TV feud brings families together for brother Haida Gwaii

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How did the two Haida Gwaii brothers end up on a national game show?

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For Derek Washington, it started when one of his friends sent Family Feud Canada a call looking for Haida Gwaii’s family. As a joke, he forwarded his post to his family group his chat.

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But his sister filled out an application and after a while said, “I have to audition.”

The family team consisted of Derek and his sister Nina, both of whom live in Haida Gwaii, and their two sisters and their father, who live in Ontario. Derek and Nina’s stepmother (whom Derek calls mom) was the team’s surrogate, and she went through the whole process with them.

At the Zoom audition, they wore team uniforms and introduced themselves. They also did a little skit and a mock version of the game.

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Derek credits their enthusiasm and positivity to their success.

“We’re a pretty excited family,” he said.

Once they confirmed the date, the family had two weeks to prepare. I binge-watched episodes of and played with the contestants.

“When they said everybody was going, I was like, ‘Okay, I’m doing my homework,'” Derek said.

Family Feud Canada covered the travel and lodging expenses for the family to go to Toronto.

Derek and Nina flew from Haida Gwaii to Vancouver and their flight to Toronto was delayed. They did not arrive until after midnight and had to be at the studio by 7:30 am the same morning.

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Had he known it would be on schedule, Derek said he would have asked him to go a day earlier so he could rest better.

Makeup checks were hazy in the morning, getting used to the stage and enforcing rules like no one could boo.

Derek’s mom also traveled to Toronto, though family feuds didn’t cover her expenses.

“She was defending us in the crowd and cheering the crowd. It gets better,” said Derek.

He estimated an audience of less than 100 people and was nervous to be on stage, but he just listened to the game.

“After the first round, I was pretty calm like, ‘Okay, I can do it.'”

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After they won their first show, they went straight to the next show against their new family.

Washington lost in the sudden death round at the second show, but Derek said he had a chance to win for them, which he didn’t even realize.

He had to guess what people answered when asked to name what people said back, and the other team scored points when they guessed their virtual assistant correctly.

“I have the Google Assistant in my house.

The $10,000 prize was out of their hands, but they got some money for each question they got right.

The best part of the experience, he said, was spending time with his family. Although the Washingtons have visited each other individually, he said he only came together as a full family unit twice before playing in the Family Feud.

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“Just being with my family and sharing the experience together, that was certainly the biggest prize. It was amazing,” Derek said.

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

“My father is 73. Nobody gets younger. For me, it’s forever in the digital world.”

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