‘Claim to Fame’ Season 2: Each Celebrity Relative Revealed (PHOTOS)
Spoiler Alert
[Warning: The following contains MAJOR spoilers for Claim to Fame Season 2 finale.]
Twelve nepo babies fight to keep the identities of their famous family members a secret in Claim to Fame Season 2, which came to a close on Monday, August 28 on ABC. And with the two-hour season finale came the final celebrity reveals.
Hosted by brothers Kevin Jonas and Franklin Jonas, this season promised to be bigger and better than its predecessor by featuring bigger names than Season 1. With a former U.S. president, several music and comedy icons, and and more on the list, the series made good on its promise.
In the premiere, the 12 contestants of the Claim to Fame Season 2 cast introduced themselves by sharing two truths and a lie about their celebrity relative. The answers had to be formatted as how they’re related to this celebrity, what that celebrity is known for, and the biggest accolade to their name (notably, the contestants don’t have to use their real names in this game).
As viewers, we can use the internet to decipher clues from the episodes. But the contestants have no phones, no internet, no connection to the outside world, so they have to rely on their pop culture knowledge alone. And their collective knowledge has proven to be a bit unimpressive, leading to many of their downfalls.
Find out all of the other players’ claims to fame in the gallery below, plus who won the season.
Claim to Fame, Season 2, Streaming Now, Hulu
Carly (First Eliminated)
Carly said her famous relative was her uncle, who’s an Oscar-winning musician. We theorized Carly was lying about her relative being a musician. Our money was on them being an Oscar-winning actor, possibly Tom Hanks or Dustin Hoffman, and we were right!
Hanks is her uncle by marriage. Carly’s mother is the sister of Rita Wilson, Hanks’ wife. Carly was clearly hoping to spend more than one episode on the series. After Hugo (below) sent her packing, she stormed off set in tears, screaming and crying about the “freakin’ obvious” clue in the form of a Forrest Gump-like bench.
Travis (Second Eliminated)
Travis claimed his celebrity relative is his father, an actor with a Critics Choice Award. We thought he was lying about his father being famous, thinking instead it was his cousin or uncle. Our best guesses were Mahershala Ali and Tyler James Williams.
As Gabriel correctly guessed in Episode 2, Travis’ father is Neil deGrasse Tyson. Before he was eliminated, Travis worked with Jane to figure out Shayne’s identity. Jane predicts Shayne is Eddie Murphy‘s daughter, which we previously predicted below.
Jane (Third Eliminated)
Jane claimed her father was a Grammy-winning musician. We thought she could be one of Dolly Parton‘s many nieces, if she was lying about how she was related to her famous family member. And we were right!
In Episode 3, Jane worked with Monay and Shayne to crack a clue that had both Jane and Chris worried. The clue featured hints like “puppy love” and “Russian,” and one clue Jane believed to be a Tennessee reference. The clue was either for Jane or for Chris (who we’re still convinced is Donny Osmond‘s son — see more below).
Jane feared the “puppy love” clue was a reference to Parton’s “Puppy Love,” the first single the country music legend ever had on the charts. Jane became the guesser for the night, incorrectly guessing that Chris was related to Elvis Presley. Because she guessed wrong, she was eliminated from the competition. Her real name is Jada Star, and she was named by her Aunt Dolly, who made a video cameo appearance when Jada was eliminated.
Shayne (Fourth Eliminated)
Shayne said her famous relative is her father, who she claimed is a Grammy-winning musician. Our best guesses were Eddie Murphy (who has two Grammys) or Janet Jackson (if she was lying about her parent). And we were correct: Shayne is one of Murphy’s daughters.
Jane predicted last week that Shayne is Murphy’s daughter, and other cast members believed the theory as well. Shayne kept a low profile in Episode 3 to keep people off her scent, but her close friend in the show, Cole, betrayed Shayne when he correctly pieced the SNL “Buckwheat” and Coming to America clues together.
The players were shocked by Cole’s betrayal. Will he be on the chopping block next?
Cole (Fifth Eliminated)
Cole said his father is the famous family member. He also said his “father” is a Grammy-winning musician. We believed Cole to be Alicia Keys‘ brother, and we were correct.
Shayne exacted her revenge on Cole in the Monday, July 24 episode when it was revealed she left a note with a hint about his identity. Through that hint, Karsyn was able to correctly guess Cole’s celebrity relative and send him packing.
Olivia (Sixth Eliminated)
Olivia says her brother is a famous TV personality with a Razzie Award. We wondered if her brother be ABC News’ David Muir, who was nominated for a Razzie, or perhaps Chris Harrison.
It turned out that we and the Claim to Fame cast were wrong. While Olivia’s co-stars believed she was related to Carrot Top, the guess-off revealed her aunt is Jenny McCarthy. Olivia’s claim to fame was revealed when she incorrectly guessed that Karsyn was related to Nascar legend Jeff Gordon.
Hugo (Seventh Eliminated)
Hugo said his famous grandfather is a Nobel Prize-winning athlete. The athlete part seemed like a lie to us. Our best guesses were that he could be the grandson of Al Gore or Jimmy Carter, and the latter turned out to be correct.
Jane had a lot of theories that held weight before her elimination. She predicted that Hugo is related to Carter, but believed he was too young to have a grandfather in his 90s. She didn’t get to see her theory through, but the cast started catching on in Episode 6.
In the episode, players realized his clue was “a Commander in Chief who farmed nuts.” The cast was convinced that the 39th President of the United States was Hugo’s relative, but Chris was more of a pressing target for them in Episode 7. Hugo ended up being the guesser, betraying his deal with Chris by putting him on the chopping block.
Hugo believed Chris’s celebrity relative was Elton John because of “colorful coat” and Vegas residency clues revealed in Episode 7. Another clue was that the relative is from Utah. Inexplicably, Hugo thought this meant Chris was related to John. Monay and Karsyn were also convinced this was accurate and screamed with excitement thinking they figured it out. How they thought John, a man with a clear British accent, was from Utah is beyond us, but that astronaut on the clue wall also contributed to the “Rocket Man” theory. They must’ve heard John’s music before, but never his speaking voice. Wild.
Hugo, last name Wentzel, was sent home when incorrectly naming John as Chris’s relative, revealing Carter as his maternal grandfather in the process. Hugo’s mother is Amy Carter, the former president’s only daughter.
JR (Eighth Eliminated)
JR said his brother is a musician with an NBA Championship ring. One of those things is not like the other. We could see him being related to Dwyane Wade.
At one point, the cast was convinced JR was related to rapper Da Baby, but things took a turn for him in the Episode 7 dossier challenge. Teams of two had to sort through shredded blurry headshots of other players. When they solved the puzzle, they were given a dossier of clues, but certain words were redacted. The internet had been theorizing that JR is related to Lil Nas X in recent weeks.
Episode 7 seemed to confirm as much with the clue, “First LGBT___ to win a Country ___ Award, featured on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list ___ was number 1 on ___ longer than any other ___ in history.” The musician’s “Old Town Road” is the highest-certified single in history.
While the cast was sure JR was related to Lil Nas X, he wasn’t as big of a target like Chris. JR was sent to the guess off in Episode 8, and the group agreed they had to try and eliminate Chris. JR incorrectly guessed he was related to Billy Idol, eliminating him from the competition. As the episode revealed, JR’s claim to fame is, in fact, Lil Nas X. The rapper is JR’s little brother.
Karsyn (Ninth Eliminated)
Karsyn says her uncle is a famous musician who was inducted into the Hall of Fame. She doesn’t say which Hall of Fame, though. Maybe she’s Blake Shelton‘s niece?
After flying under the radar for the first couple of episodes, the players started to set their sights on Karsyn in Episode 3. She found herself in the hot seat in Episode 6 when Olivia targeted her in the guess-off. Luckily for Karsyn, Olivia’s Jeff Gordon guess was incorrect. But at this point, we do believe she is related to a Nascar driver. Perhaps Dale Earnhardt and Dale Earnhardt Jr.?
Episode 7’s dossier challenge made everyone more confident that Karsyn is related to an Earnhardt (more NASCAR clues were included on her clue sheet). She got lucky that Hugo put Chris on the chopping block instead of her, like Chris and Hugo had originally planned.
She got lucky again in Episode 8 when JR chose Chris for the guess off, marking Chris’s second week in a row at risk of elimination. Karsyn was eliminated in Episode 9, when Gabriel correctly guessed her relative was Earnhardt, Jr.
Chris (10th Eliminated)
Chris claims his celebrity relative is his musician uncle who has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. We think his uncle is John Mayer, who does not have a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He could also be Donny Osmond’s son.
Episode 3 convinced us the Osmond theory is correct. Like Parton, Osmond has a famous song called “Puppy Love.” That clue made Chris fear he was close to being discovered. He also accurately guessed Jane was related to Parton, but given he wasn’t the guesser that night, he didn’t have the chance to prove it himself.
Episode 6 made us further believe that Chris is Osmond’s son. His clue, has been in the mix for a few episodes but has yet to be solved. In the July 31 episode, one player wondered if his clue could be saying that the relative was a teen star in the 1970s, which of course, Osmond was.
Episode 7 made it even more glaringly obvious that Chris is related to the music legend. The colorful coat clue is likely a reference to Osmond’s starring role in the Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat movie, and the Osmonds have long held residencies in Las Vegas. They’re also famously from Utah, but this young cast seems to have zero Osmond knowledge; no one has gotten remotely close to predicting an Osmond name.
Episode 8 confirmed the Donny theory when a clue revealed that his celebrity relative won Dancing With the Stars Season 9. Monay finally figured out the truth in Episode 9, and in the Episode 10 finale sent Chris packing when naming Osmond as Chris’s claim to fame.
Monay (11th Eliminated)
Monay says her father is an Emmy-winning athlete. We think he’s actually J.B. Smoove, who does have an Emmy but isn’t an athlete.
Episode 6 revealed some clues that we believe confirm our theory more. Gabriel now has Monay’s clue, and it says her relative is connected to Saturday Night Live and Curb Your Enthusiasm. Smoove was a writer and performer on SNL and is in the cast of Curbed.
The cast made no progress on Monay’s clue in Episodes 7 or 8, but she shared details in solo interviews that convinced us the Smoove theory is correct. The big giveaway was that her dad is in Spider-Man: Far From Home, which Smoove is. Monay might make it to the end alongside Chris just by nature of her family member being less widely known by younger generations than other relatives this season.
Returning cast members deciphered Monay’s clues before Gabriel did in the finale, but he got some help in the final challenge, which he won. In the final guess off, Gabriel made the winning bet that Monay was related to Smoove. Her real name was revealed to be Jerrica Monay Smoove. She finished in second place.
Gabriel (Winner!)
Gabriel says his brother is the famous one in the family. The brother is apparently an athlete with an NAACP Award. We’re guessing that Gabriel’s lying about the relative being an athlete. A non-athlete guess could be Nick Cannon, who has several NAACP awards under his belt.
Gabriel is heavily implying his relative is a football player, but he may have given a bit of an obvious clue when telling Olivia that his “athlete” brother has multiple girlfriends whom he buys matching jewelry, adding that all the women are friends. Could that be a subtle reference to Cannon’s many baby mamas?
Gabriel’s clue was the only one left to be revealed, and revealed it was in Episode 7. The clue was a bunch of babies plus a snare drum and a star. Cannon infamously has a lot of children, and one of his most famous movies is Drumline. There’s no way Cannon is not Gabriel’s claim to fame, but Monay was the only one to put the clues together in the final episodes.
Unfortunately for her, she didn’t have the chance to test her theory. Gabriel was the guesser in the last guess off, his Smoove prediction clinching the win. After Gabriel was named the winner, he revealed that his older brother is, in fact, The Masked Singer host.
That’s a wrap on Claim to Fame Season 2! What did you think of this season’s cast of famous family members compared to Season 1? Let us know in the comments below.
