Tom Hanks’ Niece Got Kicked Off A Reality Show, And Her Exit Was Absolutely Bonkers

Carly Reeves’ brief appearance on the US reality show Claim To Fame is truly something else.
Carly Reeves and Tom Hanks.
Carly Reeves and Tom Hanks.
ABC via Gizelle Hernandez/GARETH CATTERMOLE VIA GETTY IMAGES

Family gatherings at the Hanks’ household must be wild.

Carly Reeves — Tom Hanks’ niece — has currently dethroned the actor’s son, Chet Hanks, as the famous family’s most out-there member, thanks to a brief but memorable appearance on Claim To Fame.

The US reality show, hosted by brothers Kevin and Frankie Jonas, pits 12 contestants — all related to celebrities — against one another as they compete to figure out which celebrity each contestant is related to.

Whoever manages to can conceal the identity of their well-known relative for the longest is awarded a $100,000 (around £78,530) prize.

However, that lucky winner will not be Carly, because she was cast away from the competition during Monday night’s season two premiere.

Fellow contestant, Hugo, guessed that she was related to Tom Hanks after correctly interpreting a park bench and a ping-pong paddle as references to 1994’s Forrest Gump.

And although those clues made Carly’s link to the two-time Oscar winner pretty obvious, no one could have predicted how she would respond to getting the boot — and her reaction is making quite the splash online.

In a clip that’s gone viral on Twitter, Carly is seen leaving the elimination ceremony in tears.

As the ceremony ends, a scream is suddenly heard off camera. The camera then follows Carly, as she climbs the stairs to her room and has a straight-up tantrum as she packs up her stuff to leave.

“Why a bench? Why a bench? There’s literally no reference to a bench in any other movie!” Carly yells in the clip, before dissing one of her fellow contestants.

“Even Gabriel found that out, he’s not even, like, smart!” she fumes.

But the most telling aspect of Carly’s meltdown occurs a bit later when she screeches: “I don’t deserve this! I should have more camera time! I should be here longer!”

Twitter users felt Carly’s big antics were in a league of their own.

“I think I overreacted a little bit,” Carly told Entertainment Weekly in an interview published on Tuesday.

“I’m an emotional, very dramatic person. I was really angry that I didn’t get a chance to play as long as some of [the] 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.”

Carly also addressed the “camera time” line while speaking to the outlet. “That’s just so silly of me to say. But I also was just saying things out of my mouth,” she explained.

She added that her uncle is well aware that she participated in the reality show but has mixed feelings about whether or not she wants him to watch the episode.

“I mean, maybe I don’t want him to watch it because I don’t want to embarrass him for any reason,” Carly said.

“I hope I don’t embarrass him, but I don’t think I do. So, I would love for him to watch it, because I think it’s hilarious… 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.”

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