’m not ashamed of anything I did. I don’t have any regrets about my character. I hope that this game inspired other people as well. Let’s finish with some rapid-fire thoughts about your fellow houseguests. Starting with Alyssa. Funny and surprising.Azah. (Laughs.) Emotional and sleepy.Claire. Hilarious and logical.Derek F. Larger than life.Hannah. Sassy and also hilarious.Kyland. Eccentric and…genius?Sarah Beth. Conniving and actress.Tiffany. Genuine and amazing storyteller.And finally, Xavier. Loyal and honest. Next, check out our interview with Britini D’Angelo, who was evicted in Week 6.
