‘Claim to Fame’ Season 3 Had the Series’ Most Surprising Celebrity Reveal Yet

Claim to Fame is a show with a wild set of celebrity revelations, but nothing beats Miguel, aka Raphael Curtis’ disclosure that his famous relative is none other than Oscar winner and legendary actor Jamie Lee Curtis. The popular reality competition challenges 12 celebrity relatives to live under one roof by hiding their identities to win the $100,000 prize. The series is hosted by brothers Kevin and Frankie Jonas, and contestants compete in challenges and form alliances to play DNA detective. They also have guess-offs at the end of each episode, which results in the elimination and revelation of the name of the famous relative to whom the contestant is related.

Claim to Fame Season 3’s Miguel was the “wolf in sheep’s clothing” who took fellow contestants for a ride by purposely throwing them off on his identity by plotting deviously on multiple accounts — which also included a nervous meltdown. Unfortunately, while he went into the game with a clear strategy, he ended up facing elimination in Claim to Fame Season 3, Episode 3 after turning his back on his ally, which ultimately backfired on him. The hosts, players, and the audience were visibly shocked when Miguel’s celebrity relative was exposed, which made his reveal all the more surprising.

Miguel Had a Mental Breakdown, Which Saved Him From Elimination

During the season premiere of Claim to Fame Season 3, Miguel revealed his two truths and a lie: his celebrity relative is an actor, has won an Oscar, and that it was his grandfather — the latter obviously being the lie. Miguel had also opened up in a confessional that he was using a fake name to appear more Spanish than he actually is. The season premiere saw the contestants showing off their talents in the customary talent show. The other contestants delivered promising performances, but Miguel fumbled when he attempted to recite a poem while holding a volleyball. This stage fright, however, was not fake, as he’d revealed in an interview with Entertainment Weekly.

He found himself in the bottom two and was skimming the edge of facing elimination when he resorted to having a nervous breakdown in the bathroom away from the cameras while cleverly leaving his mic on. Miguel was then found in the bathroom by fellow contestant Adam, to whom he opened up about having a troubled childhood and how his celebrity relative stepped up to help him during that period. He proceeded to look shaken up and innocent while running around the house convincing contestants to choose Bianca over him. This worked in his favor as Bianca was selected as the voter by a single vote difference opposite Shane. Bianca, the niece of Good Morning America anchor Robin Roberts, guessed Shane wrong, and that ultimately led to her elimination.

Miguel Teamed Up With an Ally for the Ultimate Deception

Now, as the audience, it’s hard to tell whether Miguel’s mental breakdown was genuine or a ploy to avoid the risk of elimination. However, in an exclusive interview with People, he did open up about how he went into the game with the strategy to represent himself as a “person you’d expect the least out of,” and also explained how he likes it when people underestimate him. Well, he certainly did end up surprising people, that’s for sure! In the second episode, he teamed up with fellow contestant Dedrick, and they dubbed themselves the “Wolfpack” as they proceeded to spread the narrative that Miguel is related to Antonio Banderas. Interestingly, Miguel did reveal that he hadn’t even watched him in a movie before.

It was announced that there would be a double elimination where two players would be forced to guess another’s celebrity relative. Jill, who was later revealed to be the niece of John Stamos, guessed Miguel’s relative to be Banderas, which was false. After the revelation, there was footage played which showed the dynamic duo scheming the ploy where Dedrick went around spreading that he had witnessed Miguel having a conversation with himself where he revealed the name of his celebrity being The Mask of Zorro actor. The video labeled “one day earlier” showed the two men sitting at the dining room table scheming and putting their plan in place.

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Eliminated contestants can be the key to the $100,000 prize.

Miguel Faced Elimination at the Hands of Dedrick

Episode 3 saw Miguel turn on his ally Dedrick as he chose to guess his celebrity relative in a guess-off. This was a shocking, risky move, which wasn’t too surprising considering Miguel’s strategic planning throughout the season. However, this severely backfired on him as he wrongly guessed Dedrick’s famous relative to be Little Richard. Miguel was eliminated, but in the same interview with People, he revealed that he and the fellow Wolfpack member were cool since they had “spoken about it” privately.

Miguel was then revealed to be the son of Jamie Lee Curtis’ half-sister, Allegra Curtis. In the interview, Miguel revealed how his hunger for “having something to prove” kept him motivated on the popular show, as he planted chaos at every chance he got. While reflecting on his experience, it’s also revealed that his statements during his nervous breakdown in Episode 1 weren’t all untrue. His mother had been through a difficult family crisis, and his aunt, Jamie Lee Curtis, helped him during that tough time. He also teased that there are many “twists and turns” in the season finale where even eliminated contestants are slated to return. But it’s safe to say that the youngster pulled off a pretty mean feat with his limited time on the popular reality show.

Claim to Fame Season 3 episodes air on ABC every Wednesday at 9 p.m. ET/PT in the U.S. The episodes are available to stream on Hulu the next day.

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