Sioux Falls family to appear on ‘Family Feud’

Combine quarantine, a grounded flight and a family who “makes good TV,” and you’ve got a recipe for an upcoming national game show appearance.

It started with Damon Zomer, who grew up in Sioux Falls and now works as a commercial airline pilot based in Florida.

When it became apparent he wasn’t going anywhere as the pandemic ramped up last year, he somehow fell into the habit of watching the game show “Family Feud.” For hours.

“I was binge-watching that like it was a Netflix series,” he joked. “Just sitting at home all the time, I was running out of things to do and decided to apply because that’s the only thing I was watching. For two weeks straight and five hours a day. I was just going to apply and make it corny and funny, and they liked it.”

The show’s producers emailed Zomer and asked if the family wanted to audition.

He missed the email.

Luckily, when they followed up a few months later, he didn’t delete.

Then, he told his family in Sioux Falls.

“I think they kind of wondered if it was a scam,” he said.

Still, they agreed to an audition via Zoom. And they made it.

“They told us it’s pretty rare to get people from the Dakotas on the show because typically they’d hold auditions in person in bigger cities around the country, and you’d go and audition in person, but that actually benefited us with the whole COVID thing because we didn’t have to do that,” he said.

Of the 2,500 families who auditioned recently, the show said fewer than 300 made it.

“We’re fortunate we made it this far, and we knew we needed to stand out a little bit,” Zomer said. “I knew our family always had a little bit of that ‘it’ factor, and that’s what they’re looking for on that show. We make good TV. We could have our own reality show if you saw a day at our house.”

His parents, Dale and Myra, and his sister and brother-in-law, Cierra and Matt Triplett, would be heading to Atlanta where the show taped during the pandemic. Technically, it was a team of six, as baby Evelyn got her own nametag.

“We didn’t see this one coming,” Dale Zomer said. “It’s not even something we ever talked about or dreamed about, so we were a little bit shocked.”

He went into it not that familiar with the show.

“When I knew we were on, I watched it probably five or six shows a night for 30 days,” he said. “I didn’t know how the game worked. I just knew you could win money.”

The family practiced as a group and worked on strategy, Damon Zomer added.

“We noticed my dad and sister had the same answers, so we wanted to split them up. She’d get mad because he would always have her answer taken by him because they think the same way.”

They even practiced the “fast money” round to determine the best scenario if they made it to that point.

“There’s a lot of strategy behind that,” Zomer said.

While they can’t discuss details of the show until after it airs at 4 p.m. Sept. 30 in Sioux Falls on KELO XTRA, which was MyUTV, “it was unbelievable,” Dale Zomer said.

“Being on stage was a high. I’ve never experienced anything like it … and when Steve Harvey came out, it was just incredible. He’s a hoot. He’s a lot of fun.”

The plan is to hold a viewing party at The South Dakota Military Heritage Alliance, which Zomer hopes to fly back for and attend.

“I’d say the experience was once in a lifetime,” he said. “It’s not something you can really explain until you’ve actually done it. It’s pretty intimidating looking out and seeing 12 cameras with a celebrity asking you questions. Most people can’t say they’ve done that, and it’s tough to describe, but it’s a thrill for sure.”

There also will be plenty of chances to watch in replay. The show said each episode will air about eight times every year for the next 10 years.