The Schaefers are ready for a serious feud. They’ve even been practicing.
Ron, Kathy, Eric, Renee and Amber — a close-knit Hawaii Kai family — are going to test their ability to think quickly when they compete against another family this week on the syndicated TV game show “Family Feud.”
They left Monday for Atlanta, where the show is taped, and will compete Wednesday. The Schaefers do not know yet when their episode will air, but it will be a first for Hawaii. “Family Feud” producers have told the family they’re the first from the islands to make the show, said Ron Schaefer, a 58-year-old physician at Straub Clinic & Hospital and Kapiolani Medical Center for Women & Children.
“I thought it would be a fun thing to do, something we could do as a family that would bring us closer together,” he said, as if closeness was an alien concept for this family.
They live under the same roof — mom, dad and their three grown children. They take family vacations. They hang out together.
“We are a fun-loving, close family that likes to have a good time,” Schaefer said. “We are always joking around and laughing a lot together. We’re a nice family. We all get along.”
Kathy Schaefer, 55, is also a doctor, with a pain management practice in Kailua. Son Eric, aka The Prince, is a 27-year-old rapper who also runs a tourism-related business. Daughter Renee, 24, is an art director for San Lorenzo Bikinis, and youngest child Amber, 21, is studying biology with a premed emphasis at Hawaii Pacific University.
Renee Schaefer is the big “Family Feud” fan, having watched it regularly since she was a teenager. Competing was her idea, a bucket-list experience.
“I just loved how it was one of those game shows where it was regular people,” she said. “You didn’t need special trivia knowledge.”
The answers to questions posed on the show are drawn from the responses from a 100-member survey panel. “Family Feud” contestants have to guess the most popular answers to each question. The grand prize for each show is $20,000, with families limited to five appearances on the show, which is hosted by Steve Harvey and airs in Hawaii on KHON at 10 and 10:30 a.m. weekdays and 5 and 5:30 p.m. Saturdays.
“You just need to be able to think quickly and come up with answers,” Renee said. “I figured that was something I was always good at and my dad is, too. I figure me and him could win some fast money.”
The Schaefers submitted an audition video that introduced them as a family — everyone wedged together on a couch with a family pet — and highlighted their individual interests, from Kathy’s aerobics class to Eric’s rapping to Ron’s ability to teach tricks to the family dogs.
To prepare, the Schaefers watched old episodes of “Family Feud” on YouTube.
“We’re all pretty intelligent,” the family patriarch said. “I think we have a good chance. On the other hand, if we lose, that is OK, too. It isn’t about the money. It’s about the opportunity to have been on a national TV game show and to have spent time with the family.”
See their audition video at bit.ly/23XNaAC.
