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Sunday
March 14, 2010 Since 1922 |
Crosby family wins big ‘Feud’
By Ken Fountain
Baytown Sun Published February 12, 2006 The family that prays together stays together, the saying goes. In the case of the Johnson-Stewart family, originally of Crosby, the family that prays together also wins big on “The Family Feud.”
Two brothers and a cousin who grew up in the area and two other cousins from Colorado got the opportunity, after losing their first time out, of returning to play in the syndicated game show’s “Tournament of Champions” in January.
Janet Marie Johnson-Dokes, her sister Tolenia Yarbrough grew up in Crosby. They are two of the children of Rev. John Henry Johnson, pastor of Dayton’s Christ Holy Church of God in Christ for over three decades, and his wife Willie Steen Stewart-Johnson, both deceased. Their cousin, Robert Bell Jr., grew up in Baytown.
Janet said her family were always big fans of the original “Family Feud,” which aired in the 1970s and was hosted by actor Richard Dawson.
Today, she still watches the newest incarnation, hosted by actor Richard Karn, who played “Al” on “Home Improvement.
In July, she said, “I just got to thinking that the families on Family Feud are just average, everyday families.” Thinking her family could compete, she did a “Google” search for the show and called the phone number on her cell phone. She learned that the show was hosting auditions in Houston just two weeks later.
Believing that was too good to be a coincidence, Janet, a Baylor College of Medicine administrator who now lives in south Houston, immediately recruited her sister Tolenia, an instructional aide at Goose Creek’s Ashbel Smith Elementary who lives in Barrett Station.
“We knew we were going to be together. We both love games. We have incredible ‘sync’ with each other,” Yarbrough said, adding that the two often finish each other’s sentences.
They put some thought into what other family members would have the enthusiasm and the grace under pressure required for the show. They picked cousin Robert Bell Jr., who now lives in Spring, and two cousins from Colorado, Raymell Blackwell and Sharon Ford.
The family members gathered at the Galleria area Hotel Derek and found themselves among 30 other families vying for a chance to take the expenses-paid trip to Hollywood to play on the show. But the “Stewart Family” – they took the name from their mothers – had a secret weapon. They’d created their own jingle, sung in four-part harmony, to impress the show’s representatives.
“One of them told us to sing the jingle into her phone recorder. She said, ‘Our producer is going to want to hear this,’” Janet said.
Eight days after auditioning, she received a postcard saying her family had been selected.
“We did conference calls. Everybody was just screaming, saying ‘We’re going to Hollywood!” Janet said.
Three weeks later, on August 19, the family flew to Los Angeles. The next day, they participated on the show. Going in, they were confident they would win, put under the television lights and in front of the live audience, the story changed.
“We were so nervous,” she said. Despite all the practicing they’d done, the Stewarts lost by a large margin.
“We were in disbelief. It was almost like it was fake. We couldn’t understand how we didn’t win,” Tolenia said.
The show’s producers, who had seemed to be rooting for the Stewarts, also were disappointed.
“They told us that sometimes the losing families get invited back to play,” Janet said. But the family members went back to their homes, never expecting to hear back from the show.
On December 13, Janet was at home, watching a repeat of the family’s appearance on the show. During the show, she received a phone call.
“They said they wanted us to come back for the ‘Tournament of Champions,’” she said. Again, the family members were thrilled, but they decided to take a different approach the second time around.
“We had a different strategy. We prayed together, we encouraged each other,” she said.
They also decided to take be more relaxed, with no practicing beforehand. When the producers called just a few days before they were set to fly back to California to tell them that they needed to bring Hawaiian-themed clothing, they took it in stride.
The family flew out on January 6, and participated in the tournament on January 7 – Janet’s birthday. The tournament featured seven games with 14 families. The Stewarts played against three other families. During the first two games, they came back from behind to win. For the championship round, they would face a family named the Rambos from Dallas.
“We thought, ‘Well, this is going to be a Texas shoot-out,” Janet said.
But again, the Stewarts quickly fell behind in the points. By the third round, they had 88 points, and the Rambos had over 200. But it was the triple-point round, and they had a last shot at pulling ahead.
The survey question was “Name something that has a dead-end.” Janet, who was at the buzzer, quickly hit it and answered “Road.” It was the number one answer, and the Stewarts gained control of the round.
Again, fortune didn’t seem to favor them. They quickly got three strikes, and the Rambos had a chance to pull ahead with one correct answer. They lost.
“They dropped the balloons on our heads. We were screaming, jumping up and down,” Janet said. “To me, those were my birthday balloons. I had claimed those balloons.”
Next, the two sisters went to the “lightning round.” Janet, who played first, didn’t do very well, racking up only a few points. Next up was Tolenia.
“I was focused. I had in mind how I was going to walk out. I had all the answers,” Tolenia said.
Suffice it to say, she was successful (We won’t give away her final answer.) By the end of the tournament, the Stewarts won a $70,000 jackpot, as well as an all-expenses paid six-day trip for each of them to Hawaii.
The family members won’t receive their winnings until after the tournament runs on television. While they will divide it equally, they have discussed pooling some of the money for common goals.
For Janet, the biggest part of the experience was that the family won on her birthday, January 7. She’s also taken with the fact that she was born in 1970, and the family won $70,000.
But, also, it was a bonding experience for the five family members.
“Our family was united. It was amazing how positive we were. We kept the faith. We were going to win, we just knew it. We weren’t discouraged,” said Tolenia.
The “Tournament of Champions” episodes will be aired beginning Monday at noon on Channel 39, and continue through Tuesday, Feb. 21. Janet said that if the episodes run in the order in which they were taped, the Stewart family should appear on Friday, Feb. 17, Monday, Feb. 20, and Tuesday, Feb. 21.
Baytown Sun Published February 12, 2006 The family that prays together stays together, the saying goes. In the case of the Johnson-Stewart family, originally of Crosby, the family that prays together also wins big on “The Family Feud.”
Two brothers and a cousin who grew up in the area and two other cousins from Colorado got the opportunity, after losing their first time out, of returning to play in the syndicated game show’s “Tournament of Champions” in January.
Janet Marie Johnson-Dokes, her sister Tolenia Yarbrough grew up in Crosby. They are two of the children of Rev. John Henry Johnson, pastor of Dayton’s Christ Holy Church of God in Christ for over three decades, and his wife Willie Steen Stewart-Johnson, both deceased. Their cousin, Robert Bell Jr., grew up in Baytown.
Janet said her family were always big fans of the original “Family Feud,” which aired in the 1970s and was hosted by actor Richard Dawson.
Today, she still watches the newest incarnation, hosted by actor Richard Karn, who played “Al” on “Home Improvement.
In July, she said, “I just got to thinking that the families on Family Feud are just average, everyday families.” Thinking her family could compete, she did a “Google” search for the show and called the phone number on her cell phone. She learned that the show was hosting auditions in Houston just two weeks later.
Believing that was too good to be a coincidence, Janet, a Baylor College of Medicine administrator who now lives in south Houston, immediately recruited her sister Tolenia, an instructional aide at Goose Creek’s Ashbel Smith Elementary who lives in Barrett Station.
“We knew we were going to be together. We both love games. We have incredible ‘sync’ with each other,” Yarbrough said, adding that the two often finish each other’s sentences.
They put some thought into what other family members would have the enthusiasm and the grace under pressure required for the show. They picked cousin Robert Bell Jr., who now lives in Spring, and two cousins from Colorado, Raymell Blackwell and Sharon Ford.
The family members gathered at the Galleria area Hotel Derek and found themselves among 30 other families vying for a chance to take the expenses-paid trip to Hollywood to play on the show. But the “Stewart Family” – they took the name from their mothers – had a secret weapon. They’d created their own jingle, sung in four-part harmony, to impress the show’s representatives.
“One of them told us to sing the jingle into her phone recorder. She said, ‘Our producer is going to want to hear this,’” Janet said.
Eight days after auditioning, she received a postcard saying her family had been selected.
“We did conference calls. Everybody was just screaming, saying ‘We’re going to Hollywood!” Janet said.
Three weeks later, on August 19, the family flew to Los Angeles. The next day, they participated on the show. Going in, they were confident they would win, put under the television lights and in front of the live audience, the story changed.
“We were so nervous,” she said. Despite all the practicing they’d done, the Stewarts lost by a large margin.
“We were in disbelief. It was almost like it was fake. We couldn’t understand how we didn’t win,” Tolenia said.
The show’s producers, who had seemed to be rooting for the Stewarts, also were disappointed.
“They told us that sometimes the losing families get invited back to play,” Janet said. But the family members went back to their homes, never expecting to hear back from the show.
On December 13, Janet was at home, watching a repeat of the family’s appearance on the show. During the show, she received a phone call.
“They said they wanted us to come back for the ‘Tournament of Champions,’” she said. Again, the family members were thrilled, but they decided to take a different approach the second time around.
“We had a different strategy. We prayed together, we encouraged each other,” she said.
They also decided to take be more relaxed, with no practicing beforehand. When the producers called just a few days before they were set to fly back to California to tell them that they needed to bring Hawaiian-themed clothing, they took it in stride.
The family flew out on January 6, and participated in the tournament on January 7 – Janet’s birthday. The tournament featured seven games with 14 families. The Stewarts played against three other families. During the first two games, they came back from behind to win. For the championship round, they would face a family named the Rambos from Dallas.
“We thought, ‘Well, this is going to be a Texas shoot-out,” Janet said.
But again, the Stewarts quickly fell behind in the points. By the third round, they had 88 points, and the Rambos had over 200. But it was the triple-point round, and they had a last shot at pulling ahead.
The survey question was “Name something that has a dead-end.” Janet, who was at the buzzer, quickly hit it and answered “Road.” It was the number one answer, and the Stewarts gained control of the round.
Again, fortune didn’t seem to favor them. They quickly got three strikes, and the Rambos had a chance to pull ahead with one correct answer. They lost.
“They dropped the balloons on our heads. We were screaming, jumping up and down,” Janet said. “To me, those were my birthday balloons. I had claimed those balloons.”
Next, the two sisters went to the “lightning round.” Janet, who played first, didn’t do very well, racking up only a few points. Next up was Tolenia.
“I was focused. I had in mind how I was going to walk out. I had all the answers,” Tolenia said.
Suffice it to say, she was successful (We won’t give away her final answer.) By the end of the tournament, the Stewarts won a $70,000 jackpot, as well as an all-expenses paid six-day trip for each of them to Hawaii.
The family members won’t receive their winnings until after the tournament runs on television. While they will divide it equally, they have discussed pooling some of the money for common goals.
For Janet, the biggest part of the experience was that the family won on her birthday, January 7. She’s also taken with the fact that she was born in 1970, and the family won $70,000.
But, also, it was a bonding experience for the five family members.
“Our family was united. It was amazing how positive we were. We kept the faith. We were going to win, we just knew it. We weren’t discouraged,” said Tolenia.
The “Tournament of Champions” episodes will be aired beginning Monday at noon on Channel 39, and continue through Tuesday, Feb. 21. Janet said that if the episodes run in the order in which they were taped, the Stewart family should appear on Friday, Feb. 17, Monday, Feb. 20, and Tuesday, Feb. 21.