Airdrie fans of the Family Feud Canada television series will be able to spot one of their own on tonight’s episode.
Bayside resident Levi Selk can hardly wait for the episode that airs on CBC Gem at 7:30 p.m. tonight, which features him and four of his family members competing against a team from Ontario.
While he can’t divulge exactly how the episode turns out, Selk – who was his family’s team captain – promises they “bring the heat” against their Ontarian opposition.
“Our family is very energetic, as you'll see on tonight's episode,” he said. “We've got the energy they're looking for.”
The Selk’s journey to compete on Family Feud Canada began three years ago, when the Canadian version of the long-lasting American quiz game show was first introduced. Selk said his family – who mostly live in Okotoks – was on vacation in Montana in 2019 when he saw an ad seeking applications for the first season of the Canadian version of the program.
“I saw it on Facebook and said, 'Hey, we should totally do this,'” he recalled. “It was a spur-of-the-moment type thing, but we put together this awesome video – because for the application process, you had to put a 15-minute video together.
“We put together this pretty funky, crazy water sport video. We did some crazy things on it. We sent it out to the producers and filled out the whole application form that day.”
After submitting their video application to Family Feud Canada, Selk said he was contacted the next morning by the show’s producers, who told him his family was invited to the Calgary auditions the following weekend. There, they auditioned against 15 other Alberta families for a shot to compete in the first season.
Selk said he auditioned alongside his sister Kyla, their father Jordi, his brother-in-law Adam, and sister-in-law Lara. Though they fared positively at the in-person audition and left a solid impression, they didn’t do quite well enough to secure one of just two spots that were available for the show’s debut season.
“We didn't make the top two, but the producers did reach out to me and told me they wished they could have taken us as well,” he said. “We left a really good impact on them, and they asked us if we'd be interested in being on Family Feud the following year [in 2020].”
Unfortunately for the Selks, the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic halted their opportunity to appear on the show’s second season, and they figured their game show dream was dead in the water.
But then over a year later, Selk said the show's producers reached out once again, asking the family if they would still be interested in appearing on the show. According to Selk, they did another audition – this time via Zoom – and the producers were impressed enough to offer them a spot for the upcoming season.
He said the family received yet another a call in July this year, after which the producers asked if they could fly out to Toronto to come film the episode.
“It was super fun,” Selk recalled. “We got flown out to Toronto and put up in a nice hotel there. We spent three days in Toronto. They filmed four episodes a day while we were there, so it was a full 12-hour day in the studio.
“It was super cool – the experience of a lifetime. The lights, the cameras, meeting [show host] Gerry Dee and meeting the other families. The producers were absolutely phenomenal and it was super, super fun.”
Selk, who has lived in Airdrie since 2016, said he’ll be hosting a viewing party at his home in Bayside tonight, with dozens of friends and family members coming to watch the episode.
The Airdrie resident added the whole experience has been a whirlwind – particularly considering the Selks’ long-lasting enjoyment of the American version of the popular game show.
“We all grew up watching the Family Feud, so when the Canadian version came to Canada, we were super stoked,” he said.
—With files from Lauryn Heintz/Okotoks Western Wheel
