Claim to Fame's Jill and Gracie Lou reveal shock over being tricked, dish on their famous uncles

John Stamos and Jon Cryer's nieces tell EW about being taken down by false info in the show's first double elimination.

Warning: This article contains spoilers for Claim to Fame, season 3, episode 2, "Double the Trouble."

Claim to Fame's Jill and Gracie Lou ended up having a lot in common: They were both victims of the show's first double elimination, both trusted other players who gave them false information, and they both have a famous Uncle Jo(h)n who was on a wildly popular sitcom.

Wednesday's episode saw Gracie Lou forced into the guess-off as the losing team captain of an earlier clue-finding mission. She also had to pick another player to be an additional guesser and chose Jill to go first. Jill took the advice of practically the entire house in guessing that Miguel was related to Antonio Banderas, whom she'd never heard of. This was wrong and it turned out everyone was duped by a brilliant scheme concocted by Miguel with help from Dedrick to feed the house fake info. Jill was eliminated instead and revealed to be the niece of Full House's John Stamos.

Gracie Lou next chose to guess that Adam was related to Dustin Hoffman, which was based on a tip she got from Naomi. But Naomi tricked her with a false answer after Gracie revealed she had Naomi's wine bottle clue pointing to a "Brat Pack princess" and had figured it out to be Molly Ringwald. She was eliminated and revealed to be the niece of Two and a Half Men's Jon Cryer, who just so happens to be Ringwald's fellow Brat Pack-era costar from Pretty in Pink. She also shared with the group that "Gracie Lou" was a persona she had been putting on to appear country (but tells Entertainment Weekly she has since adopted it as a stage name in her singing career).

Below, Jill and Gracie Lou tell EW about their shock in being fed false info, share fun facts about their famous uncles, and make a plan to work together in the future.

ADAM, GRACIE LOU, DEDRICK, JILL, SHANE
'Claim to Fame' season 3 contestants.

Disney/Chris Willard

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Jill, before the house convinced you who to guess for Miguel, you admitted to not even knowing who Antonio Banderas was. Have you since Googled him?

JILL: That was one of the first things I did when I got my phone back, search "Who is Antonio Banderas?"

And did you recognize him?

JILL: Yeah, I did. I recognized him from a couple of things, but I don't think I would have known him if I didn't [look him up].

Many people were shocked to discover Miguel was not a Banderas. Did you know you'd been duped or did you think that someone just hadn't put the clues together?

JILL: Honestly, I thought that everyone in the house was in it with me. I didn't realize there was so much scheming going on behind my back. So I thought that everyone was as shocked as I was.

Gracie, you also ended up going home after being deceived by another player. Did you immediately know Naomi had given you a fake guess?

GRACIE LOU: Not immediately, no. I had kind of this gut feeling that it was wrong, but at the time I was going with the best option that I could. It was still early so we were all confused on everyone. So that was just something that I was grasping onto.

When you chose Jill to be the first guesser, were you going with Hud's suggestion to have her choose Miguel, giving you another chance to guess him if she was wrong? Why not make that guess yourself since it felt easy at the time? Were you already set on Adam instead?

GRACIE LOU: That was a tricky decision. Jill and I did decide that she was gonna go first just to rip the Band-Aid off and get it over with and, you know, she really took one for the team. Thank you, Jill, much love for you. You're the best. Part of me was thinking, oh, maybe Hud's got something like I could, you know, try another person for Miguel, but in the end I was just thinking, I just need to stick to what I've planned on no matter what. Could go great, could go absolutely wrong. When I did find out about Miguel [not being related to Banderas], I was kind of like, alright, I just don't even wanna attempt with him again. I was shocked, honestly.

I had not heard anyone guessing John Stamos in the house. Had you? And what was the biggest clue?

JILL: I had not heard his name mentioned at all. I felt like I was a little bit defeated once it was revealed because no one knew me. I think the biggest clue was just like the Greek stuff that was kind of all over in there. I could tell that a lot of people were surprised and I did not hear his name mentioned once.

Split photo of claim to fame cast and John Stamos
'Claim to Fame' star Jill and her uncle, John Stamos.

ABC; Getty

How similar is he as a real uncle to being Uncle Jesse to the Tanner girls on Full House?

JILL: He was very similar to how he was on Full House. He's this person who's portrayed as someone who's gonna do anything for those girls and just be the silly goofy uncle that's around encouraging and making memories with the twins on the show. And he is very similar to that. He's been one of the most supportive people in my life and is just overall an amazing person and I'm so lucky to have him.

That duck was a pretty huge hint for Jon Cryer and we found out there was also a Two and a Half Men clue. Had you heard anyone say his name?

GRACIE LOU: I heard it once, but it was just kind of thrown out, you know, mixed in with a list of possible celebrities and I don't even think I was in the room when I heard it. So luckily no one actually brought up Jon Cryer.

Your uncle showed up in person to pick you up in a limo. Did you know that was in the works?

GRACIE LOU: Not a clue. Which is so sweet. Such a silly, lovely moment.

We don't yet know if it's true, but what did he say when you told him your theory that Naomi is related to his Pretty in Pink costar Molly Ringwald? Did he agree with your guess for that "Brat Pack princess" clue? 

GRACIE LOU: He did agree a little bit and he just thought that would be a wonderful connection and kudos to the producers and the casting team for bringing us all together. He thought that would be a really cool moment if it were true.

Split photo of claim to fame cast and Jon Cryer
'Claim to Fame' star Gracie Lou and her uncle, Jon Cryer.

ABC; Getty

Can you each share a fun fact about your uncles that fans might not know? 

GRACIE LOU: My uncle is actually a wonderful singer and not a lot of people know that because he mostly just acts. But he's done Broadway before and he's just as goofy off screen as he is on screen. He loves Legos and stuff like that. He's a nerd. Love him.

JILL: He has been painting portraits of my whole family and he's actually pretty good. It was kind of just something random that he picked up during COVID and he has gotten really good. I remember one day we were sitting in the Disneyland Hotel and he was like, I'm just going to paint something real quick. It was for my birthday and he painted this whole thing of my mom, and I was like, that actually looks so much like her. Like, what?

Gracie, are you gonna take this Gracie Lou character on the road?

GRACIE LOU: Oh, I'm hoping to. Gracie Lou has kind of been a stage name that I've been toying with recently with my songwriting and I'm really hoping that from here on out, I can continue to work on music. I am a vocalist for multiple groups right now, so just continuing to do music is the goal.

And have you and your uncle dueted yet?

GRACIE LOU: Oh, we have not, but that would be fun. Coming soon, coming soon.

GRACIE LOU, MACKENZIE, JILL
Gracie Lou, Mackenzie, and Jill on 'Claim to Fame'.

Disney/Chris Willard

Jill, what's next for you in your real life?

JILL: I have been involved in production for about six years now, so I'm hoping to kind of take that and now that I've had a little bit of experience in the real world industry, kind of go and hopefully do some production stuff with it. 

GRACIE LOU: You can come with me, we can make a tour or something.

JILL: Let's do it.

Sign up for Entertainment Weekly's free daily newsletter to get breaking TV news, exclusive first looks, recaps, reviews, interviews with your favorite stars, and more.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Claim to Fame airs Wednesdays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on ABC.

Related Articles