Skip to content

The Wheeler family loved playing The Feud

Regardless of whether they won or lost, the Wheeler family felt like winners for their appearance on CBC’s Family Feud Canada.
Family Feud Wheelers
From left, Scott and Todd Marasse, Kelly Wheeler, Teresa Smyth and Pam Currie competed as the Wheeler family on Monday night’s episode of Family Feud Canada. Photo submitted

Regardless of whether they won or lost, the Wheeler family felt like winners for their appearance on CBC’s Family Feud Canada.

After all, they made it to a show that had thousands of families entered, and it was their latest chapter in what has been a heartwarming tale.

The five siblings had their appearance Monday night, and to mark the occasion, they held a viewing party at Original Joe’s in Estevan.

Pam Currie, a former Estevan resident now residing in Esterhazy, was the team’s captain. Her sister Teresa Smyth of Bienfait and their brother Kelly Wheeler were also on the team. Rounding out the squad were twin brothers Scott and Todd Marasse of Moose Jaw.

As has been well-documented in the past couple of months, the twins were put up for adoption when they were born, and were reunited with their siblings just last year, after Currie and Todd Marasse found out about the sibling connection through Ancestry DNA kits. Since that time, there have been numerous get-togethers, including the appearance on Family Feud.

A large crowd of about 80 people was on hand to watch the episode with the siblings and their parents, Shirley and Gerald (Chic) Wheeler of Bienfait.

“We had so much fun, and there was a tonne of people that showed up, so I’m so glad we did it,” said Currie.

People at the restaurant were cheering during the episode, showing the emotion usually reserved for a sporting event. Just about every television in the business was on the epsiode. When it started playing, everybody went quiet so that people could hear host Gerry Dee introduce the family. Currie then briefly shared their story of how they recently went from a family of five to a family of seven.

“When we gave our answers, we would be waiting for whether we were going to get one on the board or whether we were going to get an X,’” said Currie. “If we ended up having the right answer, the whole room would start yelling and cheering and raising their hands up and saying ‘Good answer.’

“Everyone who was there with us said they couldn’t believe how much fun it was watching a game show in a bar.”

When they won the first round, everybody cheered. The managers and the employees couldn’t believe the excitement in the room.

“It was just so exciting to be watching it on TV, on national TV, and there we are, interacting with Gerry D, a star, and playing a game with him, and we looked so natural. I thought we looked very comfortable and very sure in ourselves, and we just had a really good time taping the episode in the first place.”

To make the party even more special, it was the 80th birthday party for Gerald Wheeler.

“We had gone earlier for a family supper, and had a big cake for him, so we had cake and we shared it with everybody in the restaurant as well, so they got to participate in his 80th birthday party.”

Family Feud Wheeler Gerry Dee
The Wheeler family with comedian Gerry Dee, third from left, who is the host of Family Feud Canada. Photo submitted.

 

 

As for the episode itself, the Wheeler family was defeated by the Tomlin family of Waterloo, Ont., who were making their second appearance, as they emerged victorious in the previous episode.

Currie described the Tomlins as wonderful people, and she has remained in contact with the Tomlin matriarch Karen.

“They were more interested in talking to us about our story, about finding our brothers. It was so heartwarming. They were just so interested in our story that we talked more about what was going on in our lives. And we developed a great relationship with them.”

Currie said the Tomlins were almost apologetic afterwards for beating the Wheelers.

The Wheeler family had a great start, by stealing the points in the first round after they had one of the answers for something that is harder to do backwards than forwards. But then the Tomlins stole points for the next two rounds, including the double money round, for questions of a profession in which it might be unprofessional to laugh, and a situation that might force someone to climb out the window of a house.

In the final round, which was for triple money, the Wheelers had a chance to steal the points, but didn’t have the answer for a French word everybody knows.

And all five team members wore purple, because that’s the favourite colour of their mother Shirley.

Currie said it was phenomenal to make it to Family Feud. The staff members were professional, friendly and helpful, and gave tips on smiling and crossing their arms like an “X” when they wanted the other team to get a strike.

“The stage is beautiful, and big, and it was just fabulous. It was a really good experience.”

The episode lasted about 22 minutes, but it took a little more than an hour to film it. There weren’t any retakes, but there weren’t any bloopers, either, or anything that will go viral on the internet.

And while it would have been nice to win, and have a chance to play for $10,000 in the fast money round, it remains an incredible experience.

“With us having our new family and our new twin brothers as part of our life, this was a great way to start making memories with them, and we just had such a good time, and the bonding that we developed being in Toronto together, it was just unbelievable,” said Currie.