You might have thought that reality television hit its all-time undignified motherlode with The Masked Singer; a series in which various fading yet thirsty celebrities had to perform dress-up karaoke in the vain hope that someone – anyone – would remember who they were. It was thrillingly desperate stuff, but the good news is that the reality television industrial complex has just uncovered a brand new strata of desperation. It comes to us in the form of ABC’s new series Claim to Fame.
Because Claim to Fame doesn’t actually feature any celebrities. Instead, its stars all happen to be made up of a far worse demographic: people related to celebrities. They’re all siblings, or children, or grandchildren of very famous people, and the trick of the show is making us (and the other contestants) try to figure out the identity of their better-known relative.
