A trip to Toronto to compete in a television game show has special meaning for Atish Ram.
The Surrey man and his family won an audition to appear on the new Family Feud Canada.
The Ram team includes Atish, his wife Mandy, teen daughter Jasmine and adult sons Tyler and Ryan.
The Newton-area family is among up to 72 Canadian clans chosen to compete on the TV game show hosted by Gerry Dee, former star of the Mr. D sitcom.
For Atish, the whole experience reminds him of his departed father.
鈥淗e loved game shows, and that was his thing 鈥� he鈥檇 watch Jeopardy, Family Feud, Wheel of Fortune, anything 鈥� all of them,鈥� Atish explained. 鈥淗e would have been very proud about this.
鈥淲e lost him two years ago, and that makes this sentimental for me. In my eulogy for him, I said I would promise to put the Ram name up in lights one day, and then this happens. It鈥檚 kind of weird, and we鈥檒l be on the show exactly two years to the day since we laid him to rest.鈥�
In another twist of fate, Atish said he opened a fortune cookie on Aug. 27 鈥� the day of his family鈥檚 audition for the game show 鈥� and the message said, 鈥淎 television program will give you great impetus.鈥� A second fortune cookie promised, 鈥淎 refreshing change is in your future.鈥�
The family鈥檚 trip to Toronto will be a special one, Atish said.
鈥淪omehow it was all meant to happen,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 been a tough two years. I鈥檝e battled health issues 鈥� I鈥檝e been in and out of hospital with heart problems 鈥� and we haven鈥檛 gone on vacation together or anything for a long time, so it鈥檒l be nice to get to go and have a little vacation all paid for. Win or lose, we鈥檝e already won.鈥�
鈥� RELATED STORY, from August: .
On the show, families compete head-to-head by guessing the most popular answers to survey questions based on responses from a sample of Canadians.
鈥淵ou can come back on the show up to three times, depending on the outcome, so we鈥檒l see how we do,鈥� Atish said. 鈥淵ou can win up to $10,000 per show.鈥�
Atish expects his family鈥檚 show air date will be at the end of January.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 my guess, and they鈥檒l let us know,鈥� he said.
鈥淲e want to have fun, but we also want to win,鈥� Atish added. 鈥淚鈥檝e been watching a lot of the shows and so have my kids, practicing, but there鈥檚 no right answers in a survey of 100 people 鈥� some of the answers are so bizarre, and sometimes it鈥檚 about how quickly you can answer.鈥�
Family Feud Canada, to debut at 8 p.m. Monday, Dec. 16 on CBC, will air four nights a week, from Monday to Thursday.
First introduced in the U.S. in 1976, Family Feud is one of television鈥檚 longest-running and top-rated game shows. The title has been picked up in 71 international markets to date, including the U.K., Australia, France, India and Indonesia.
For the new Canadian edition, last summer close 2,000 families applied to appear on the show. From those applicants, 575 families were invited to audition in person at 15 sites across the country, including the Vancouver site for the Rams.
In November, Atish was named Volunteer of the Year during the Now-Leader鈥檚 17th annual Community Leader Awards. He received top honour in the category for his work with Shaw TV to create, produce and host the 鈥淎 Night of Miracles鈥� telethon that would later be called 鈥淲orld of Smiles Telethon鈥� and run for 15 years, raising more than $2.5 million.
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tom.zillich@surreynowleader.com
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