[Warning: The following post contains MAJOR spoilers about Claim to Fame Season 3’s premiere episode, “Almost Unfamous.”]
Claim to Fame is back, and the guess-off stage has claimed its first victim: Bianca Roberts, niece of Good Morning America‘s Robin Roberts.
On Wednesday’s Season 3 premiere episode, the cast dove straight into the action by introducing themselves with the customary “two truths and a lie” descriptors of their celebrity relatives and playing in the talent show. Very quickly, alliances began to form between the 11 contestants as they tried to suss each other out, and when Bianca and Miguel found themselves in the bottom two and in the vote for the night’s guesser, tensions got even higher.
Bianca was one of the few to form a guess about a fellow contestant’s celebrity relative’s identity, drawing an early conclusion that Shane was related to Forest Whitaker due to his looks and certain information from the Clue Wall. Miguel, on the other hand, had no idea of anyone’s relative and instead ran (literally ran) throughout the house begging for supporters to vote Bianca in instead of him.
Miguel’s strategy worked, and, unfortunately, Bianca’s guess about Shane was incorrect, sending her home first. Her exit as the first eliminee was a lot more graceful than what we saw last season, but when TV Insider caught up with Bianca, she revealed why she sympathizes with Carly Reeves now.
What drew you to Claim to Fame?
Bianca Roberts: Well, I got an invitation on Instagram from someone who was just saying, “Hey, would you be interested in being on a reality show?” And I thought it was a joke. I thought it was some kind of scam at first, and then they told me to go check out Claim to Fame and see what I thought about it. And when I saw it, and I realized it wasn’t like some cheesy dating show or anything like that, I was like, “Yeah, I would definitely be interested in doing this.”
When you played the game, you showed some journalism chops, even though your background is real estate. Did you think that might give away your celebrity relative?
I didn’t think so at all. I went into it just thinking no one is going to figure out who I’m related to. There’s like no way.
Did you have any clue about Gracie Lou’s identity? I know you two were close.
I didn’t have any clue. And we were really close. That’s the first one that it was like, “She’s my BFF.” And I had no idea, none at all.
Were you surprised that Miguel’s Hail Mary to win over voters worked? And what was your reaction to how emotional he was?
You know what? I wasn’t surprised, and that should have been my strategy, looking back on it, to really kind of push for, “Please, you know, keep me on the show,” that kind of thing. But I’m such a laid-back person, and I’m very just go with the flow, and I was like, whatever will be, will be. I’m not going to grovel and do all of that. And if it meant that much to him, that’s the way it needed to play out.
How confident did you feel when you were going into your guess-off against Shane?
Oh, I wasn’t confident at all. I knew I was just throwing something against the wall. I mean, the previous [season] where Tom Hanks’ niece had a total meltdown and freaked out, was like, “I was only here for three days!” I could totally see why she would have reacted that way because at that point, there’s really no information on anyone, so anyone could have just guessed anything. There’s not enough time to figure out clues. There’s not enough information provided for you to know anything. So I knew I was just throwing a Hail Mary.
Disney/Chris Willard
Do you think that since you had talked about your theory that Shane was related to Forest Whitaker, he might’ve heard about that and encouraged the vote for you to be the guesser?
Probably. I mean, I would think that would be a smart move on his part, if he was like, “Oh yeah, let’s go ahead and make her guess because I know she’s totally off base.” But again, when I look back on it, I just know that anyone could have been up there, and whoever was up there would have guessed wrong because there was no information on anyone.
Last season, the contestants formed a group chat after filming. Is that the case with the Season 3 cast?
Absolutely, we’re all besties. We all have a group chat. We’re like talking about everything all day. We are super excited for the premiere. Can’t wait.
Lastly, since your time was limited on this season, is there anything you want people to know that maybe didn’t come through on screen?
I want people to know — I don’t know how it comes across, because I haven’t seen it myself, any edits or anything, so I really don’t know how it played off — that if I seem like closed-off and dry or boring, I’m really not like that in real life. If I come off like, “Man, she barely said two words,” I just want them to know that’s not like who I actually am. And there was a point there that I had fallen in the background and broke one of my nails, and it was bleeding, so I was out of some of the time of filming for a little bit while I got treated. I felt like such a dork. I felt I was like, “They’re filming and my finger’s bleeding!”
Claim to Fame, Wednesdays, 9/8c, ABC