Yorkville family enjoys this ‘Feud’

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Updated: August 4, 2011 4:20PM

YORKVILLE — The Schoon family of Yorkville is learning just how hard it can be to keep a secret.

Since competing on the television game show “Family Feud” in early September, team captain Randi Schoon, her husband, Jeff, father-in-law Gene and her mother and stepfather, Roxane and Craig Vermeland, have valiantly resisted all their friends’ and relatives’ demands to know whether they won any games or earned the $20,000 “Fast Money” prize.

Their appearance is scheduled to air at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday on UPN Channel 50.

“When we first got to the studio, we spent an hour signing forms promising that we wouldn’t tell anyone what happened on our show until after it aired,” explained Randi Schoon, a Spanish teacher at West Aurora High School.

“But that doesn’t keep people from asking. I didn’t tell my students I had even been on the show until a couple of weeks ago, and they’re really excited about it.”

The family auditioned in Schaumburg last May after Randi Schoon saw a notice about the open auditions on the show’s website.

“I love ‘Family Feud,’” she said. “When I saw the audition information I got really excited and called everyone in my family. My mom loves the show, too, so between us we got the team put together.”

“Randi was the driving force. She probably asked me to play because I’m the smartest in the bunch,” added Roxane Vermeland with a laugh.

At the audition, the family, who all hail from Yorkville except for Rockford resident Gene Schoon, filled out a questionnaire about themselves and their plans for any potential winnings. Then they played a test game against another auditioning family while casting officials watched.

“They’re not looking so much for how many questions you get right, but for how well you interact with each other and how enthusiastic you are,” Randi Schoon said.

After receiving a postcard in June saying they were being considered to appear, the Schoon team got a packet in August containing plane tickets and motel reservations near Universal Studios in Florida, where “Family Feud” is taped. They spent four days in the Orlando area, where they got in some sightseeing when they weren’t at the studio.

First, though, they had to undergo another audition just hours before filming started.

“We thought we were definitely in, but that morning they told the 12 families that only 10 of us would actually get on the show,” Vermeland said. “But we must have made a good impression, because we did get on the show. We even competed against the same family that we faced in the (final) audition.”

While neither Schoon nor Vermeland will reveal what happened next, they did talk about what it’s like to stand on the “Family Feud” stage during filming.

“In some ways it was very nerve-wracking,” Vermeland recalled. “It’s scary because you have to think fast when (host Steve Harvey) is talking with you. You’re on TV, so you want to not say anything stupid. Of course, we all did say some stupid things on the show. I just hope they got edited out.”

“There was a large studio audience, and they’ve got cameras and lights all over the place. We were trying to answer the questions and be enthusiastic at the same time. By the time it was over, we were all exhausted,” Schoon said.

The whole family can hardly wait to see the broadcast on TV, and hope to get together when the show finally airs.

“It will be fun to see it together, even though we were there, because we don’t know how it’s been edited,” Vermeland said. “It will be fun to relive it with each other.”