As Family Weekend rolled around at the College of William and Mary on the weekend of Sept. 27, various events were put on for visiting families to enjoy. Saturday, Sept. 28, in the Sadler Center’s Commonwealth Auditorium, the Office of Family Engagement collaborated with AMP so that families and friends could sit down to watch one such event: the College’s spin on the popular game show “Family Feud.”
Having first aired in 1976, “Family Feud” consists of two teams of families competing to quickly guess responses to survey questions previously asked to 100 people. At the College’s rendition of the game show, teams of students paired alongside their family members battled it out to win cash prizes ranging from $40 to $60, as the audience collectively cheered them on.
In terms of the show’s organizational process, AMP intern Elinor Maloney ’27 noted collaboration between AMP and Family Engagement as a major factor that contributed to the success of this event.
“I think this is the first event we’ve done with them, which is really exciting,” Maloney said.
The event began with a video replaying memorable moments from the original TV show before the host selected two families from among a sea of waving hands to participate in the first round of the competition. Using survey data from 100 college students, the questions asked to competitors ranged from prompts like “Name an animal that starts with the letter R,” to “What do college students do that annoy their professors?” Multiple rounds of the game were played by various families. Later in the event, people from different families were called to compete together.
The event host that was hired, comedian Brian Herberger, has been hosting such college game shows for around seven years. He reflected on his favorite parts of this first show at the College.
“The audience, the crowd, the families were really excited to be here and just brought the energy to the show; they made the whole show as good as it was,” Herberger said.
Easy-going and sarcastic at times, Herberger was able to keep the audience engaged despite the few technical difficulties that happened mid-show. For example, some questions he asked the room included “What’s something you smell before you buy?”, “Why might someone make fun of your car?” and “Which state is best to experience the great outdoors?”
With team selfies taken on stage and attendees calling out to have their relatives selected, Sydney Newell ’24 reflected that the experience was comparable to the original “Family Feud.” She commented that the audience’s reactions were a highlight of the evening.
“It was really fun hearing how engaged people got, and them kind of heckling the speakers and the families was fun in a sardonic way,” Newell said.
As the end of the show approached, Herberger slammed the remaining money on the table as the last winning family rounded out the show with answers to the question of “Name something almost anyone can cook.” Pasta, eggs and toast lit up on the screen, though a sandwich, what some may consider a popular college meal, was rejected as an answer.
Maloney saw the College’s Family Feud event as a part of the broader importance of Family Weekend to students and parents alike.
“It’s really cool for the parents to come see the way the students are living on campus, and see the organizations they’ve interacted with,” Maloney said. “When you are able to see your student in their environment, I feel like that’s very cool, and then you can get closer with your family with events like this.”