Big Brother 26’s Tucker Des Lauriers was very popular in the house, but he only had eyes for Rubina Bernabe.
“She is so unapologetically herself. I love watching her be her,” Tucker, 30, exclusively told Us Weekly on Friday, August 30, one day after he was eliminated from the CBS reality series. “She’s as loud as me, which is a very attractive personality trait to me. She’s a bundle of joy … but she can be very serious. She’s always been there for me when I needed somebody, regardless of how much I was trying to cover it up. She’s very empathetic and observant.”
Tucker added that Rubina, 35, is “absolutely gorgeous inside and out” and her “personality is top tier.”
The twosome went from strangers to flirty friends to a couple in the Big Brother house and shared a steamy kiss before Tucker walked out the door on Thursday.
“It’s been an overwhelmingly joyful connection in a very rough and sketchy situation, because you don’t know if someone’s using you or not [in this game],” Tucker said. “We were both skeptical [of] whether we were just being used or not. We both went in there with a negative chance of us getting into a showmance, and look at us now.”
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Despite Rubina second-guessing Tucker’s intentions at times, he told Us that he can “absolutely” see a future with her outside the Big Brother house.
“I’m at that age where I’m looking for a life partner, and I’m always scared to take that risk. All my friends know I don’t go out looking for that stuff; I go out to be with my friends and I wait for that fairy fairytale thing when two paths cross,” he said. “This is a very beautiful, lovely feeling. And I hope it goes where we both want it to go.”
Tucker, who lives in Brooklyn, acknowledged that he and Rubina, who lives in Los Angeles, have “two complete separate lives” outside of the house. However, he believes they can make it work.
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“After having conversations with her, it’s more exciting versus nerve-racking,” he said.
Rubina was one of three people who voted to keep Tucker in the house on Thursday along with Kimo Apaka and Joseph Rodriguez. Tucker made himself a big target by racking up six competition wins and publicly calling out alliances.
“Put me in coach, I’m ready to play,” Tucker told Us of his strategy. “I’m not sitting on the sidelines and letting this stuff go down when there’s just relationships growing and alliances growing without me in them. Any chance I get to call something out that I believe is true, regardless of what other people think, I’m gonna stick to my instincts and my guts.”
Big Brother airs on CBS Wednesdays, Thursdays and Sundays at 8 p.m. ET.
