The world may know Tom Hanks as one of the nicest and most unassuming film stars of all time — but his niece definitely didn’t behave that way on her (very short-lived) reality TV run!!
Hanks is Carly Reeves‘ uncle, and she parlayed that family connection into a brief run on a new reality TV competition called Claim To Fame. The show, hosted by Kevin and Frankie Jonas, follows a group of celebrity relatives who share a home together Real World-style.
But the catch is that these celeb relatives have not revealed their famous familial connections to each other. It’s on the other contestants in the house to figure out who is related to whom based on clues put forth by producers in weekly challenges. Sounds fun, right?!
Related: Tom Hanks Explains Why He LOVES Crashing Weddings!
Well, on the Season 2 (!!!) premiere of the ABC hit Monday night, Carly was the very first houseguest eliminated after others correctly guessed she is related to the Captain Phillips star. And, uhhh, let’s just say things did NOT go well after Carly got the boot.
During the ep, producers posted a “clue wall” for contestants to parse. On it, there was a pic of a ping pong paddle and a green park bench — which contestants immediately picked up on as being possible Forrest Gump references. Carly tried to throw them off with nods to Gary Sinise, who also memorably acted in that flick. But they weren’t moved by that, and they correctly linked her to Hanks!
Upon being correctly identified by another contestant named Hugo at the elimination event, Carly popped off. Breaking down into tears, she said she was “just a little shocked” at the quick hook, before adding:
“I was not expecting this at all! I helped you Hugo, I frickin’ helped you! If any of them are right, I swear, I hope you go home because of that. But he was smart, he played smart, so I give him credit.”
But then things got waaaaaaaaaaaaay worse!
While walking inside to pack up her stuff, Carly broke down and began BAWLING! With tears streaming down her face, she started screaming at the top of her lungs! After letting off one bloodcurdling scream, she slammed producers for their “frickin’ obvious” bench clue:
“These frickin’ clues are so frickin’ obvious! Frickin’ bench?! It’s the frickin’ poster of frickin’ Forrest Gump, are you kidding me?!”
Personally slamming another contestant named Gabriel, she added:
“Why a bench? Why a bench?! There’s literally no benches in any other movie. Even Gabriel found that out, he’s not even smart!”
Clearly someone was not here to make friends. And then came the BIG finish…
Related: Tom Screams At Fans To ‘BACK THE F**K OFF’ After Almost Hurting His Wife Rita Wilson!
Wrapping in a flourish while tossing clothes from the closet into her suitcase, Carly added:
“I didn’t even get to do any challenges! I don’t deserve this! I should have more camera time, I should be here longer! No one expected that, no one!”
You can see the entire exchange from this week’s Claim To Fame premiere ep (below):
Ok, clearly Tom Hanks did some dark shit in a past life to now have this lunatic as his niece and Chet Hanks as his son… pic.twitter.com/A5kQY89Icr
— Jarett Wieselman (@JarettSays) June 27, 2023
Jeez!!!
Amazingly, after the elimination, Carly decided to grant some interviews, too. To her credit, she did acknowledge in a chat with Entertainment Weekly that she “overreacted a little bit” upon being eliminated. Which, uh, yes. She said:
“I was really angry that I didn’t get a chance to play as long as some of other contestants. I mean, there was no one to be angry at. I was just angry in general at myself, and at the fact that I was going home. And then that turned to complete despair and sadness. I even say, like, ‘I should get more camera time!’ That’s just so silly of me to say. But I also was just saying things out of my mouth.”
Yeah, no kidding…
Related: Chet Hanks Posts Anti-Vaxx Rant Despite His Parents’ COVID Scare!
In a separate interview with USA Today, the 39-year-old claimed she was “in a complete fog” upon being eliminated from the show. Even with cameras rolling through it all, she claims to have essentially blacked out:
“I don’t even remember Tom’s picture showing up. My eyes were so full of water. I was crying so much, I couldn’t even breathe. I just was hyperventilating a little bit because I was shocked.”
She went on to voice her frustration with producers to that outlet, too — proving that she still feels cheated:
“I felt like I didn’t get as easy a game as everyone else. They could have used a million different clues from all of his different movies, but they decided to use the biggest movie of his and make three clues about that. I thought I didn’t get a good shot at it, and I just felt like it was all kind of planned to make me go home.”
And it sounds like she doesn’t regret the outburst?! She summed up her personality to USA Today, offering up no regrets:
“Honestly, I’m an emotional person, so I’m obviously going to react in a big way. Could I have handled myself better and been a little bit more graceful with it? Yes. But as far as being upset and sad, that was all real. So, I can’t regret it.”
So there you have it. What a show!
Related: Chet Hanks Insists He’s ‘Had To Work And Earn Everything’ In His Life…
There’s just one more question on our end: does Tom know about his niece’s elimination?? And the answer to that is, uh, yes indeed!! Speaking with EW about it, Carly explained:
“Yeah, I told him. I said, ‘guess what your clue was?’ And he goes, ‘What?’ I said, ‘A bench!’ He was like, ‘Ahhhh.’ At first, he didn’t understand the game, and then I was like, ‘It’s clues from your movies.’ And then he said, ‘Oh, okay. Got it. Got it.'”
She added to that outlet how she may not be down to have the 66-year-old A-lister watch her appearance, though:
“Maybe I don’t want him to watch it because I don’t want to embarrass him for any reason. I hope I don’t embarrass him, but I don’t think I do.”
And yet she said the Green Mile star did encourage her to secure the bag no matter what:
“He’s happy for me no matter what. He did ask me, ‘Did you make some money?’ And I was like, ‘Yeah, I made a little bit.’ And he said, ‘Ok, good.’ So, he was happy that I made a little money.”
That’s kind of funny. And it’s also kind of wild to know that the esteemed world famous silver screen superstar now has a reality TV competition show on his radar! LOLz!
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