Maplewood Family Wins Big on TV Game Show

The Burns family of Maplewood came home with a prize of $20,000 after competing in the television game show Family Feud.

Family Feud is a game show hosted by Steve Harvey in which two families compete against each other in a contest to name the most popular responses to a survey question posed to 100 people.

It all started when Chaz Epps was watching an episode of his favorite game show and saw a commercial for auditions in the area, so he applied.

Chaz's family team consisted of his mother, Katherine Caldwell, her husband Robert Caldwell, sister Denae Burns and his brother Jerrod Epps.

Right after Hurricane Sandy they got a call from the network asking if they were still interested so the whole family took a trip to the Trump Casino in Atlantic City, never expecting that out of the thousands of families auditioning that they would be picked for the show.

In May the family was again contacted from the network saying they wanted to fly them down to Atlanta, GA to tape the show.

“It was definitely a great experience, there's nothing like it,” said Epps. “Steve Harvey is a great guy, and everyone was so helpful and energetic.”

“It was a once in a lifetime opportunity,” he added.

The most difficult part of the game show was trying to steal the points away from the other team when they are on a roll, said Epps.

The family came away with $20,000 and an opportunity for another episode which airs Wednesday, Sept. 25 at 5 p.m. on WWOR/WNYW, channel 9.

Epps said he could not comment on the outcome of the episode until after it airs.

“Because I'm ex-military, I know people all over the country,” he said. “After the episode aired by facebook and twitter were going crazy.”

All of his friends, even some he hasn't heard from in years, commented to congratulate him and jokingly make fun of his answers and some even made a meme of him on the show.

“We split up the winnings, so everyone is going to put it towards something different,” he said. “It was a great experience and a once in a lifetime opportunity.”