Is ABC’s “Claim to Fame” fun or cringey?
It’s surprisingly fun, actually.
When the trailer for “Claim to Fame” showed up during the premiere of “The Bachelorette,” it was tempting to wonder if it would feel cringey to watch the nonfamous relatives of famous celebrities clamor for fame.
But somehow it kind of just works and leaves you wanting more.
The premise of the show from ABC’s info page is that it “challenges 12 celebrity relatives to step outside their famous family member’s shadow and live together under one roof, concealing their identity and lineage in the quest for their own fame and fortune.”
The winner gets $100,000.
The show is being compared to a mixture of “Clue,” with the mystery-solving elements, and to “Big Brother,” because the contestants live in the same house and form alliances and enemies while under the same roof.
Famous pop star Kevin Jonas hosts the show alongside his lesser-known brother, Frankie Jonas. The pair make compelling hosts and offer a window into what it must be like to be related to a very famous person.
“My role in this show was really to relate to (the contestants) in a way that potentially even Kevin couldn’t,” Frankie Jonas told USA Today.
How does ‘Claim to Fame’ work?
In each episode, contestants complete challenges that include clues to each person’s celebrity relative. The winner of the challenge is safe from being eliminated, and the bottom two contestants are put on the hot seat.
Contestants vote for one of the two bottom players to either guess a contestant’s celebrity relative correctly or be sent home in dramatic fashion.
While you find out the identities of some of the contestants early on, there are still many left to be revealed from the remaining seven players.
This makes it fun to try to figure out who they are from the clues in the house and from the challenges.
“The entire house was art-directed,” Kevin Jonas told USA Today. “Every statue, every little item could be something that is a clue that relates to someone else.”
Would you recognize the celebrity relatives on ‘Claim to Fame?’
No spoilers, but the identities that have been revealed so far are very famous, recognizable celebrities to most people.
Knowing that, it makes the game more fun trying to decipher clues because — unlike “Masked Singer,” which will sometimes showcase B and C list type celebrities — these are big names you have likely heard before.
The cast also features dynamic and interesting characters that fuel the drama ABC loves, but also endears certain players to the viewers.
What are ‘Claim to Fame’ contestants saying about the show?
One of the contestants, Dominique (last name withheld to avoid spoilers), told USA Today:
“My father always taught me that you can’t be big and small at the same time, and I’ve always chosen the route to be big. At first he heard about this competition, he’s like, ‘If you’re gonna go in there, you gotta be big. You gotta choose big and you gotta be Dominique. Stay true to who you are.’”
Another contestant, L.C. (last name withheld), told Newsweek, “I came into this game with horrible social anxiety, so this is me stepping out of the shadow and into the spotlight.”
New episodes of “Claim to Fame” air Mondays at 8 p.m. MT on ABC and stream on Hulu the following day.