His sister, Alicia Keys, might be a “Girl on Fire,” but Cole Cook’s “Claim to Fame” star has burned out.
Cook, 32, became a target after eliminating housemate Shayne Murphy last week when he correctly identified her celebrity relative as Eddie Murphy. Cook and Shayne had been canoodling and seemingly formed an alliance, so castmates were shocked when Cook sent Shayne home.
Cook tells USA TODAY it wasn’t easy “sending home somebody that you were close to, that you were becoming close friends with. But we’re here for the game.” A game that awards the celebrity relative who successfully conceals their identity for the entire season $100,000.
On last week’s episode, Shayne was the only contestant Cook felt confident guessing, but he also knew doing so would put a bullseye on his back.
During Monday’s episode, Monay convinced Karsyn that Cook was related to Keys. Monay shared that before Shayne’s exit, she told Monay she thought Keys’ brother dated actress Emma Watson. “I’m talking to him randomly,” Monay told Karsyn. “He’s like, ‘Yeah, and I have an ex-girlfriend who lives in London.”
Monay’s intel was a little faulty (more on that below), but Karsyn correctly outed Cook as kin to Keys at Monday’s ceremony. (The two are half-siblings and share the same father.)
Cook set the record straight on his relationship with Watson, revealed Keys’ concerns about the show and shared his first conversation with Shayne following her elimination. (Edited for length and clarity.)
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Question: Did you chat about “Claim to Fame” with your sister before going on?
Cole Cook: I definitely had to get permission and make sure she felt great with it. It was such an easy conversation. I was like, “Hey, here’s this show.” She was like, “Is there gonna be more drama? Is that you? Because you’re just not very much drama.” I was like, “No, it’s more of a game show. But there will probably be some drama.” She was like, “I’m all for it. Go for it, have fun. Come back and win. You better come home and win.”
She’s out on tour right now. It’s a perfect time for me to jump out on tour and hang out with her and the fam and watch this episode of me actually going home together.
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Would you change anything about how you played the game?
No, I would not do anything differently on how I played the game. Not at all.
What was that first conversation with Shayne after her elimination like?
We were able to have a moment together around the last episode where we come back. We were able to talk through it and she forgave me for sending her home, but understood that it was just the game.
Were you surprised Shayne and Monay figured out your British ex-girlfriend was Emma Watson?
Surprisingly and funny enough, it wasn’t actually Emma Watson. (We) definitely went out and had a date, but we never really went down that path. (It was singer) Vanessa White.
Is there anything about the “Claim to Fame” house that viewers might be surprised to know?
(The amount of) downtime you have in between things. Chris and I literally just played hours of pool in between things because there was just so much downtime. Some people (would) go off and have to do interviews and things like that. You definitely become a little bit insane in the sense of not having what you normally would, like (a) TV or phone or computer to look stuff up or watch things. It definitely takes you back to being young and just being like, “OK well, let’s do cartwheels in the field and play pool all day and play card games consistently.”
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