San Antonio Express-News (Sunday)
San Antonians battle it out on ‘Family Feud.’
Think Steve Harvey and the contestants on “Family Feud” have fun when the cameras are rolling? You should see all the excitement that goes on behind the scenes of the hit game show.
Just ask Dwayne and Sharri Peterson, the San Antonio empty nesters whose family appears on “Family Feud” at 5 p.m. Monday on Fox 29 KABB.
“During commercial breaks it was almost as if you were at a comedy show,” said Dwayne Peterson, a retired Navy veteran. “(Harvey) made it really, really fun.”
“It’s like a big party,” said Sharri Peterson, an English teacher at Southwest High School. “It truly is like a big party.”
And after a two-year journey, the Petersons came ready to play.
Sharri led the family team with husband Dwayne, son Dorian, daughter-in-law Derricka and son Dimitri. And while the proud mother was mum on how the Petersons fared on the “Feud,” she stressed it was plenty of fun for the entire family.
“We had that energy and that spirit that they were looking for,” Sharri said.
That excitement had been building since July 2020 when she first sent an audition video.
“Feud” producers liked what they saw and auditioned the Petersons together on Zoom in November 2020. Then a few months later, they contacted the family for possible dates to shoot at the “Feud” studios in Atlanta. A few false starts later, the Petersons finally shared the stage with Harvey in May.
A lot goes into making a typical 22-minute episode. The Petersons hit the “Feud” studios at 9 a.m., Dwyane said, only to play members of the studio audience until they were called to compete at 1 p.m. Then it was a rapid one-hour shoot of pounding buzzers, popping out answers and pumping fists no matter what responses made the game board.
“They pick the family (who plays next during a shoot) according to who has the most energy,” Sharri said. “So I told my family, ‘We’re going first!’ ”
Dwayne joked they would have led the day’s shooting schedule had it not been for priority filming of a “Celebrity Family Feud” episode starring comedian Jo Koy to promote the movie “Easter Sunday.”
As for meeting Harvey, the Petersons said the comedy star makes a genuine effort to get to know all the contestants and is even more personable when there’s a commercial break.
Of course, having a comedian for a host also means being on the receiving end of his jokes.
Sharri recalled that at one point in the game, Harvey told daughter-in-law Derricka she gave “the dumbest answer he ever heard in his life,” she said with a laugh. Then she added that Derricka also gave the Petersons the right answer to steal a survey question about what foods Elvis would like most. Ding, ding if you said peanut-butter-and-banana sandwiches.
Ever the prepared teacher, Sharri made sure the Petersons brought their A-game. She practiced “Family Feud” games with her students at school and played the board game with her husband at home and with her sons and daughter-in-law on the phone.
But the Petersons’ “Feud” experience was so much more than just thinking fast on their feet, they said. Dwayne and Sharri said the game show pumps music between shots to keep everybody energized. And the crew was extra supportive when it came to choosing the right outfits and giving other television pointers.
Now the Petersons just need to see how all those unforgettable memories come together on Monday.
“We can’t wait till it airs,” Sharri said. “We had a great time.”