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Jun 23, 2023

‘Claim to Fame’ Season 2: Who is Chris? Inside the Donny Osmond connection

Chris on Season 2 of “Claim to Fame.” ABC Note: This article contains spoilers from the “Claim to Fame” Season 2 finale. For several weeks, 12 relatives of celebrities have been holed up in a mansion,

Chris on Season 2 of “Claim to Fame.”

ABC

Note: This article contains spoilers from the “Claim to Fame” Season 2 finale.

For several weeks, 12 relatives of celebrities have been holed up in a mansion, doing their best to keep their celebrity connections a secret.

But each week on the reality competition show “Claim to Fame,” more clues about identities are revealed and mysteries start to fall in place. Now, after the season finale on Aug. 28, all of the celebrity connections have officially been revealed.

One contestant, Chris, managed to remain fairly elusive up until the second to last episode. For much of the season the contestants — who are without access to TV and internet — had a difficult time figuring out Chris’ celebrity relative. But in episode nine, the contestants started to land on a name: Donny Osmond.

In the season finale, Chris was one of the final three contestants standing. But thanks to a major clue uncovered during the episode — a lunchbox with Donny and Marie on it — Monay finally felt confident enough to make an official guess. And she was right, landing her a spot in the top two and officially sending Chris home.

With emotion, Chris shared with his fellow contestants how much his father, Donny Osmond, means to him.

“My dad is my hero,” he said, noting that his dad has 33 gold records and is still going strong after six decades in the music industry.

“He’s an old man but he looks really good,” he laughed. “I’m just happy that I get to represent him and the entire Osmond family, for that matter.”

On “Claim to Fame,” clues are peppered throughout the mansion. Over the course of the show — which is hosted by pop star Kevin Jonas and his lesser-known brother, Frankie Jonas — the guests attempt to uncover each other’s identities.

During each episode, the contestants — who may or may not use their real names — compete in a series of challenges. The winner of a challenge is exempt from being identified. The group then picks one of the bottom two contestants to be the “guesser,” per Women’s Health magazine.

The guesser has to pick a contestant and guess their celebrity relative. If they get it right, the contestant goes home — but if they get it wrong, the guesser’s celebrity connection is revealed and the guesser goes home.

The last person standing receives a $100,000 prize.

Chris did a good job of keeping his celebrity connection a secret for much of the season.

For the two truths and a lie game during Episode 1, Chris claimed his celebrity connection was a musician uncle who has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (the lie was that the celebrity relative was his uncle), TV Insider reported.

For the talent show portion, Chris sang and played the guitar, sharing that singing runs in the family. He also said he looks a lot like his celebrity relative, per Screen Rant.

Chris on “Claim to Fame.”

ABC

During the third episode, Jane was sent home after incorrectly guessing that Chris was related to Elvis, per Screen Rant.

Wildly off course — contestants guessed Chris was related to British singers Elton John and Billy Idol — piecing together clues that included a Vegas residency, wearing an “amazing coloured dream coat” and being from Utah.

Per TVLine, clues about Chris included:

A puzzle of clues about Chris is revealed during “Claim to Fame” Season 2.

Hulu screenshot

The dog and heart referenced Osmond’s 1972 hit song “Puppy Love,” and the “amazing coloured dream coat” pointed to Osmond’s role as Joseph in “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,” but the contestants had an extremely hard time piecing all of the clues together.

At one point on the clue wall, a statue of the Angel Moroni could be seen, potentially referencing Osmond, who is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (and in case you needed more convincing, this Deseret News article shows how Osmond has promoted his son’s music over the years).

A statue of the Angel Moroni is seen on the clue wall in “Claim to Fame.”

Screenshot provided by Stevi Ginolfi

A clue shared during the Aug. 14 episode revealed that Chris’ relative won Season 9 of “Dancing With the Stars,” TVLine reported.

Nearing the end of “Claim to Fame” Season 2, the contestants were still focusing on the fact that Chris’ relative was likely a teen idol in the ’70s, but they were struggling to reach a consensus of who that person could be.

But at the start of episode nine, Donny Osmond’s name finally came up. Gabriel and Monay were visualizing themselves dancing in the 1970s and imagining the singers they would go and see perform. Names like John Travolta and Paul McCartney came up. And then Gabriel mentioned Osmond. While Gabriel laughed at his own suggestion, Monay said it wasn’t so far-fetched. Going into episode 10, Gabriel and Monay both leaned into Osmond, and then the biggest clue of all offered them validation: A lunchbox with a picture of Donny and Marie.

Monay went for it, guessed correctly, and landed in the final two, alongside Gabriel.

Gabriel ended up winning “Claim to Fame” Season 2 after he correctly guessed that Monay is related to actor and comedian J.B. Smoove.

After the show declared him the winner, Gabriel’s own celebrity relative was revealed: Nick Cannon.

“Claim to Fame” is halfway through its second season. So far, nine of the 12 celebrity connections have been revealed, per TV Insider: