Longtime Burnaby NOW readers may recognize some faces when Family Feud Canada airs on March 4.
The Cenas, now living in Port Moody, are former local residents who’ve been making headlines in the NOW since way back in 2005. Cathy Cena was active on the city political scene, and her son, Frankie, frequently landed in the paper for his achievements as a singer and a debater from high school on.
They recently filmed an appearance on CBC TV’s Family Feud Canada – and found themselves reunited with a lost relative in the process. As they finished filming, they were shocked to see the relative – Cathy’s half-sister – running towards them.
“Several years ago I learned I had a half-sister, but she had yet to meet my mother, siblings or children,” Cathy said in a press release.
Finding out about the family’s appearance on Facebook, she applied for tickets hoping to surprise them.
“The audience was escorted into the same area where the contestants were having their dinner, and somehow from across the way she saw us,” Cathy said. “There were a lot of tears.”
Competing on the show was by turns exciting and agonizing, she said.
“We’d been stressing for months over what sorts of questions we’d be asked: ‘Name something that reminds you of your grandma,’ or ‘Name a place where you meet women.’ Some of our family members even threatened to pull out a few days before due to stress and anxiety.”
In another twist, the family discovered at the 11th hour that Frankie wouldn’t be allowed to compete, due to his contractual obligations to another TV show. That meant scrambling to find a fifth member and new captain for the team.
But it also lead to a Family Feud first, as Frankie became the first-ever Family Feud “coach.” In that role, he created practice games, developed drills and questions, managed emotions and got to practise his favourite activity, television hosting.
“In the end, we laughed and loved as much as we cried, fought and feuded,” Cathy said. “Maybe it’s the Italian in us, maybe it’s the crazy in us. Either way, it was the experience of a lifetime, and it all took place on my 49th birthday.”
The Cena family appears on the Wednesday, March 4 episode to compete for $10,000.
