Who Is Claim To Fame's Gabriel?

ABC's "Claim to Fame" kicked off its second season on June 26, 2023, with twelve new contestants each harboring a secret familial tie to a celebrity. Each player is tasked with identifying the unique claims to fame of their housemates while simultaneously keeping their own famous connection a mystery.

Though a few celebrity relatives were figured out pretty early on by the "Claim to Fame" contestants, such as Carly Reeves' infamous tie to Tom Hanks or Hugo Wentzel's connection to former president Jimmy Carter, some secrets are proving to be more elusive than others. While Gabriel didn't initially appear to be the strongest player, the charismatic leader has really proved to be one of the more challenging puzzles for his fellow housemates.

Not only has he forged housemate alliances and consistently won episode challenges, but he's also effectively kept his fellow contestants in the dark about his celebrity relative. Fellow contestants are convinced that he's related to a famous football player, but at-home viewers know from Gabriel's confessionals that he isn't tied to an athlete. With this in mind, who is Gabriel from "Claim to Fame" related to?

Fellow "Claim to Fame" player J.R. believes that Gabriel is related to football player Julius Peppers, but his competitor had revealed in an Episode 1 confessional that he was lying about being related to an athlete. This, combined with other clues and hints, has pointed viewers in the right direction regarding Gabriel's celebrity relation.

One of the biggest hints came from Gabriel himself, who speculated in Episode 4 that the burger statue featured in the challenge was related to his celebrity. He explained that his celebrity had previously done sketch comedy with Kenan Thompson and Kel Mitchell, the stars of the movie "Good Burger." On top of this, the penalty reveals in Episode 2 associated his relative with drumsticks, a red and yellow star, and a propeller hat.

However, Gabriel's wine cellar clue, which he and Chris both pulled in Episode 7, is also a big indicator of his secret relative. The picture puzzle featured a stick figure pushing a stroller, the number two, a more than/greater than sign, ten babies, an ampersand, a drum with drumsticks on top of it, and a star. While Chris hasn't cracked the meaning of the puzzle yet, we have a pretty good idea of who this clue is referencing.

While many of the "Claim to Fame" contestants are still speculating that Gabriel is related to a football player, all the mentioned clues point to him being related to TV host, actor, and comedian Nick Cannon. If you've been keeping up with pop culture, then you know the Cannon is the father to twelve children as of the show's airing, which fits with the wine cellar clue along with the baby dolls featured on the clue wall.

The rapper also acted on the Nickelodeon show "All That" alongside Kenan Thompson and Kel Mitchell early in his career, as Gabriel mentioned in his confessional. The drum imagery relates to his 2002 movie "Drumline," in which he played a competitive marching band drummer, and the red and orange star spotted in Episode 2 is likely a reference to his time as host of "America's Got Talent."

Beyond this, there are some other hints that retrospectively make sense with this guess, such as the limerick line, "Who set up loud battles for money," featured in the Episode 5 telephone challenge, which aligns with Cannon's rapping career as well as his "America's Got Talent" gig. The butterfly statue in Episode 4 could be a reference to his famous ex-wife Mariah Carey, who has an album titled "Butterfly" and a butterfly lower back tattoo that was originally dedicated to Cannon.