During two truths and a lie in the first episode, Carly claims her famous relative is her uncle. She says he’s an Oscar-winning musician but reveals to the camera that he’s actually one of the biggest actors in Hollywood. When the contestants see the clue wall, she’s immediately stressed because a “bunch of clues” relate to her. The other contestants point out a green bench that harkens back to “Forrest Gump” and wonder if someone is related to
Tom Hanks.
At the end of the episode, contestant Hugo guesses that Carly’s uncle is Hanks, and he’s right! Carly immediately starts crying, though she does rave about her famous uncle. “He’s always been there for me, and not only is he so kind but he’s so funny and so smart,” she says. “Everything that you hear about Tom is true. He is the nicest guy in Hollywood.”
But as she heads back to the house to pack her bag, Carly screams that it was unfair because her clues were “so freaking obvious.” “Why a bench?! Why a bench?!” she yells. “There’s literally no references to benches in any other movie!”
Carly, whose full name is Carly Reeves, told USA Today that she’s technically Hanks’s niece by marriage. Her mom is the sister of Hanks’s wife Rita Wilson. Previously, Carly appeared in two of her uncle’s films, 2007’s “Charlie Wilson’s War” and 2011’s “Larry Crowne.”
In her interview, Carly said she applied for “Claim to Fame” herself and explained, “I thought absolutely it would be great exposure, even if it was just that people knew me from my uncle. I’ve always wanted to be outside of the spotlight from him, but now I’m like, ‘Well, I guess we’re doing this. We’re sharing [it] with the world.'” She told the outlet that Hanks and Wilson and her cousins Colin and Chet were “really happy” for her to go on the show.