If the current alternative of the variant is a type with a reference than the value of the reference is wrong.

In the following example struct A has a reference as a member (Minimal reproducer - simply put it in main.cpp):

#include <boost/variant.hpp>

struct B
{
    int value;
};

struct A
{
    B& ref;
};

int main()
{
    B b{23};
    A a{b};

    boost::variant<int, A> wrong{a};

    return 0;
}

The output in the "Locals and Expression" is the following:

a    @0x7fffffffe1e0    A
- ref    @0x7fffffffe1e8    B &
-- value    23    int
b    @0x7fffffffe1e8    B
- value    23    int
wrong    @0x7fffffffe1d8    boost::variant<int, A>
- ref    @0x7fffffffe1d8    B &
-- value    -7704    int

The value of "value" in the last line should also be 23. Instead "-7704" is printed. "-7704" converted to hex: 0x7fffffffe1e8. So the debugging helper simply prints the reference itself.