Some of you may remember my list of TV guilty pleasures. I shamelessly adore Family Feud. It’s the best way to clear my head after a hard day at work. The hysterical contestants, the bad answers, the giant answer board! What’s not to love?
I recently learned that my good friend JD and her husband, Dave actually know someone who was a contestant on the show AND WON! I immediately fired off a bunch of questions for him, which he so graciously answered for me.
If you’re a fan of game shows, I think you’ll enjoy this behind-the-scenes look inside Family Feud. Survey says LET’S PLAY 20 QUESTIONS!
1. How did you get selected for Family Feud?
My sister Joan (the second oldest of the five kids in our family) answered an ad in her local paper: “Family Feud is coming to Ventura to look for contestants” … Very typical of Joan, she rounded up her husband and three of her siblings and said “We’re doing this.” (At the time, 4 of the 5 kids lived in Southern California; our brother Dave was living in the Bay Area.)
2. Did you have to go in for interviews? If so, what kinds of things did they ask you?
In Ventura, we did an initial tryout. This was their first screening process. Essentially, they just wanted to see if we had a pulse and could formulate complete sentences. You’d be surprised—or maybe not—how many got weeded out at this stage. So we passed that test and were invited to Los Angeles to do the same kind of thing in a more formal setting for the producers.
3. How did you decide which family members would appear on the show?
Like I said, there’s five kids in the family; four were in Southern California at the time. So it was those four plus my sister Joan’s husband (since she was the one who organized the whole thing). This was back in 1991, so none of my nieces and nephews were old enough to be on (you had to be 12).
4. Did you have to “test” play the game to determine who would get picked?
We did a brief test in Ventura; again, just to see who could clap and jump up and down and be animated. Then in Los Angeles, we played a test game against another family. The producer acted as the host. That was fun. He loved us. (How can you not?) He all but told us at the tryout that we would definitely get called to play. This was October, 1991. We were expecting a call soon. November, December, January, February came and went. Nothing.
In the interim, I got laid off and took a job in Chicago (that’s where I met JD’s husband Dave). I moved in March. I had been there about two weeks and they called us to come in the next week. We couldn’t substitute players or we would have to start the tryout process all over again, so I flew back to be in the game show.
5. What do they tell you to do while playing? Must you clap hysterically, even at dumb answers? It seems to me this is a requirement and it’s one of the reasons I love this show.
Absolutely. They want personality. They want animation. No Neanderthals, please. Every answer is a “Good answer! Good answer!” and deserves to be clapped for. Family Feud is pretty much mindless, so you need to bring something to the table.
6. Are there breaks during taping? If so, what do they do with you/to you during that time?
Not really. What happened with us was that we went down on a Friday. They were taping six shows that day. They pretty much went in real time with about 15 to 20 minutes between shows. We just sat there and watched like the rest of the studio audience.
7. Did you have a strategy in deciding whether to pass or play after the head-to-head question at the start of each round?
A strategy? No, not really. It’s been a long time and I’m not sure we had the choice (that was from the Richard Dawson era in the 70s and 80s). I think which ever team won the face-off got to run with the question.
8. What happens if someone makes a big mistake during taping?
Like someone’s fly is open or they sneeze? There was nothing like that. No one ever had to say “Cut! Do it again!” while we were there. However, we actually lost our second game but they made a judging error and brought us back for the next show. You know, every now and then you’ll see that on Jeopardy or something but not on Family Feud. But it happened to us and they brought us back and we won two more shows.
9. How long does taping last?
Like I said, it was done in real time with 15/20-minute breaks in between. They did six shows the first day we were there, so it probably took 4 or 5 hours.
10. What’s it like to get “done up” in the makeup chair?
That’s funny. I have absolutely no recollection of being made up. I’m sure they did something just to hide the glare from our shiny faces but other than a little powder, I don’t think it was anything at all.
11.How did you pick your family’s “leader?”
This was Joan’s project. She’s definitely the personality of the family. She got the ball rolling. She drove the bus. She was at the head of the table.
12. What was your most memorable moment?
There are several. We were on for five shows and won about $13,000 total. The two fast money rounds we won were great, for obvious reasons. When we finally lost, they let us bring all the nieces and nephews and our parents up on stage during the closing credits. That was pretty cool for them to be on TV when they’re in grade school.
On the show, I had a couple good exchanges with the host (I answered “hemorrhoids” to “What do women complain about when they’re pregnant?” and the host gave a really good look on that; I answered “Nothing” to “What do women wear to bed?” and he said, “You’re not married are you?”)
I also remember a couple of things off stage. On the first day of taping, they did six shows. We didn’t get called until the last one. They kept coming over to the waiting area and saying “Ok, Smith family, you’re next.” “Jones family, you’re next.” And on and on. There were more families there than there were shows to be taped (just in case somebody flakes out). Anyway, we’re waiting and we’re getting a little nervous, edgy, anxious. Finally, before the last show, they said, “Shannon family, your next.” My sister Joan turned toward me and let out an absolute shrill of a scream. Just piercing. I looked at her like “What the f….?” … So we won that game and had to come back the next day for more taping.
As they prepped the families who we would play against that day, we sat out in the studio audience. At one point, Joan has to sneeze. And she’s starts “Ahhh.. Aahhh…” looking for a place to sneeze. Finally she just turns toward me and “AAAHHH CHOO!!!!” … It was the weirdest thing. Not like she didn’t cover her nose and mouth. It was just the way she was pausing and looking for a place to sneeze and decided I was as good a place as any. I know that has nothing to do with Family Feud, but I’ll always remember that and we still bring that up and laugh about it.
13. If you wanted to change anything about your performances, what would it be?
I just wish I wasn’t so nervous. Whenever we watch it (we had it on VHS originally and then one my nephews transferred it to a DVD) there are a couple of places I cringe because I just don’t like my delivery. It’s not so much getting questions wrong—some of those were pretty funny—it was more of how I sounded.
14. How much money did you win?
About $13,000 split among the five of us. We won three games and lost two.
15. How long did it take to receive it?
If I remember right we had to wait until after the show had aired, and then it was couple months after that.
16. How did you deal with nervousness?
It wasn’t too bad once we got going. I just had a real fear of drawing a blank. I’d rather give a bad/funny answer than none at all. But like I said, there was a couple of times I didn’t like the way I sounded when I gave an answer.
17. What is it like during the final round? Do you blank out when confronted with the fast questions?
My sister Kathy and my brother John did the bonus round. We chose them because they had previous game show experience (“Blockbusters” back in the early 80s).
18. Who is your all-time favorite host of the show?
Gotta be Richard Dawson, right? He set the standard. We were on with Ray Combs. He was funny; we really liked him. And then he committed suicide a few years after that. Which was really sad; he had about five or six kids.
19. Did you ever want to be on another game show, and if so, which one?
It was fun doing this one because there was five of us. We really had a fun time, as goofy as Family Feud is, it was a great family bonding experience. I like the big-cash/no-brain element of Deal or No Deal, but I don’t think I want to go up there and look like a bozo all by myself.
20. What was it like watching yourself on TV?
Totally weird. Like listening to your own voice on a tape recorder. “Do I look like that? Do I sound like that?” It’s just weird.
THANK YOU, ROB! I’m thrilled you agreed to answer my questions about the show. I can die happy now. Yes, that’s a little sad. But I’ve always wanted to know what it’s like to be on a game show, and my favorite one, no less.
It’s possible none of my readers will have anything to say about this in the comments except “Kathy, you have to get out more.” But please check back. You just might have to answer more questions!
That’s right! Our little Windy turns one year old on Wednesday and I’m celebrating the day with cake and a party.
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