Derek Xiao is the second Big Brother houseguest to head to the jury. We had the opportunity to speak with Derek X following his eviction to chat about what attracted him to Hannah, who he’d like to see join him in the jury, and who he thinks is secretly working together.
It meant a lot to viewers to see someone like you in the house. Did you play with the responsibility of knowing what this representation meant to those watching at home, especially the Asian kids who are not used to seeing people resembling themselves on an American reality series?
Yeah, excellent question… It’s interesting… I didn’t play feeling the responsibility of being an Asian-American on TV because above all else, the message that I want to spread is more around being yourself versus being different. If you just happen to fall into a stereotype that is who you are, then be who you are – then don’t aspire to be different.
I just wanted to be myself and the message that I want to spread is, be who you are. Be confident in who you are. Be comfortable with who are you are. I never went out of my way to create an image of who I wanted other people to view me as. I think that’s kind of where things go wrong if you do that.
You gave us a great eviction speech implying Sarah Beth was playing a “Nicole F” game will definitely go down as a classic moment. That shade was strong. How careful were you to craft that speech and do you think it provided Sarah Beth a wake-up call on how the other houseguests may perceive her?
You know, now after listening to Kyland’s goodbye message to me, I think I might have gotten played because it was Tiffany and Hannah who planted that idea in my head, to call Sarah Beth as Nicole F, when in actuality, I don’t even want Hannah and Tiff to take out Sarah Beth next week. I want them to take out Xavier!
So, maybe they wanted the rest of the house to look at Sarah Beth instead of Xavier because they are working with Xavier.
I should have just stuck to my original eviction speech, which was like, “Look, there is a strong side of the house that is forming and if you think you aren’t on the strong side of the house, then freaking vote for me [to stay] because I’m going to try to fight for you.”
I might have incorrectly assumed that Sarah Beth was on the strong side of the house! She could be an outsider just like me and we’re both missing it!
You had some close moments with a lot of the houseguests and you’ve told us to expect the unexpected regarding your relationship/friendship with Hannah outside of the house, but what were the qualities that made you gravitate towards her, and at what point did you – or did both of you – decide to make the game the first priority and your relationship second?
Hannah is amazing! You guys have watched her for a whole summer, so you can all see it!
Obviously, she’s attractive. She has an amazing sense of humour. I think that’s probably what initially attracted me because her sense of humour is right in line with mine. She’s very sassy. She’s also very kind, which may not translate into television, but being with her in the house, she is very kind. She’s extremely smart as well. If she really is 21, then she’s definitely one of the smartest 21-year-olds that I’ve met!
Other than Sarah Beth, who would you like to see you follow you to jury sooner rather than later?
Dude! Now, I don’t even know if I want Sarah Beth to follow me to the jury!
I hope that I see Xavier or Kyland. Because I think that one of them or both are running this house right now. I hope to see one of them come.
Are there any alliances that you are suspicious of that you didn’t get a chance to confirm that they exist?
I don’t think if this ever got shown, but Claire and I were on to something during one of the weeks, and we kind of just brushed it away. Maybe Xavier, Tiffany, Hannah…maybe Kyland. But now Kyland has confirmed that he’s in an alliance. If Kyland is in it, then Xavier is in it [too]!
Xavier, Kyland, and Tiffany – I’m positive that these three have something. How many more? I’m undecided. But those three, I’m 100% sure.
Big Brother airs Sundays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Global and CBS.
