Will Big Brother’s Cory Wurtenberger and America Lopez Stay Together?

Big Brother 25’s Cory Wurtenberger is “not worried” about how he and showmance partner America Lopez’s connection will fare in the real world.

“I’m very optimistic about our future, and if it doesn’t work out, that’s OK,” Cory, 22, exclusively told Us Weekly on Friday, October 20, one day after his elimination from the CBS reality series. “But she’s incredible and I can’t go into our relationship [outside the game] being like, ‘Oh no, everything’s going to change.’ … Like, no, she’s great. I think it’ll work out.”

While Cory acknowledged that Big Brother “brings people together [because] you kind of cling onto each other for support,” he pointed out that post-season craziness can also be a bonding experience for showmances.

“Leaving the Big Brother house is its own nightmare crucible [with] social media and all of this attention for at least a few months before you fade back into anonymity,” he said. “And going through that with [America] is going to be really helpful, I think, to both of us.”

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Cory and America, 27, flirted and cuddled for weeks before they shared their first kiss last month. During the early stages of their fling, Cory was hesitant to take things to the next level.

“The truth was, that [hesitation] wasn’t really a strategic choice by me to be like, ‘Oh, showmances are dangerous,’” Cory admitted to Us. “I’m just kind of a tough nut to crack when it comes to intimacy. I’m just a little bit weird in that regard, and it takes me a long time to warm up to anybody. … It came a lot easier for me with [America.]”

Cory and America’s time in the house together came to an end on Thursday, October 19, when Cory was unanimously evicted. The pair found themselves on the block next to each other after their former ally Jag Bains blindsided them by naming them both as replacement nominees. (This week, there were two Power of Veto competitions rather than the standard one, giving Jag, 25, the ability to take both Blue Kim and Felicia Cannon off the block and target Cory and America instead.)

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Although Cirie Fields noted in her goodbye message to Cory that he should’ve known better than to “rub your showmance in everybody’s face,” Cory told Us that he thinks it’s always risky to be part of a strong duo on Big Brother, romantic or not.

“I don’t think the me and America PDA was the problem, necessarily,” he said. “I think it was more [that] I had a big target on my back and I was part of a duo. … I think there really was a path for me to make a deep run [with America] and it just didn’t work out. “

While the Big Brother superfan’s dreams of winning the reality TV competition might be dashed, Cory is satisfied with what he got out of the experience.

“I’m just glad that I was in there long enough to fully explore my relationship with America,” he said.

Big Brother airs on CBS Sundays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.