Awesome / Family Feud

• On the last Feud of 1976, the Vaught family had no money going into the Double Round (their opponents, the Tullis family—one of which was future Married... with Children actor Dan Tullis Jr.—had $117). They managed to win the game on the Double question by getting exactly $200 (which was the winning score at the time).
• Although better known for the infamous Fast Money round that featured the "alligator" response (for a question asking for an animal that has three letters in its name), the York family who appeared in late August/early September 1977 won six games and $10,340. They finally won Fast Money on their sixth show after spending several days figuring out who the right two players for Fast Money were. Part of their victories came through an unusual strategy where they'd pass on a question and then wait to steal the bank. In the end, the crowning moment of awesome was just their gamemanship and genuinely having a good time. It was clear that Dawson—as he was saying goodbye to the family on their final day—truly loved and enjoyed having them on the show.
• The Trejo family from October 1980 won six games and $12,058 in cash. Their only Fast Money win was a solo performance by Cathy (also responsible for the "September" incident on a different playing) on their fourth show.
  Name the age where children should start supporting themselves: 18 (42).
  A kind of stew: Beef (48).
  A popular color for telephones: White (33).
  A creamed vegetable: Corn (53).
  An animal that resembles a horse: Donkey (52).
• During the original run, upon expanding to five days a week, the Syndicated version, as game shows are known to do, held celebrity weeks. One 1985 week in particular featured ten members of the Hollywood Walk of Fame (Mark Goodson, Rod McKuen, Cesar Romero, Rory Calhoun, Keenan Wynn, Betty White, Arlene Dahl, Gloria DeHaven, Audrey Meadows, Dorothy Lamour). By the end of the week, the ladies dominated the men, winning three of the five games, and a final score of $41,534 to $10,700. Richard, as he was wont to do, increased the men's total to $12,500.
• The Manoukian family's first Fast Money round during the Dawson run. Billy, who tackles the round before his brother-in-law and team captain Socrates, manages to give the top answers to all five questions for an impressive 199 points.
  One measurement of distance is an inch. Name another: Billy gives "mile" for 38 points; Socrates' answer of "foot" wins it with 28.
  A color of M&M's candy: Red (39).
  The toughest age for a teenager: Sixteen (38).
  A popular color for socks: White (40).
  A fruit that squirts: Orange (44).
• From 1980, Dickey matriarch Lynda gives four responses worth 40+ each, leading to a one-player score of 204 points:
  Tell me what you think is the annual income of the average American family: $15,000 (Scores 18).
  Your most important piece of furniture: Bed (47).
  A brand of children's toys: Fisher-Price (40).
  A deodorant soap: Dial (49).
  An expensive flower: Rose (50, which seals the deal).
• Another family in the Dawson era had a single-person Fast Money win where Kathy picks off all five #1 answers for 200 on the dot:
  Name something people asks bank to do for them: Make loans (50).
  A country foreign films come from: France (31).
  A common color of cats: Black (35).
  How many television sets you own: Two (38).
  A food you buy shredded: Cheese (46).
• On several occasions (once in both Dawson eras and at least three times during Combs'), the first player in Fast Money got 200 points alone. One family on the Combs era managed to do this twice.
• In 1991 and 1993 during the Combs era, the show did a mock up intro of The Price Is Right to which Bob Barker, Rod Roddy and Barker's Beauties were called to come on down, where they were playing against the stars of The Young and the Restless. The Combs era was taped in Studio 33 (which later became the Bob Barker Studio) at CBS Television City, the same studio where Bob hosted The Price Is Right at the time, and they clearly took full advantage of it.
• 1993: The cast of The Jackie Thomas Show (playing against the cast of Roseanne) sweeps the Bullseye Round and goes on to win $20,000 for their charity, the only time the full $20,000 jackpot was won during the Bullseye era.
• One Karn episode from the 2003-2004 season has the question "Name a character from the fictional town of Mayberry on The Andy Griffith Show." The contestant to buzz in gives an answer that isn't on the board. After the opposing player gets the #4 answer of Barney, that family decides to pass the question. The strategy pays off, as the first family strikes out on three guesses. The second family then steals the bank with the #3 answer of Andy^note The remaining answers: Opie (#1), Aunt Bee (#2) and Goober (#5).
• Three Steve Harvey episodes and two Richard Karn episodes had the first player in Fast Money give all five #1 answers. Here's the first time. Unfortunately, unlike the eras before 1999, this will never add up to 200.
• One family thought they'd only scored 196 points in Fast Money... and then the judge checked the dictionary.
• "The Comeback of the Century."
  • Another Combs-era comeback.
  • A comeback from the Dawson version.
  • A Harvey-era Comeback of the Century, though he did not refer to it as such.
  • An even bigger comeback from the Harvey version. The second contestant was understandably nervous, needing 154 points to win. Harvey was almost speechless when she pulled it off.
  • February 9, 2016: the Inverted Comeback of the Century. In probably one of the closest shaves in history, the second player in Fast Money struggled a bit, but slowly got to 199 by the final question. To win, at least two people had to agree with his belief that people ate meat raw. Guess what.
  • This nifty comeback from the Canadian version.
• Celebrity Family Feud airing June 28, 2015: Catherine Lowe, the winning contestant from Season 17 of The Bachelor, cleans house at Fast Money, scoring a whopping 194 points and giving four of the five No. 1 answers! Despite some nervous moments when her husband, Sean, came up (he repeated the first four answers and couldn't provide a fifth in a timely manner), their team had no trouble winning the $25,000 for charity.
  • Eva Longoria pulled off a similar feat on June 18, 2017, winning 193 points in a single round.
  • Stephen Curry's wife Ayesha managed to tie Lowe's record by scoring 194 points by getting four of the five No.1 answers in one round with Curry himself getting the last No.1 to win the $25,000 for charity.
  • The Band Perry lead singer Kimberly pulls off an impressive 196 points by herself.
  • Rhys Darby set a new Fast Money Record for the Celebrity Edition in 2022, giving all the number one answers and scoring 198 points in the first half.
  • A non-celebrity version by the McKissic family. Michelle gets 194 points with four of the five #1 answers. Her older brother J.E. wins the money with his first question, and his second question was the number one answer that Michelle missed. Steve bluntly says that if Michelle had gotten all five #1 answers, she would have won the money on her own – a feat that has never even been considered possible since before 1999.
• The June 14, 2020 episode (filmed before the pandemic) featured a particularly fun moment where RuPaul buzzes in before Steve can finish reading the question. Ru has to guess the second half of the question, and then base his answer off of that. He gets the #1 answer.
• Celebrity Family Feud airing July 17, 2022: In a match between the casts of Bel-Air and the Saved by the Bell reboot, the Bel-Air team wins the game after only three rounds. Since 2003, the total amount of points in the Double round is usually low enough to prevent such a situation from happening. In this case, the team stole 188 points, which was enough for them to win.
• Any time a family gets all the answers on the board without giving their opponents a chance to steal. Dawson and Combs dubbed this a "clean sweep" while Karn would say "You've swept the board." Even more so, if this is done without any Strikes.
• Steve gets a stylish jacket from Marvin Calloway in the middle of the show. How does Steve react? Sing The Temptations’ “I can’t get next to you!” The man truly has the soul of an entertainer and it has to be seen to be believed!
• In 1981, then-17 year old Brenda Simmons helped her family win Fast Money. Forty-two years later, the Simmons family came back, and Brenda did it again, twice.

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