‘Claim to Fame’ Winner Speaks! Michael Bolton’s Nephew Adam Triumphs Over a House Against Him

We have a winner! Claim to Fame Season 3’s championship title goes to the one and only Adam Christoferson!

All season long, Adam managed to keep his celebrity relative’s identity under wraps, even if as soon as you hear the phrase “Uncle Michael Bolton” it becomes forehead-slappingly obvious. Better yet? He also managed to win the finale challenge — even somehow turning Mackenzie Adkins and Hud Mellencamp against each other — and figured out their celebrity relatives just in time to walk away with the win.

Throughout the season, Adam became something of a lightning rod — which makes that bolt on the Clue Wall even more fitting — for others in the house who didn’t quite see eye to eye with him. Even in the finale challenge, when the previously-eliminated contestants returned to help, they mostly worked against him. So did the opposition make his victory even sweeter?

TV Insider caught up with Adam to talk about his rocky road to victory and find out what he regretted about his time on the show.

(Be sure to check out other exit interviews with Bianca Roberts, Gracie Lou Hyland and Jill Kurlfink, Raphael Curtis aka Miguel, Naomi Burns, Nael Zayas aka Danny, Shane Brando, and Mackenzie Adkins & Hud Mellencamp.)

You do sound like your celebrity relative and once you figure it out it’s kind of obvious. So, did you try to disguise your voice at all?

Adam Christoferson: I would probably try to, but there’s just no escaping it. What I did is I avoided singing up until up until a certain point. Yeah, I avoided singing. I didn’t want to throw anybody in that direction.

What did you feel about some of the guesses that people had: Dustin Hoffman, David Schwimmer, Brett Michaels…

Owen Wilson… Come on!  I mean, I was hoping for Matthew McConaughey. That would be great. I was just throwing the “All right”s out there. I mean, just having them on the train of being an actor just gave me wings to fly, hoping that I wasn’t gonna be the guesser. I think that’s why I was often the target for that. Yeah, just super grateful that. I have this kind of quirky personality that maybe I am an actor, actually. I did act in A Streetcar Named Desire.

The stage play? And that’s kind of funny because of the Marlon Brando connection with Shane. Did you have his role there?

I did not. No, I was the paper boy. [Laughs.]

What’s your reaction to the way the housemates treated you when they came back? Them taking Mackenzie and Hud’s sides so much?

I mean, I was expecting it to be honest with you. I felt pretty alone after Episode 4, after Miguel was gone. I was next on the chopping block, and I just kept giving people ammunition to do that, which is just lovely part of my personality. And so I had to keep my guard up, but I was pleasantly surprised at the finale. They did help me with a couple of key things. Of course, me being mindless at times or maybe attention deficit, they did kind of help me get by the station. So that was helpful.

Did you take it personally when people would snub you? Or did you take it as they were kind of worried because they could never figure you out.

No, I don’t really pay attention to it honestly, whether it’s personal or not. I literally just try to do the best I can to make sure everybody’s okay. I wanna connect with them on a real level. I wanted to actually just take time. I had a two week vacation away from my family and my work for the first time ever. And so I was like doing yoga, meditating, writing poetry about my own business for sure — and then sprinkle in the game, basically.

In the finale, you hurt yourself. First of all, are you okay? And then second, what was your reaction when they said you could continue after you kind of already resigned yourself? 

Well, thank you for asking. I am okay. It knocked some sense into me, which was beneficial. There just was nothing like that. I had hit the end of my rope. I really believed that I had a chance to win , and I took myself out because I got injured. And when they gave me the okay to go ahead, and I saw the leader board and that the game could potentially be in my hands, I got right back into the trance.

I mean, to be honest with you, I think I only came out of the trance twice. I came out when I wept from hitting my head. And at the end end of the finale when the fireworks are going off, and it’s just kind of hit me like, “Wait, did that actually just happen?!” So, yeah.

I don’t know what else to say, but I was, I was caught in a trance while I was there and it was a real Hollywood ending. I experienced a real live Hollywood experience.

Disney/Chris Willard

Speaking of Hollywood experiences, you talked about a story about Kris Kristofferson telling you you try too hard. Is there any relation since your last names are pretty similar?

No. I know we tried. I got a chance to sit on this tour bus for a while. We’ve caught up backstage a few times. Actually, Uncle Michael got me backstage to meet Kris at one time because I am a huge fan of Kris and just classic country in general. And we tried to figure out if there’s like a cousin from Sweden somewhere, interestingly enough.

I work at a school, and he happened to visit that school and encourage some of the kids there with music years and years ago. So there’s like this weird kind of woven thing and I’m a huge fan of his wife Lisa [Meyers], and I just wish him well on his retirement.

Speaking of your celebrity relative, how did he react to you joining the show? And then how did he react when you won it?

You know, Michael has a way to communicate with his eyes, and he communicates a lot through his eyes. And I honestly think that he was just so proud. He always been proud of me, and he did tell me, “You’re already a star. Don’t even worry about it.” And I think he’s got just gratitude, gratitude in his heart that we brought the championship home to the family.

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With regard to the contestants who were sent home before, is there anyone who, if they hadn’t gotten eliminated by guessing wrong that you think could have fooled everyone the whole time?

Yeah, Miguel. I do wish that he would have been around longer. It’s something that I wrestle with a little bit because I gave him obviously the wrong name. But I do think he could have continued on for a good long time if he had a chance to guess the right name. Unfortunately he had the right name, and I just, I steered him wrong, and I do regret that a little bit.

There were a lot of musicians this time. Do you feel like you were uniquely benefited by the fact that you were up against two musician families in the end?

Yeah, that was my [strenght]. I mean, to be able to figure out their names? Absolutely. You know, it was really funny because I wanted to highlight my music in the talent show — and of course, acting — but they really thought that I was just trying to hide that, “Oh, I’m a musician, so I’m related to a musician.” And so they just went like, “Oh, he’s just playing too easy. He’s definitely related to an actor.”  I think, yeah, at the end of the day, that worked out really well for me now.

It was kind of comical sometimes how you seemed to have a lack of celebrity knowledge about actors and things like that. Was that real? Or were you kind of playing that up?

A little bit of both. I mean, for the most part, definitely when I watch movies I zone out, I don’t pay attention really to names or even the character names or the actual actors and the actual actors’ names. I mean, I know the majors, right? The huge, huge names, but even then I might get their names wrong.

I mean, I have a kind of a little bit of a learning disability, and it works for me in other ways, with music and especially certain musicians — I mean, I’ll know their whole catalog and I’ll be able to play it. So yeah, probably not the best show to be on without a good amount of diverse celebrity knowledge. But, I mean, that’s the game. You have to rely on the people around you, and I wasn’t the only one.

Well, I mean, it worked out for you in the end, like you said! So casting is now open for Season 4. What advice would you give someone who’s trying to join the show?

Enjoy the property. Take a moment to just — like it’s a vacation. I mean, it’s a summer camp. You have to not get caught up in the drama, but don’t avoid the drama either. You have to go full force into it. I mean, I never shied away from the panic. I used the panic as a way to get moving. And so that was— it rubs people the wrong way but it also generates certain gravity and energy that maybe something positive is going to come your way because you’re working so hard to find it. So, a good balance of going for the game, but do treat yourself to some of the spoils that are California, if that’s where it’s gonna be filmed.  It’s just such a beautiful state.