The coldest night of 2020 so far did absolutely nothing to deter the Wheeler family and dozens of their friends from driving to Original Joe's in Estevan on Monday, January 13. After all, the Wheeler's wouldn't have missed their own

Photo courtesy of Scott Marasseparty. 

Much of the family lives in Moose Jaw, however, they've got roots in Bienfait, and they invited friends from around the Southeast to witness them on an episode of Family Feud Canada. With OJs nearly packed, they laughed right along with their friends at missed guesses and cheered loudest of all at the correct answers.

"It was amazing, it really was," said Pam Currie of the family. "It was something you would never imagine. Sitting on your couch at home trying to play the game is easy peasy. Get in front of a camera and an audience and Gerry Dee, it was fabulous."

"It was a lot of fun," added Todd Marasse. "A little stressful but when you're under the lights it's totally different than when you're playing on the couch."

Dee, the host, charmed the whole family with his wit. His on-camera persona, a nice guy with a keen sense of humour is, according to the contestants, well earned and genuine. 

"He was very funny," Marasse said. "He's got that kind of dry, sarcastic humour. An easy-going guy laid back. He was a lot of fun."

Unfortunately, in the end, the family lost out on the grand prize to their competitors from Ontario. But they would still recommend the experience to anyone thinking of putting their name forward.

"The production of it, the stage, the setting, it was like something you see on TV and we were part of it," said Currie. "The staff were all fabulous, they treated you so well. The excitement, the hoopla, it was amazing to feel that. Everybody should do that."

It was an especially memorable moment for the family as they'd only found out about how big their family was in the last few months. As Currie explained on TV, they found out about two additional twin brothers and their family of five became a family of seven.

"It was extra special for us, we've only known each other for, like, six months now," said Marasse. "To be able to do something like that and couple it with getting to know each other so well, it was over the top crazy fun."

The family admitted they had a tough time keeping the results a secret. Of course, they knew what would happen well in advance of the screening, but not telling their other eagerly asking family members proved difficult. 

"Just to begin with, when we first came home, people were asking us non stop," Currie said. "We kept saying, no, we signed a non-disclosure and we can't tell anybody. We were very clear about that and people kept bugging us after a while.

"Even my daughter, today she couldn't come because she had to be at home, but even today she said 'You can tell me now! Did you win?'" Marasse added. "I said no, you're going to have to watch the show."  

Watch the full episode here.