'Claim to Fame' players pull off ultimate Antonio Banderas trick (2024)

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

The gameplay on Claim to Fame season 3 reached new levels when one player enlisted another to help pull off the ultimate deception — all involving Antonio Banderas.

On Wednesday's episode, Miguel, who had an emotional meltdown on last week's premiere at the threat of being put on the chopping block, proved himself to be a true mastermind by guaranteeing contestants would not send him home this week.

Miguel previously revealed in a confessional that he's using a fake name in the house to "make people think I am more Spanish than I actually am." That has resulted in other players throwing around names like Banderas and (Cuba-born) Desi Arnaz. When it was announced this week would be a double elimination in which two players would be forced to guess another's celebrity relative, he went all in on scheming to convince someone to guess the Mask of Zorro star was his.

And it worked when the night's first guesser, Jill, quickly choose Miguel as her target and named Banderas as his relative — only to learn that was wrong and she would be eliminated instead (after being revealed as the niece of John Stamos). When Miguel returned safely to his seat, he and Dedrick burst out laughing. It was only then that viewers learned the thrilling turn of events that had actually taken place.

Earlier, we saw Dedrick catch Miguel giving himself an audible pep talk that included outing himself as a member of the Banderas family. Dedrick scurried off to reveal to fellow players what he just witnessed and word spread through the entire house quicker than you can say Puss in Boots. But after Jill's wrong guess, we got footage from the day prior showing that Miguel and Dedrick had set the entire thing up.

Video labeled "one day earlier" showed the two men sitting at the dining room table. Miguel asked Dedrick, "Who do I remind you of in terms of actors?" Dedrick replied, "The guy from The Count of Monte Cristo" (a 2002 movie that starred Jim Caviezel, not Banderas, but never mind that). "Antonio Banderas," Miguel said, nodding in agreement. Then he laid out a plan in which he would go into the bathroom and give himself a pep talk while namedropping the Desperado actor, at which point Dedrick should pretend to catch him and go tell Gracie Lou all about it.

Both Jill and Gracie Lou tell Entertainment Weekly they never saw the deception coming and did not notice Miguel and Dedrick laughing about it at the guess-off. "I didn't realize there was so much scheming going on behind my back," Jill says in our forthcoming exit interview.

But why did Dedrick go along with Miguel's scheme? The answer likely lies in the closing moments of last week's episode, in which Dedrick accidentally (we think!) slipped up and revealed his own identity at the dinner table, referring to himself as "Mr. Jackson" while telling an anecdote about his kids. With two players having to guess this week and no other obvious clue reveals yet this season, odds were good one of them would have guessed Dedrick was related to Michael Jackson. Who better to recruit to make sure at least one person incorrectly guessed Miguel was one degree away from starring in Spy Kids instead?

Sign up forEntertainment Weekly'sfree daily newsletterto get breaking TV news, exclusive first looks, recaps, reviews, interviews with your favorite stars, and more.

As we now know, their plan worked out flawlessly, with Gracie Lou, who was already up for elimination as the losing team captain, selecting Jill to be the night's first guesser. After the shock of everyone being dead wrong about Miguel accidentally outing his identity, Gracie Lou didn't even chance guessing I Love Lucy's Arnaz for him next. Instead, she fell victim to another player's cunning strategy by guessing that Adam was related to Dustin Hoffman on the advice of Naomi, who knew Gracie had her clue. This guess was also wrong, and Gracie was eliminated and revealed to be the niece of Jon Cryer.

All in all, a night of strategic gameplay fit for Survivor or The Traitors. And we're pretty sure we already know how Banderas would react to his non-relative's clever subterfuge:

See what Miguel cooks up next as Claim to Famecontinues Wednesdays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on ABC.