St. Anthony and Steve Harvey? Local family stars in ‘Family Feud,’ honors late family member

ST. ANTHONY — A local family has made it to the big screen after competing on “Family Feud” in two episodes.

Kierra Barnard from St. Anthony was responsible for getting her family on the show. Both episodes in which the Crain family appeared aired Tuesday and Wednesday in Idaho. You can watch the family here.

During a family dinner in the fall, Barnard was scrolling on Instagram when she saw an ad inviting families to audition for the show.

“I filled out the paperwork just for the heck of it, and it said I needed to list five other family members,” Barnard said. “I just looked around the Sunday dinner table and put the names down I saw.”

It wasn’t until early 2025 that Barnard was called by producers for the show to let her know her family had been selected.

Even though her family would be flown down to Atlanta, they might not even get a chance to participate, they told her.

What surprised her was that her family’s information would be stored for a few years and that potentially, some years down the road, they might get a call to be on the show.

When she told her family, her mother, Misty Crain, said that she couldn’t believe that they had been chosen.

“There are tens of thousands of families that apply, and ‘Family Feud’ told us that, and it’s difficult to get picked,” Crain said.

Crain said her daughter has always been someone who signs up for sweepstakes or surveys and is often lucky enough to win.

“She wins things left and right, and that’s what happened with ‘Family Feud,’” Crain said.

In Atlanta

Crain said her family doesn’t really watch TV much, and it’s been over 28 years since they had cable.

She said that her family was asked by the show’s producers how much they watch the show, and she considered lying but told the truth.

Barnard said that when they reached the stage of filming the show, they were kept away from the audience and had their phones taken away.

Both Barnard and Crain said they bonded with other families there while waiting to see whether they would be chosen to participate.

“It got to the point where you didn’t really care who won because you just loved each other so much,” Barnard said.

When Barnard was notified that her family would be featured on the show, she said it was near the end of the day.

Going onto the actual stage, she said the music was loud, and the producers were encouraging them to dance around; it made them feel comfortable when it came down to meet the host, Steve Harvey.

What surprised both Barnard and Crain was how much editing was done to their interactions with Harvey.

Barnard said that while she and the family joked with Harvey for a few hours, the editing made some of the moments they had feel strange.

One moment during the show, she said there was an ongoing bit where Harvey was feigning not wanting to go to the Crain’s side of the stage as a joke, but the editing didn’t show it that way.

“People contacted us, and they’re like, it seems like Steve didn’t like you guys,” she said. “It makes sense, because you only have 30 minutes, and the key component of the show is answering the questions and playing the game.”

Barnard said that, while getting to meet Harvey, it felt like they never really got to meet the man, because he had to meet so many families in one day. The connection isn’t really there.

“Every day you leave, and you never see those people again, and it was heartbreaking for us just to get really close with the casting producers there and families, and then the next day, it’s like it never happened,” Barnard said.

Family tragedy

Crain told EastIdahoNews.com that the whole experience of being on the show and her family has been going through a hard spot with the loss of her oldest son, Garrett Crain.

Garrett died in 2022 after taking his own life in Utah, but for the Crain family, the pain and loss of Garrett is still felt.

“I remember when I was told that Garrett had killed himself, it felt like a part of my soul was amputated, and I’ve learned to adjust to that. To this day, it’s not like a part of my soul is back,” Misty Crain said.

She recalls that when he was just a boy, visiting his grandmother’s home, Garrett was always seen watching “Family Feud.”

“He would just shout out the answers and get all excited and happy,” his mother said. “I thought, how fun is that that we end up on ‘Family Feud,’ and we were all thinking about Garrett while we’re on that stage! Garrett could have been one of the contestants, and he would have been a lot of fun to watch.”

She said Garrett was an active soul, riding dirt bikes and snowmobiles, and worked with his little brother Cache at Dalling’s Farm.

“There’s a stigma associated with suicide. … There’s a natural alienation that happens. … People don’t know what to say to you, and so they just naturally go away,” she said. “(The family) really, truly needs support and love, not the abandonment and the awkwardness that surrounds it.”

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