Do you ever consider auditioning for a game show? In the summer of 2010, Jenna Praeger and her family decided to do something out of the ordinary. The Praeger’s starred on the hit game show Family Feud.
Name: Jenna Praeger
Year: Junior
Hometown: Lake Zurich, IL
Whose idea was it to get involved with Family Feud?
“It was mine.”
Why did you decide to do this?
“I was watching family feud and during the show along the bottom of the screen I saw an advertisement saying if you want to be a contestant to call a number, so I did.”
Can you explain the process you had to go through to get on the show?
“First, I talked to my parents about it and I told them I was going to call. They didn’t believe me and kind of laughed it off. When I called, the lady who answered just informed me when auditions were so I emailed someone and set up an audition. We really wanted to make our email creative in order to stand out, so we said that we asked 100 people why the Praeger family should be on family feud and the top three reasons we sent them were:
1. Uncontrollable laughter
2. Very attractive
3. The most entertaining family you will ever meet
After I sent the email, we were asked to go to auditions where we acted out a mock game show against another family. Right after, we were chosen to go upstairs to a more personal interview. After our round of interviews, we got a call back to be on the show!”
What was it like when you were filming?
“The studio was in Orlando, Fl. When we got there, they showed us the stage and where to stand. We then waited in a room to be called out. We finally went on stage where we were standing in front of a live crowd. The whole experience made me realize that when you actually film a game show, everything is not as fluid as it seems to be when you are watching the episode on TV.”
What is your favorite memory from this experience?
“Steve Harvey and my dad kept joking around with each other, and Steve made my dad look like this big party animal because of the answers to some of the questions he gave.”
Can you give me an example of that?
“One of the questions was, ‘What game would be more fun if played in the nude?’ and my dad quickly responded with ‘Twister.’ So he kind of set himself up for that one. But one of my favorite memories was when we went into sudden death the first game, and my cousin Maggie won it for us. Because we won our first game we advanced to play another round. In our second game we lost to our opposing family in a sudden death.”
Even though Jenna and her family only played two games, they gained memories and shared laughers that will last them a lifetime.