TV’s Feud brought the family together in Haida Gwaii siblings | Tech Reddy

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How did two brothers from Haida Gwaii end up in the national game?

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For Derek Washington, it started when one of his friends sent him a call from Family Feud Canada looking for Haida Gwaii families. He sent the posting to his family’s group chat as a joke.

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But his younger sister applied and said to them, “We have to do an investigation.”

The family group is made up of Derek and his sister Neena, who live in Haida Gwaii, and his younger sisters and their father, who live in Ontario. Derek and Neena’s stepmother, whom Derek just calls mom, was one of the team and ran the whole process with them.

In the Zoom test they wore team uniforms and each person introduced themselves. They also did a small skit and a funny version of the game.

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Derek believes they succeeded because of their enthusiasm and optimism.

“We are a very happy family,” he said.

After confirming the date, the family had two weeks to prepare. Derek said that while he is familiar with US Family Feud, he hasn’t watched much of the Canadian version. So he indulged himself by watching the previous episodes and played along with the contestants.

Derek said: “When they said you were leaving, I said, ‘Okay, I’m doing my homework.’

Family Feud Canada covered travel and accommodation expenses for the family members to come to Toronto.

Derek and Neena flew from Haida Gwaii to Vancouver and had a late flight to Toronto. They didn’t arrive until after midnight and had to be at the studio by 7:30 that morning.

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Had he known it was going to be a schedule, Derek said he would have asked to leave a day earlier so he could rest.

The morning was a blur of makeup checks, getting used to the stage and going through the rules – like you can’t brag to anyone.

Derek’s mother also traveled to Toronto, although Family Feud did not cover her expenses.

“He was fighting for the crowd and getting the crowd excited. “Just looking out and seeing him out there calms your nerves, it makes you feel good that someone is out there cheering you on,” Derek said.

He estimated there were less than 100 people in the audience and while it was impressive to be on stage, he just watched the performance.

“Once we got through the first round we kind of calmed down like ‘OK, we can do this.'”

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After they win their first show, they go straight to the next show against a new family.

Washington lost in a sudden death round during the second show, but Derek said he had a chance to win against them and didn’t realize it.

He had to guess what people answered when asked to describe what was behind the scenes and one team ended up getting points for correctly guessing the virtual assistant.

“I have a Google Assistant in my house. “I use it every day and I don’t think about Google Assistant or Alexa or Siri,” Derek said.

While the R10,000 prize was lost, they received cash for each question they answered correctly and Derek said his family used it for a fun night out.

The best part of the experience was spending time with family, she said. While the Washingtons visited each other, she said they were only together as a full family unit twice before starring on Family Feud.

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“That was the biggest prize for sure, just being with the family and sharing the experience together. It was amazing,” Derek said.

Derek and Neena were able to arrange their plane home a week after filming the show so they could spend more time together.

“Dad is 73, none of us are getting any younger and that’s a constant in the digital world.

Kaitlyn Bailey is a reporter with Prince Rupert’s Northern View.