‘Claim to Fame’: Miguel, Nephew of [Spoiler], Reveals How He Pulled Off That Trick Play

[Warning: The following post contains MAJOR spoilers about Claim to Fame, Season 3 Episode 3, “A Wolf in Boy’s Clothing.”]

Another contestant’s celebrity relative has been revealed on Claim to Fame, and it’s the one almost no one could see coming: As it turns out, Miguel’s full name is actually Raphael Curtis, and he is the nephew of Jamie Lee Curtis, and grandson of Tony Curtis and Christine Kaufmann.

His celebrity relative was only identified after his team struggled in the telephone challenge, landing him in the guess-off, where he incorrectly guessed Dedrick’s celebrity relative was Little Richard. Before that, he’d successfully convinced everyone he was related to Antonio Banderas, leading to one member of the competition going home in last week’s double elimination.

TV Insider caught up with Raphael Curtis aka Miguel to talk about his time on the season and to find out how he pulled off fooling the others for so long.

I want to call you Miguel because you were very convincing with that name. Raphael, going back to the first episode, what was it like to watch that back? You had a pretty emotional reaction to possibly being in the guess-off.

Related

Our Best Celeb Relative Theories for the 'Claim to Fame' Season 3 Cast

Raphael Curtis aka “Miguel”: Yeah, it was definitely an intense experience… I was definitely pretty anxious before the first episode came out, but then when the first episode dropped, I felt a lot more relieved and kind of like, “Okay, this is happening.” It became much more of a reality when the first episode dropped. Before the first episode came out, I was like, “Oh, how are all these people gonna perceive me? Blah, blah, blah.” But then I kind of realized that I was making it a lot worse than I actually knew or I guess than I had perceived. I feel like, yeah, I was just working myself up for another reason. And then the first episode came out, I was like, “Oh, it’s not even that bad.”

Speaking of how people perceived you, there were interesting guesses about your celebrity relative’s identity, and none of them were close. So what were some of your favorite guesses that you heard?

I loved the Jeff Goldblum one, the Antonio Banderas one… There were a bunch of different guesses, but the ones that definitely struck me already just were the Antonio Banderas one, that Jeff Goldblum one, I thought those are interesting.

With that Antonio Banderas one, you orchestrated that with Dedrick. Can you talk about how you came up with that plan, and were you surprised that it worked? 

So the plan originally was honestly just orchestrated between me and Dedrick at the dinner table. And we were just talking, shooting the s**t, and we were just like, “So what can we do to make this competition a little more interesting or to throw some wrenches in the machine — throw people off and get some people out,” which was the plan. We sat there and we discussed it for a little bit, and then as I was thinking about it, I was like, “Okay, we’re going about this a little too complicated.” I feel like an easier way to go, spreading some misinformation, would just be to keep it plain and simple but make it believable enough.

Basically throughout the entire [show], from the day I got on, I was just like, “I want everyone to perceive me as this super dumb, emotional, anxious kid,” which I really do have a little bit of anxiety, and I was the youngest on the show, but that had to be perceived of me like to everyone else in the house so that they’ll kind of underestimate me. And then, when the plan actually worked, it worked really, really well — a lot better than I had originally anticipated. That was about it. I planned it out with Dedrick at the dinner table and then thought about it for a little bit, went through with it, and it worked perfectly.

So I’m assuming you didn’t think anybody would actually guess you’re a celebrity relative. Was your strategy more just trying to stay out of the guess-off because you felt that no one would figure out your relative? 

Yeah, that was definitely the goal. That was definitely the goal. It was play a little more reserved — to see what I can do and just ride it out and have no one be able to guess me when you get to the vote off.

What was your aunt’s reaction to your decision to join the show, and what kind of advice did she give you about the spotlight?

She was super supportive. She just told me, “Tell the truth and don’t try and play it up or anything. Don’t pretend like a relationship exists that doesn’t. Keep it professional and just have a good time.” That was the main thing.

Looking back, what was your favorite challenge of the season, and what was going on with that slip-and-slide challenge?

Honestly, the most fun challenge that I participated in was the one with the spelling and the boats. That one was pretty fun because it was physically active and also mentally active, too. That was a lot of fun.

In regards to the slip and slide challenge, that was fun, but my knees got so bruised after that challenge because of jumping on that slip and slide over and over and over again. And originally I thought it was just gonna be water on the slip and slide, but it was some weird glucose slime stuff that they kept spraying on the slip and slide. So the first time I went over the slip and slide, I felt like a human booger because of the amount of weird, gross glucose stuff that was on me. But yeah, it was a lot of fun.

Claim to Fame, Wednesdays, 9/8c, ABC