ALL IN THE ‘ FAMILY’
Celebs and their relatives team up for charity bucks
PLAYING along with TV game shows is a breeze when you’re watching at home. Maybe that’s why “Celebrity Family Feud” attracts A-listers such as Amy Schumer and Chrissy Metz (“This Is Us”).
“It’s a game. Going into it they think, ‘How difficult could it be?,’ ” executive producer Gabrielle Johnston says ahead of the show’s Season 3 premiere.
But things can change once filming begins. Johnston says Kelly Clarkson — whose family faces off against Schumer’s — confessed to host Steve Harvey that she was a bundle of nerves.
“She’s not nervous when she sings, but being up there was worse than she thought,” Johnston says. “You still have to think quickly.”
The show surveys 100 people on a range of (often bawdy) subjects, and celebs’ families and friends team up to guess as many of the top answers as they can to win up to $25,000 for charity. Prurient hilarity ensues when players answer questions such as, “Name something a farmer’s wife likes to watch a farmer do because it turns her on.”
Bindi Irwin, the daughter of the late “Animal Planet” host Steve Irwin, and her family — mother, Terri; brother, Robert; and cousins, Daniel and Sara Marineau — play against Metz’s family. Like Clarkson, she wasn’t ready for prime time. “I was amazed how your mind can go blank when you are caught up in the moment!” she writes by e-mail from Australia. “When you’re at home you know there isn’t any pressure to get the answers, so your mind can keep up with the questions!”
With a penchant for exclamation points, Irwin, 18, gamely answered The Post’s additional questions about her experience.
Had you already been a fan of “Celebrity Family Feud”?
I am a huge fan of the show and have been since I was little! Here in Australia we have our very own “Family Feud,” so it’s my go-to after a busy day. I can also remember flying to the US and getting superexcited to watch the American version. Sometimes when we were traveling in the States and waiting for our flights it would be playing on a TV in the airport. I used to struggle not to yell out answers and disrupt the other travelers! You just get sucked into playing along so easily! How stressful was it to do the show? We kept encouraging one another and that kept us from being too stressed. I think while you’re playing you can often second-guess your answers; that was my biggest hurdle.
Would you describe your family as naturally competitive?
I’d like to say that I’m not extremely competitive, but as a family, when we are playing board games and card games together at home, that can change! It’s always good to want to do your best, and I think that’s where the competitiveness comes from. We all wanted to do our best on the show and raise money for our chosen charity, Wildlife Warriors. How would you compare playing “Celebrity Family Feud” to foxtrotting your way to the “Dancing With the Stars” championship in 2015?
Surprisingly, I found that “Celebrity Family Feud” and “Dancing With the Stars” had similarities. Both shows challenge you mentally and they require a strong team to achieve greatness! Did you learn anything about each other by playing “Celebrity Family Feud”?
You can achieve so much when you work together as a team. As a family we cheered each other on, and that really was the best part of being on the show! I think that’s what is so special about “Family Feud”: It reminds us of the joy in working together and having fun. How do you think your dad would have done on the show? Dad would have been a legendary “Family Feud” player! He had to think at lightning speed when working with beautiful animals like crocodiles. That fast thinking would have for sure made show!—him fantastic on the