‘Claim to Fame’: Alicia Keys’ Brother Cole Cook Reveals What Really Got Him Eliminated (Exclusive)

Warning: The following post contains spoilers for Claim to Fame Season 2, Episode 5, "It's Giving Karma."

What goes around certainly comes around, and no one knows that better than Cole Cook, who was the fifth contestant on Claim to Fame to be booted from the show's second season after Karsyn correctly identified him as Alicia Keys' brother.

Cole was the guesser the week before and sent home one of his closest friends — Shayne Murphy, daughter of Eddie Murphy — so he knew that his time in the hot seat would be coming up soon. Indeed, with the help of an updated clue wall and some prodding by Shayne's bestie Monay, the identity of Cole's celebrity relative came to light, which meant he had to pack his bags right before halfway point in the competition.

The Messenger caught up with Cole Cook to discuss how his decision to target Shayne and a few key conversational slip-ups ultimately led to his elimination — and what his very famous sister Alicia Keys had to say about him joining the show.

On the unique situation of making friends while also trying to hide his true identity on 'Claim to Fame'… 

Cole Cook: The show brings on a different dynamic because we're meeting others that fully understand the lifestyle that we've kind of grew up with. And it's hard finding friends that understand what we've all gone through. So you want to kind of build this relationship with them, but at the same time, you're also trying to win the show, which is so tricky… You're trying to tell them the truth in some ways and not trying to hurt anybody's feelings because, down the line, you would love to keep them as a friend.

But I can say that the majority of us are still friends, so that's a nice thing… We have a massive group chat. And we also now have the group chat with the first season as well. So there's about 20 of us in one group chat now.

On whether he was surprised Karsyn was able to identify his celebrity relative…

Cook: I definitely saw it coming. It was funny enough that I kind of started hearing my relative's name thrown out on day two of the game... I was able to kind of throw directions off of me for a while — so like Travis towards Shayne — but then over time, it slowly just became obvious with my clues.

On how the updated clue wall made it even harder to conceal his celebrity relative…

Cook: It was already hard enough when you have a diary on the wall, a piano on the wall and then the Empire State Building on the wall. It kind of very much points you in the direction of Alicia Keys. I think Carly [Reeves, Tom Hanks' niece] had some clues that were pretty obvious, but I think mine were also pretty obvious. So it's just how make relationships inside of the house so they want to keep you around? Can you find your way to keep winning challenges to keep yourself in the game. And how long can you kind of keep them away from your actual clues? But yeah, they were undermined pretty, pretty fast.

On the decision to send Shayne Murphy home last episode...

Cook: There's so much more that happens inside of the house that always isn't shown, but it was definitely a piece of the game where it's like you knew what happened the week before with Jada [Star, Dolly Parton's niece], and you didn't know if it was 100% true with the clue. I didn't feel 100% confident — and you're never gonna feel 100% going in — but are you willing to risk going home? Or are you willing to send a friend home or an ally home because they'll keep you in the game? And that's kind of where it came to, just making sure I just stayed in the game.

I was coming to play the game. I don't feel any regrets on that. I mean, obviously, we're still friends and we've already talked through it. It does hurt when you send somebody that you're trying to get to know and be close with home, but at the same time, you are here to play a game, so you have to make a decision. 

On watching Monay target him after Shayne's ouster…

Cook: I mean, see, she's a pitbull. So the second I sent her best friend in the house home and her strongest ally, I knew a target was on my back. I knew it. So I was fully expecting it. There wasn't anything that was kind of like throwing me off that — like, 'Oh no, she told me she was gonna be and have my back still' — but she didn't. I knew she was coming after me, and I knew probably Gabriel was right there with her, and Hugo would probably jump on board with them as well to make sure everybody stayed happy — happy Hugo — and I knew what I set myself up for.

On who he would've chosen to target if he'd been in the bottom two…

Cook: It was either gonna be Hugo if I was bottom two, or it was gonna be Karsyn.

On how Alicia Keys reacted to him joining 'Claim to Fame,' and what advice she had for him…

Cook: Funny because we found out about being on the show about four days before actually leaving, so we talked about it. I would not have gone on the show if she didn't give me the all-clear for being on it, but she was super supportive. And she was just like, 'Go win. Do what you do best. Make friends, use that, and go win.'

On what ultimately gave him away…

Cook: I would say down the line definitely the past relationships. During the show, we were talking about trips that we would go on as families, and again I'm talking about my 'father' [as the celebrity relative] kind of leaning into that, you know, 'Our father's taking us up on these trips so my brother can be there, my sister can be there, my nephews can be there'... I can kind of still tell the truth in a way, but I think some of those things just probably didn't fully line up all the time. And she kind of started realizing that and picked up on it. That's probably why I went home.

On getting emotional over Alicia Keys' video message to him after the guess-off…

Cook: Oh man, she's my best friend. She's my sister, but she's like my best friend at the end of the day. People see her in a certain light, and I see her in the same light, but I also see her different perspectives… She's had my back my whole life. You know, our parents— my dad wasn't around because we have different moms. So I was living with them, and I would see her maybe once a year. And with that, anytime that we did see each other, it was just all love, and we've always had this relationship of love. I was getting emotional because it's somebody that's had my back throughout my life. Anything I needed, I could always go to her for it, and then be able to show her that I cared about her too in a larger fashion and on a show. It's fun to be able to talk about it because normally I wouldn't be able to tell a lot of people about it.

Claim to Fame airs Mondays at 8/7c on ABC.