This post has been updated with new clues, theories, and confirmations.
Claim to Fame is the perfect summer reality series: It’s mindless and low-stakes enough to feel breezy, but also invites enough wild speculation to make it seem like it somehow matters if someone is Jason Aldean’s cousin or Nick Cannon’s brother. And because we’re playing along at home with the contestants trying to sniff out their fellow fame-adjacents before getting eliminated themselves, it’s more satisfying than, say, The Masked Singer, where the embarrassingly off-base guesses Jenny McCarthy and company have been known to throw around can make the show’s reveals anti-climactic. On Claim to Fame, when it’s revealed that someone is Tom Hanks’s niece, that shit lands.
The contestants on Claim to Fame also don’t necessarily aspire to be famous and they’re not thrashing around in some desperate attempt to remain relevant, a la RuPaul’s Secret Celebrity Drag Race or We Are Family. Sure, some of them would undoubtedly love to come out on the other side with a few more social-media followers and some name recognition of their own, but most of them seem to genuinely be in it for the $100,000 in prize money, which — for the very un-famous relative of someone actually famous — is nothing to sneeze at.
But who are the celebrity relatives of these 11 hopefuls who are vying for not only the Claim to Fame crown but for the hard-earned approval of hosts Kevin and Franklin Jonas? Here are our best guesses based on a combination of in-show clues and online sleuthing, updated weekly as contestants are eliminated and new clues are revealed.
Who is Adam’s celebrity relative?
What we know about Adam: In the premiere episode’s game of two truths and a lie, he says his celebrity relative is his uncle, who’s an actor, and who has won a Grammy. Later on, Adam reveals that his relative is actually a singer who was most famous in the ’80s and ’90s, and that he actually sounds quite a lot like him when he sings. His relative is also not Dustin Hoffman or Matthew McConaughey.
Why it’s Michael Bolton: Redditors put this one together before the season aired, figuring out through some rabbit-hole sleuthing that Adam’s real name is Adam Christoferson, and that his mother’s brother is the ’90s balladeer. But beyond that, honestly, just look at him. Throw a wig on Adam and shave back that beard, and that’s Michael Bolton right there.
Why it might not be Michael Bolton: It could be some other ’80s or ’90s American pop or rock solo artist, though we’d be hard pressed to pick one that enough of the population could cite from a modern-day vantage point. You could say he looks a bit like the main dude from Live, but would any of the other contestants be able to pull Ed Kowalczyk’s name from thin air? They don’t even know what the Peabody Awards are.
Who is Bianca’s celebrity relative?
What we know about Bianca: Her two truths and a lie are that her famous relative is her aunt who’s an actress, and who’s won a Peabody Award. The latter clue seems specific enough to not be a lie, and there are very few actresses who also have Peabodies, so it’s safe to assume it’s her aunt.
Why it’s Robin Roberts: Typically, Peabody Awards are given for excellence in reporting, though they have also gone to other media trailblazers like Carol Burnett, Quinta Brunson, Issa Rae, Lily Tomlin, and Terry Gross. Bianca seems to at least be in her thirties, which would most likely mean her aunt is in her fifties or sixties. While it could have been Oprah, there’s something about Claim to Fame’s ABC connection that made us think it’s Robin Roberts, host of Good Morning America — which was confirmd when Bianca was eliminated in the first episode, greeted in defeat by a nice video from her aunt.
Who is Danny’s celebrity relative?
What we know about Danny: Danny’s two truths and a lie clues are that his relative is his uncle, who’s a pro wrestler, and who’s won a Grammy. While a lot of contestants seem to think he looks like Jelly Roll, Mr. Roll is only 39, has never wrestled, and has never won a Grammy, though he was nominated. There also aren’t a ton of wrestlers who have won Grammys, and while you could argue that Danny just said he’s related to a wrestler to throw people off because he’s a big dude, it’s also a lot easier to pick from a pool of possible wrestlers than it is to try and guess random uncles who have Grammys. But how many would have the power to shut down a whole Foot Locker for a shopping spree?
Why it’s Marc Anthony: It took a few weeks, but one online fan managed to put this one together based on the canoe spelling bee. As Reddit user Savegeo9872 wrote, “seeing ‘maracas’ made me think he [had] to have ties to something Latin. Looking at him over and over he reminded me of a singer’s son.” Fast-forward a few Google-heavy hours later, and the answer was revealed: Danny is actually Nael Zayas, son of Marc Anthony’s brother, Bigram Zayas. Wrestler my ass.
Why it might not be Marc Anthony: While that redditor’s argument seems pretty solid, it really hinges on a Facebook profile picture, and everyone knows how deceiving (or dated) those can be.
Who is Dedrick’s celebrity relative?
What we know about Dedrick: Dedrick’s two truths and a lie are that his famous relative is his uncle, who’s a singer, and who won a “Best Rock Song,” award, an assertion that’s too vague to possibly be true. (Get better at lying, Dedrick!) Later we learn that his uncle is “one of the most famous and iconic people in the world,” and in a thrown-off comment, Dedrick slips and calls himself “Mr. Jackson.” For someone who’s on a reality show where you keep your identity hidden, Dedrick really plays fast and loose with over-the-top celebrity stories, telling Danny that his (presumably deceased) uncle showed up once at 2 a.m. to take him to a closed-down Toys “R” Us for a shopping spree, and that Charlie Sheen tried to give his uncle a Ferrari but that he couldn’t drive.
Why it’s Michael Jackson: If you’re talking about the Venn diagram of people old enough to be uncles and who are also “the most famous and iconic” singers “in the world,” that pool of people is very, very small. Throw in the Jackson info, plus the aviator glasses and multiple mirrors on the clue wall (plus a little online sleuthing), and we’re putting all our money on Michael Jackson — especially after Dedrick’s wine-bottle clue, which summoned up both his role as Scarecrow in The Wiz and his iconic moonwalk move.
Why it might not be Michael Jackson: Let’s say the Jackson thing was either an intentional misdirect or a meh clue, based on the fact that Jackson isn’t exactly the most uncommon last name. Who else is that famous? Elvis? Prince? We suppose we could be convinced, but it would take a lot.
Who is Gracie Lou’s celebrity relative?
What we know about Gracie Lou: Her two truths and a lie are that her famous relative is her uncle, who’s a musician, and who has an Emmy. She tells the camera in the premiere that she wants people to think she’s country royalty, but that she’s really just playing a game based on her down-home name. She’s a double-agent in cowboy boots.
Why it’s Jon Cryer: All the credit for this one goes to Redditors, who figured out that Gracie Lou is her stage name and that her real name — Gracie Hyland — makes her Jon Cryer’s niece. This was confirmed when Gracie Lou was eliminated at the end of episode two and welcomed back into the real world by her uncle Ducky.
Who is Hud’s celebrity relative?
What we know about Hud: Hud’s two truths and a lie are that his famous relative is his mom, who’s a singer, and who has a Grammy. Hud also has a mustache. Naomi pulled his wine-bottle rebus clue in episode two, which featured a cherry, a bomb, a painter (?), an owl, a hurt knee, a sewing needle, and a thumbs-up. Naomi thinks this means his mom is the Runaways’ Cherie Currie, but we’re not so sure. After all, if people in the house don’t know who Antonio Banderas is, would they know Cherie Currie? (Sorry, Ms. Currie.)
Why it’s John Mellencamp: If you’re of a certain age, and remember John Mellencamp’s ’90s marriage to model Elaine Irwin, then you also remember that the pair had two kids: Hud and Speck. (The “Little Pink Houses” singer also has three other kids, including former Real Housewife Teddi Mellencamp.) Hud also looks just like his parents, something the mustache is perhaps intended to obscure. Also, that rebus totally amounts to “Come on baby, make it hurt so good.”
Why it might not be John Mellencamp: Maybe some other famous singer has a kid named Hud. Also, there’s nothing that screams Mellencamp on the clue wall, but maybe Claim to Fame just didn’t want to make it too obvious.
Who is Jill’s celebrity relative?
What we know about Jill: Jill’s two truths and a lie are that she’s there for her grandfather, an actor, who has a People’s Choice Award. As of right now, that’s pretty much all we know about Jill, other than that she’s really good at that magic trick where you pull stuff out of your mouth.
Why it’s John Stamos: Jill’s celebrity relative was a big mystery right up until she was eliminated at the end of the second episode thanks to a faulty guess aimed at Miguel. No one ever made guesses about Jill’s relative or even mentioned John Stamos, but apparently he’s her maternal uncle. Jill was a bit too quiet to really make waves on Claim to Fame, which is kind of sad because if she’d been able to hang in there, she might have made it pretty far.
Who is Mackenzie’s celebrity relative?
What we know about Mackenzie: Mackenzie’s pretty quick out of the gate to let us know that, while she claims to be related to someone with a Tony, that’s absolutely false. So instead we know her dad is a singer. Mackenzie also says that “goatee,” a word that was up for grabs at the boat challenge, relates to her relative.
Why it’s Trace Adkins: Mackenzie is so cute and country that it doesn’t take much Googling to figure out that her dad is country icon Trace Adkins. She even kind of looks like him if you squint.
Why it might not be Trace Adkins: It’s unclear what clues on the board point to Trace Adkins, but that could just be because — like, we assume, more than a few of the contestants — we don’t know all that much about him.
Who is Miguel’s celebrity relative?
What we know about Miguel: One of the first two people to fall into the bottom, Miguel is a bit of a wild card. He quickly tells us that he’s lying about his grandpa being his relative, but that his person is an actor and an Oscar winner. He also says he’s using a fake name to make people think he’s “more Spanish” than he really is, and that he’s playing the game because he wants to help his mom, which does make you think his mom isn’t the famous person. We also know Miguel’s relative isn’t Antonio Banderas, thanks to a faulty guess from Jill at the end of episode two that — we come to find out — Miguel actually led her right into.
Why it’s Jamie Lee Curtis: Redditors figured this one out again, but a quick Google and Miguel’s elimination at the end of episode three prove it: Miguel’s real name is Raphael, and his aunt is Jamie Lee Curtis. His mom is Jamie Lee’s half-sister Allegra Curtis, and his grandpa is the legendary Tony Curtis, to whom he bears a passing resemblance. Not that there’s any love lost between his mother and his grandfather: The late patriarch re-wrote his will in his later years, cutting off all his children and leaving everything to his fifth wife.
Who is Naomi’s celebrity relative?
What we know about Naomi:
Naomi is a slippery one, though we do know a little more about her than some other contestants. Her two truths and a lie are that her cousin is a singer, and won the Young Artist Award. Gracie Lou also got a wine-bottle rebus clue about Naomi in the first episode, which revealed characters amounting to “brat pack,” as well as an arrow, a bracket, a tiara, a spiky mace, and four mugs with croissants. Naomi says Gracie Lou’s mention of The Breakfast Club gave her “a mini heart attack” and that her relative and Gracie Lou’s uncle, Jon Cryer, “have more in common than either one of us realized.” There’s also a pink diamond ring on the clue wall that seems to irk Naomi.
Why it’s Molly Ringwald: The Brat Pack hint narrows Naomi’s possibilities pretty greatly, especially if you couple that with our guess that the mace, mugs, and croissants suggest The Breakfast Club. While we’re not 100 percent sure what the tiara and the bracket/arrow mean — Ringwald’s role as the “princess” in the Breakfast Club? Brat Pack queen? — we’re going with Ringwald because Claim to Fame producers said in pre-season interviews that they’d noticed connections between some contestants’ relatives, which they then worked to sort of exploit. Given that Gracie Lou and Naomi are roommates and Gracie Lou’s uncle is Jon Cryer, who co-starred in Pretty in Pink with Ringwald, it seems pretty likely.
Why it might not be Molly Ringwald: It’s possible it could be Anthony Michael Hall, who won a 1985 Young Artist Award for Sixteen Candles alongside his co-star Ringwald, though the tiara would throw us a little there.
Who is Shane’s celebrity relative?
What we know about Shane:
Shane’s clues are pretty generic: His two truths and a lie are that his cousin is an actor with an Oscar. We also know after the premiere that Shane’s relative isn’t Forest Whitaker, thanks to Bianca’s misplaced guess that led to her removal from the competition. Shane intimates that his relative is a “Hollywood icon” and says that he spent at least one birthday as a kid at Neverland Ranch, something that makes sense considering that Michael Jackson is his sister’s godfather. He also once had dinner with Elizabeth Taylor.
Why it’s Marlon Brando: Massive shout-out to Claim to Fame–loving Redditor @bon_salt22, who posted on the show’s sub-Reddit that “after hours of searching,” they figured out that Shane’s dad is Miko Brando, one of Marlon Brando’s 11 kids. That would make Shane the Hollywood icon’s grandson, and it would put him in close proximity with not only Elizabeth Taylor but also Dedrick’s secret relative, Michael Jackson, since Miko Brando worked security at Neverland Ranch for a time. Small world, huh?
Why it might not be Marlon Brando: It is. Getty Images doesn’t lie.
