‘Claim to Fame’ Clue Wall: Inside the Show’s Instantly Iconic Feature

When it comes to Claim to Fame, while the cast and celebrity relatives change, there are two constants: the cohosts, Kevin Jonas and Franklin Jonas, and the existence of the Clue Wall.

In Season 3, the Clue Wall returns — although contestants’ time with the artistic array of props will not be unlimited like it has been in the past — and it’s packed with early indicators of who the cast’s celebrity relatives are.

The Clue Wall has quickly become a centerpiece for the show in more ways than one; in past seasons, it was literally a place for the contestants to corral and dissect the clues, and it’s also one of the most recognizable signifiers of the show at this point. So how did it come together in the first place?

“In development and pre-production during the first season of the show, we knew we wanted clues to be placed all around the challenges and anywhere in the house, to get the participants to explore the environment that they were in,” executive producer Eric Detwiler tells TV insider.

“The first season of the show, if you remember the clue wall was this sort of almost like a modern art piece. It was a monochromatic blue wall that had all number of items on it, but it was sort of painted in this way where, if you didn’t know quite what you were looking for, you might walk past and then not even realize it was a clue. And that’s really what happened in the first few days of the production of Season 1. Finally, when they realized and understood what it was, it was this light bulb ‘aha’ moment. Now it’s become such an iconic piece of the show, we’ve owned it a little bit more because everyone knows that’s the smart place to start looking for clues in the house, isn’t it?”

Detwiler, who now displays Season 1’s Clue Wall in his own office, adds, “I love the idea that you could put items in full view of the participants, and they would not even know that they were clues until they dialed in. And then within that Clue Wall, there are real clues, and there are also our red herrings there. And so it’s fun to be able to watch them try to uncover and make connections and connect the dots to their wild theories about exactly who these items might be related to.”

While contestants’ time with the Clue Wall is limited for Season 3, yours isn’t! Click through below to explore the new Clue Wall in great detail.

Claim to Fame, Season 3 Premiere, July 10, 9/8c, ABC