In the new reality competition series Claim to Fame, 12 lesser-known celebrity relatives move into a house and compete to keep their identities a secret from one another, and the show is reminding certain fans of The Masked Singer. On The Masked Singer, celebrities dress in head-to-toe costumes and sing in front of an audience and judging panel (Robin Thicke, Jenny McCarthy, Ken Jeong, and Nicole Scherzinger). Clues are revealed before and after the performances, and each week, everyone tries to piece together all of the hints in order to figure out who is behind the masks. The panel offers guesses as to who the contestants might be, and during The Masked Singer season 6, there was a Take It Off Buzzer. If a panelist hit the buzzer and guessed the identity of the masked singer correctly, that person would have to unmask immediately and leave the competition.
On Claim to Fame, the celebrity relatives move into a house and attempt to hide their true selves in order to win the $100,000 cash prize. They compete in challenges, form alliances, and play "DNA detective." In the season premiere, the contestants played the game, Two Truths and a Lie, in which they presented three statements about themselves, only two of which were true. Only the viewing audience knows which of the statements are true or false. Much like The Masked Singer panelists, not even Claim to Fame hosts Kevin and Frankie Jonas know the celebrities' true identities.
Claim to Fame and The Masked Singer may have different formats, but they are very similar shows. The Masked Singer challenges viewers to uncover the identities of singing celebrities hidden in costumes, and Claim to Fame is essentially the same idea. However, the celebrities' identities are hidden in terms of their relatives. Fans are not really guessing who the Claim to Fame contestants are because they are not well-known enough. Instead, they are trying to figure out the clues about the celebrities to whom they are related.
In the Claim to Fame house, hints are hidden everywhere, and every statue and painting could be a clue to someone's identity. There is also a Clue Wall, which contains pictures and 3D images of objects having to do with each celebrity relative. This is reminiscent of the clue packages on The Masked Singer, in which any image could be the key to unlocking a contestant's identity. On the premiere episode, some of the contestants used 3D images of dinosaurs and a shark to guess that contestant Maxwell was the grandson of legendary director, Steven Spielberg, because of Steven's films, Jurassic Park and Jaws. However, they were wrong, and he was actually the grandson of iconic martial artist and actor, Chuck Norris.
Much like The Masked Singer, Claim to Fame has a Guess-Off at the end of each episode, in which the players vote between the bottom two finishers in the week's challenge. The person with the most votes becomes the Guesser, who then must try to correctly predict one of the other competitors' identities, not including the winner of the challenge, who's immune. If the Guesser is correct, they will be safe, and the contestant whose identity is revealed will go home. However, if the Claim to Fame Guesser is wrong, they are eliminated from the competition. Although it is the panelists on The Masked Singer who make the guesses, and not the contestants, the result is the same: the audience has the chance to guess along and see if they discovered the contestants' true identities.
Fans of The Masked Singer will enjoy Claim to Fame. It is fun and challenging to put together the puzzle pieces to reveal which celebrities the contestants are related to. As the weeks pass, more and more clues will come together. It is sure to be an exciting summer, as viewers can play detective, right along with the Claim to Fame contestants.
Claim to Fame airs Mondays at 10 p.m. EST on ABC.